Regarded as a business authority, Octavius Black is CEO and co-founder of Mind Gym, which uses the latest behavioural science to transform companies and the lives of people who work in them. He also set up Parent Gym, which runs free parenting programmes in the more economically deprived parts of UK.
Mind Gym

Here Octavius gives us an insight into his life online.

My favourite website... Ethicalsystems.org - It’s the brainchild of one of my top ten psychology professors (yes, I’m that much of a geek), Jonathan Haidt, who not only explains why people voted Brexit and Trump (it’s NOT the economy, stupid), but reveals why, though we see ourselves as morally virtuous, we still make a lot of ethical transgressions. All the latest research is freely available and crowd sourcing encouraged. Clever.

My favourite app... HabitBull - It takes 66 days to change a habit. This app keeps on nudging until you do. Annoying, but in a good way.

My blog of choice... Flip Chart Fairytales by @flipchartrick - Sticking firmly to the facts, he weaves a powerful narrative on some aspects about where the world is heading. Though his conclusions are sometimes gloomy, his tone never is.

My internet hero... Martha Lane Fox - For banging the mouse on digital inclusion.

My most recent buy online... flights to Miami - Can’t wait.

Book just downloaded/ read... Identity economics by George Akerlof and Rachel Kranton - In a nutshell: conventional economics assumes we buy things based on how useful they are to us. This book demonstrates we’re just as likely to spend money on useless things if they help us fit in or affirm our identity. Fashion houses have known this for years, of course.

My favourite tweeter... @Rob_Briner - He is a fearless campaigner against bogus statistics and puff. Just what we need in a post-truth world.

My favourite instagrammer... Not my social media drug of choice.

Social media allowed me to meet… Chris Voss - Former chief FBI negotiator and author of Never Split The Difference. As he explains, if you’re in a kidnap situation you can’t say ‘give me half the hostages and you can keep the other half’. After a life of successfully negotiated settlements in high-pressured situations, every story is riveting.

Most worthwhile newsletter subscribed to... None. I’m allergic.

Pet hate about life online... It exacerbates the sense of missing out.

Stand out online memory... Launching first Mind Gym website - Built by a friend of a friend in return for a new bicycle. (If only subsequent releases had been as keenly priced.)

iPhone or Android? iPhone but going off it.

January 2017