Steve Shu Consulting

JANUARY 3, 2023

While I will address return on investment (ROI) considerations in a future post, probably one of the first rules of thumb I have is to use some degree of portfolio thinking and management processes for implementing behavioral science initiatives. Research indicates that seemingly promising behavioral interventions sometimes do not work, and it can be hard to predict what will actually work (Milkman et al., 2021).

ROI 195

ROI Journal Financial Study 195

Steve Shu Consulting

JANUARY 1, 2023

In 2023, I’m going to experiment with series of short posts and mixed media that will try to appeal to those that are thinking of starting behavioral economics initiatives or trying to take things to the next level. I have a unique background to bring this type of content as I have worked in the commercial world for more than 30 years while also having an academic research and teaching background in behavioral economics.

Media 195

Media Research 195

Steve Shu Consulting

DECEMBER 18, 2022

Based on the recent ChatGPT events that have rocked the world, here’s a baseline working draft of an AI notice that I will use in some of my classes at Cornell. It presumes that AI will be used more and more over time and that as teachers we’ll have to figure out how to balance the performance and educational integrity tradeoffs. “Students may use artificial intelligence (AI) technologies for support purposes with their writing assignments and projects (e.g., fine-tuning language) but not for wr

Construction 150

Construction Education How To 150

Steve Shu Consulting

DECEMBER 21, 2022

Howard Marks has written a quite a remarkable memo that will be impossible for me to do the proper justice on. However, here are few key highlights from his memo : He shares perspectives having been in investing for 53 years. He has seen two major sea changes during that time. One sea change included the evolution of the bond market in the late 70s and most importantly, a shift in investor mindset to thinking about risk and return (which was not the way investors thought about investments back t

Finance 30

Finance Exercises Tools Policies 30

Steve Shu Consulting

DECEMBER 20, 2022

A short update separate from my academic work: I expect to have a somewhat rare opening in 2023-2026 to take on a behavioral economics advisory relationship with a new client in retirement, wealth management, or investment management. Please feel free to contact me to discuss further.

Management 30

Management 30

Steve Shu Consulting

NOVEMBER 29, 2022

In March 2023, I will be guest speaking to DBA students at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology about implementing behavioral finance initiatives in corporations, an area that I have worked in for more than a third of my three-decade-some working career. Much thanks to Prof. Anirban Mukhopadhyay for inviting me. While the details are still to be worked, I plan to cover a number of case studies relative to retirement, FinTech, wealth management, and investment management firms.

Finance 30

Finance Case Study Case Studies Study 30

Steve Shu Consulting

NOVEMBER 14, 2022

The fall semester has really flown by. We’re in the final stretch. Thanks to all of the students in my research methods class. What hasn’t killed you has made you stronger. Lol. I am already mentally trying to prepare for spring teaching. Here’s a short pitch slide for students considering taking my AEM 6150 course on applied behavioral economics.

Finance 39

Finance Marketing Course Research 39

Steve Shu Consulting

SEPTEMBER 9, 2022

A strategic issue that many professors face within the university is how to teach in a world when one is both competing for attention in the Digital Age and also trying to justify value-add over other methods that people can use to educate themselves. For example, people can read books. They can watch videos on TikTok or YouTube. They can take classes remotely or even do self-study using online platforms.

Education 195

Education Agile Case Study Case Studies 195

Steve Shu Consulting

SEPTEMBER 2, 2022

Last month I chatted with Tony Roth, Chief Investment Officer at Wilmington Trust, N.A., a subsidiary of M&T Bank (NYSE: MTB) as part of his podcast series, Capital Conversations. For me, it was an interesting conversation to have had for a number of reasons, and three perspectives really captured the direction of my thinking. The first perspective was that as a society we have really been under a lot of stress for the past two years, a type of stress that I have not seen in my lifetime.

Interviews 259

Interviews Management Finance Banking 259

Steve Shu Consulting

SEPTEMBER 1, 2022

This past week I tried an experiment of allowing students to customize a portion of a 2.5 hour class. Students were given an option to “open” one of four doors, and then I would lead the class discussion in a direction based on what door they voted to open: Door 1: Experiential activity (P2P-related) Door 2: Agile/Scrum crash course (team-related, something you will likely encounter in business) Door 3: Chapter 1 & 2 quiz “show” Door 4: Idea on prospecting for research host.

Agile 195

Agile Exercises Course Research 195

Steve Shu Consulting

AUGUST 29, 2022

This is an answer to a question I was posed on Quora. I’d avoid collecting money entirely (i.e., 100%) on the backend except for the shortest and smallest engagements. Here’s one anecdotal story: I once managed a business advisory practice as part of a large, international and diversified products and services firm. To get this practice off the ground we subcontracted to a number of consulting firms to fill in for delivery gaps we had.

Cash Flow 195

Cash Flow Consulting Examples Training 195

Steve Shu Consulting

AUGUST 11, 2022

As we prepare to head into the 2022 fall semester at Cornell, I wanted to jot down some key thoughts on my roles and purposes as a teacher. I care about my students and want to help them to learn something, go as far as they they are willing and able to go my classes, and be better prepared to achieve their goals in life. While I have training as an academic and respect and nurture those skills, given that most of my students will be on professionally-destined tracks post-Cornell, I hope to brin

Training 195

Training Training Resources 195

Steve Shu Consulting

JULY 25, 2022

Here are some overview papers that may be of interest to people that are learning about ties between machine learning and economics. Admittedly, it helps to have some formal background on causal inference to read these papers. Mullainathan, S., & Spiess, J. (2017). Machine learning: an applied econometric approach. Journal of Economic Perspectives , 31(2), 87-106.

Journal 195

Journal Research 195

Steve Shu Consulting

JULY 27, 2022

Here are a few resources that students may find useful for research seminar projects that involve data scraping. This list of resources may be updated from time to time: Practical Introduction to Data Scraping Using Python – [link] Python, Data Scraping, and Beautiful Soup Crash Course – [link] Facebook Data Scraping and Sentiment Analysis Using Python – [link] Twitter Data Scraping and Python – [link].

Resources 195

Resources Data Analysis Research 195

Steve Shu Consulting

JULY 27, 2022

Since many of my students aspire to work in consulting after they graduate, the purpose of this post is to round up some examples in the consulting space as related to research methods. This post will be updated from time to time. McKinsey article, “Not enough comps for valuation? Try statistical modeling”: [link] McKinsey article, “Knowing when to stop: finding an appropriate sample in design research”: [link] Forbes article, “How McKinsey Develops New Breakthrough

Examples 195

Examples Research McKinsey Consulting 195

Steve Shu Consulting

JULY 27, 2022

In the past, I have used power calculators like GPower for straightforward research designs, but I have never really found a good, practical resource on executing the mechanics of power simulations, especially when research designs and analytical frameworks are more complex. This great article provides a framework (with R code) to execute power simulations and may be useful to students in Research Seminar (AEM 6991).

Resources 195

Resources Research 195

Steve Shu Consulting

MARCH 9, 2022

I was posed on Quora a question similar to the above question, and below was my response. I highlight in bold, a key insight drawn from behavioral science. One the one hand, case competitions leverage a lot of skills that career consultants end up using, such as problem solving skills under pressure, teamwork, communications, creativity, and persuasiveness.

Consulting 195

Consulting Course Leadership Industry 195

Steve Shu Consulting

FEBRUARY 14, 2022

This post is based on a question I was posed on Quora. Based on this question, my gut reaction is that they are looking for a sense of a) how deep do you go with similar clients in similar situations, and b) what’s the outside norm in terms of project length for a similar clients in similar situations. Key things to be aware of though are what is the client thinking and what you are thinking.

How To 195

How To Consulting Management 195

Steve Shu Consulting

FEBRUARY 14, 2022

Recent article: “The effectiveness of nudging: A meta-analysis of choice architecture interventions across behavioral domains” In one of my prior Applied Behavioral Economics lectures, I mentioned the notion of not only looking at individual studies but also finding meta studies (essentially studies of studies) to help inform behavioral perspectives.

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Study Analysis Finance Financial 39

Steve Shu Consulting

JANUARY 6, 2022

Welcome to Applied Behavioral Economics in Finance and Marketing (AEM 6150)! This new course is geared toward developing knowledge, ability, and professional skills to apply behavioral economics in business settings. The course is especially geared toward students who may consider future professions in consumer finance, marketing, product development, data science, or consulting/advisory.

Finance 39

Finance Marketing Course Development 39

Steve Shu Consulting

DECEMBER 22, 2021

Course 39

Course Finance 39

Steve Shu Consulting

JANUARY 1, 2021

This reading for AEM 6150 at Cornell University taught by Stephen Shu.

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Steve Shu Consulting

JANUARY 1, 2021

This reading for AEM 6150 at Cornell University taught by Stephen Shu.

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Steve Shu Consulting

AUGUST 4, 2021

This post is based on a question that was posed to me on Quora. Here are a few things to consider for this type of situation: See if you can get a resource assigned within the company to take the lead on program managing changes into the organization. Also to help increase the probability of success, see if the incentives of the assigned resources and sponsor can be aligned with the initiative outcomes.

Consulting 195

Consulting Resources Company Management 195

Steve Shu Consulting

JULY 29, 2021

The additive bias seems like a key reason that websites and apps in the digital world get overly complicated over time with features and elements. See more here: [link].

Study 195

Study 195

Steve Shu Consulting

JULY 29, 2021

This article should be on every modern behavioral science researcher’s reading list for a cohesive view of the future. It will take awhile for the community (both research and applied) to wrap our heads around elevating heterogeneity and context relative to main effects. Bryan, C.J., Tipton, E. and Yeager, D.S., 2021. Behavioural science is unlikely to change the world without a heterogeneity revolution.

Research 195

Research 195

Steve Shu Consulting

JULY 20, 2021

This is an optional reading for AEM 6150 at Cornell University taught by Stephen Shu. The reading is from Chapter 12 (pages 41-44) of The Consulting Apprenticeship and covers the “key takeaway” titling, a method which is used heavily in consulting.

Consulting 195

Consulting 195

Steve Shu Consulting

JULY 12, 2021

Information Reframing: Which is more appealing? A black cat with a white belly or… …a white belly with a black cat? Active Choice: Would you rather prepare for your PhD viva or pet me? Choice Overload: Do you find it difficult to choose given all of these books? Behavior and Technology: Daniel Kahneman intimates that technology may eventually be better than humans at decision making, so I am going to be wary of this robot for cat welfare worldwide.

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Steve Shu Consulting

JANUARY 19, 2021

In my free time I have been developing a course, tentatively called Applied Behavioral Science in the Digital Age to be taught to business school students at either the undergraduate or graduate level. In the course, students will study how the pervasive reach of digital technology into our lives affects our heuristics, biases and other behavioral patterns.

Case Study 195

Case Study Case Studies Exercises Course 195

Steve Shu Consulting

FEBRUARY 5, 2021

As related to the Applied Behavioral Science in the Digital Age course that I have been developing, I am creating a casebook that covers examples based on the real world, such as sample websites, app designs, email campaigns, and customer journeys with ideas about how to evaluate such designs though the lens of behavioral science. To provide feedback or suggest companies to include in the casebook, please feel free to contact me at sds77@cornell.edu.

Examples 195

Examples Course Development Company 195

Steve Shu Consulting

MARCH 5, 2021

As related to the Applied Behavioral Science in the Digital Age course that I have been developing, I am creating a casebook that covers examples based on the real world, such as sample websites, app designs, email campaigns, and customer journeys with ideas about how to evaluate such designs though the lens of behavioral science. To provide feedback or suggest companies to include in the casebook, please feel free to contact me at sds77@cornell.edu.

Examples 195

Examples Course Development Company 195

Steve Shu Consulting

FEBRUARY 16, 2021

The example below is related to the Behavioral Science Casebook project and is intended to be used for educational purposes and helping both students and working professionals to think about digital designs and customer experiences using behavioral science concepts. High-level behavioral audit comments and potential approaches to consider are provided in some cases (for instructor purposes).

Examples 195

Examples Sales Education Productivity 195

Steve Shu Consulting

FEBRUARY 19, 2021

In my free time I have been developing a course, tentatively called Applied Behavioral Science in the Digital Age to be taught to business school students at either the undergraduate or graduate level. In the course, students will study how the pervasive reach of digital technology into our lives affects our heuristics, biases and other behavioral patterns.

Case Study 221

Case Study Case Studies Exercises Course 221

Steve Shu Consulting

JANUARY 7, 2020

This post is based on a question that I answered previously on Quora. As an independent consultant it is generally better to focus on services aligned with your expertise. Otherwise, it will be harder to distinguish yourself in the marketplace. However, as food for thought if you are going to add a new service, consider offering that service to an existing or past client.

Consulting 150

Consulting Management 150

Steve Shu Consulting

FEBRUARY 13, 2020

This post is based on a question that I answered previously on Quora. I’m not sure it will become a big thing at companies, but here are some observations that could feed its growth or at least support a niche market: The business schools (particularly in the behavioral science areas) have increasingly added courses that incorporate the science of happiness, and the b-schools feed consulting companies and increasingly entrepreneurial endeavors.

Company 150

Company Trends Consulting Course 150

Steve Shu Consulting

FEBRUARY 14, 2020

This post is based on a question I answered previously on Quora. Here are some of the techniques I have used over the years in different consulting roles, such as working for a traditional consulting firm, boutique firm, or as an independent: Research and keep a scrapboook of ideas – This can be a folder where you drop killer slides you’ve run into, killer figures, well done models, articles, etc.

Consulting 195

Consulting Development Research Leadership 195

Steve Shu Consulting

FEBRUARY 17, 2021

This post is based on a previous question posed to me on Quora. The role of a Chief Behavioral Officer (CBOs) varies, but a common theme I’ve seen is that they analyze, plan, innovate, and implement aspects of the business using insights and methods from the behavioral sciences (e.g., behavioral economics, psychology). Some of the companies with CBOs do mostly marketing communications or thought leadership (e.g., research) while others may get involved with bringing insights and designs to produ

Research 195

Research Analysis Development Examples 195