Presentatie “Breaking Rank”

Op vrijdag 21 september 2018 geeft Steven Coutinho, voorzitter van de Raad van Toezicht van Aqualectra, lid van de Sociaal Economische Raad (SER) en auteur van het boek “Breaking Rank: How to lead change when yesterday’s stories limit today’s choices”, een presentatie over zijn boek aan de Economenclub.

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For nearly a century ongoing poverty in the postcolonial world has been attributed to external circumstances such as lack of infrastructure and poor institutions. At the same time however a similar pattern of decision making can be found across the postcolonial world: high risk aversion, short term decision making and low levels of social collaboration. This indicates a different reason for stagnation: people’s minds and how they have been formed.

Steven’s book “Breaking Rank” provides an alternative perspective to stagnation which applies behavioral economics at the societal level and shows how the force (authoritarian rule) and fraud (racism) that was brought by the colonizer continues to shape the social fabric of postcolonial societies today – and the choices of its people. Based on own experimental evidence supported by 20 years worth of evidence from behavioral economics, Breaking Rank shows how the negative perceptions of self and others brought on by colonialism influence the brain to make avoidant choices that have a broad socioeconomic impact. The book also gives clear avenues at the individual, educational and organizational level to break free from people’s negative perceptions and make different choices.

Over de spreker

Steven Coutinho is a professional speaker, author and university lecturer known for his insights into self-image and how it is programmed by society’s stories. His recent book Breaking Rank takes you on a fascinating journey into how the mind has evolved, how it is shaped by society and how it shapes society in turn. Combining evolutionary psychology, neuroscience and a lot of fun, he inspires audiences to look differently at themselves – and in doing so he transforms minds.

Previously Steven was a managing director of one of the world’s largest banks, a strategy consultant and an economic policy adviser to governments across the Caribbean and South America. Steven holds a Masters in Physics cum laude from the University of Groningen, and an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.