Decisions Decisions

We all make decisions on a daily basis and a vast majority of those decisions and choices are on simple things that will not necessarily have a huge impact on our lives.

However, in the course of our lives we do sometimes make decisions that could have life-changing repercussions – some of which are bad and some of which will be good. In light of the government’s controversial decision to suspend parliament this month, it got us thinking about some of the decisions some of our speakers have made in their lives and the impact they have had.

Many people will remember the speech delivered by Gerald Ratner at the Institute of Directors conference when he called many of his own products “crap”. His decision to make this remark resulted in the value of the Ratner Group plummeting by around £500million which nearly resulted in the firms collapse. Whilst he has managed to bounce back from this with his online jewellery business Gerald Online, Gerald speaks frequently today about his decision and the impact it had and the lessons he learned.

In 1995 Barings Bank collapsed after suffering losses of £827 million resulting from fraudulent investments conducted by a rogue trader Nick Leeson. Nick made unauthorised speculative trades that at first made large profits but his luck soon ran out and used a Barings Error account to hide is losses. His actions and decisions led to an account loss by £206million by 1994 and finally forced the bank collapse the following year. Nick speaks today on what happened, how he was able to get away with what he did and what lessons have been learned.

Benjamin Mee was a journalist based in southern France who has a fascination with animal intelligence. When Bens father died and his Mums started to look for new properties to live in, Ben stumbled across Dartmoor Zoo for Sale. After visiting the Zoo the family forged together and in 2006 made the decision to buy the zoo and try and save the animals. Sadly at the same time, Bens wife was diagnosed with a brain tumour and Ben found himself managing a zoo whilst facing consequences of his wife’s terminal illness and caring for two young children. Benjamin’s story moves and entertains and he talks candidly about the difficult decisions and obstacles he had to overcome to get the zoo up and running again. 

In the sporting arena sometimes a decision can determine who wins gold and who may win silver. At the 1991 World Championship in Tokyo, the USA were the hot favourites to win the 4 x 400metres relay. Under the leadership of Frank Dick, the British team made a tactical decision to move their quickest runner to the first leg rather than the last leg. The move paid off and Kriss Akabusi brought the team home winning gold in an event they had last won gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Frank Dick (as well as Roger Black and Kriss Akabusi) speak on that fateful race and how the importance of tactics and being prepared can affect the decisions you make.

These are of course just a few examples, but if you are ever looking for an insight into how we make decisions and whether we should take more risks then Caspar Berry would be someone to consider. A former poker player, Caspar main speeches are based around Decision Making but the subject covers a whole range of ancillary subject-areas such as risk, judgement, intuition and insight and how these apply to businesses.

For more information on Caspar Berry or any of the other speakers please contact us on enquiries@scampspeakers.co.uk