Jim Guszcza is the US Chief Data Scientist at Deloitte Consulting. Deloitte is the largest professional services network in the world in terms of revenue, with over 263,900 professionals globally.

 

Jim has been with Deloitte since 2001, where he took the lead on using behavioural nudge tactics to effectively act on model indications and prompt behavior change. Since then, he has gained extensive experience in applying predictive analytics to a variety of public and private sector domains.

 

In addition to his work with Deloitte, Jim is also an author and former professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison business school. He received his PhD in Philosophy from the University of Chicago.

 

In this interview, we explore how philosophy and nudge theory can be applied to change human behavior using data science. Some highlights include:

 

How growing up a sci-fi fan led Jim to pursue science and philosophy as a career. The importance of a philosophy education and how it can train you to analyze issues you encounter in your career. How philosophy can be used to humanize algorithms and aid in complex decision making processes by taking away individual bias. How data science can uncover and expand ‘nudge theory’ to encourage certain human behaviors. Where are the boundaries of using information uncovered by data science? When does it cross the line from actionable to information overload?

 

Enjoy the show!

 

Show Notes: https://ajgoldstein.com/podcast/ep16/

Jim’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-guszcza-5330375/

AJ’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/ajgoldstein393/

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