What shapes the way we make decisions?
None of us walks into a boardroom, or any room where important decisions are made, as a blank slate.
We bring our experiences with us: the environments we grew up and worked in, the relationships that have shaped us, and the moments that taught us when to speak up, when to hold back and whom to trust.
These experiences can influence how we respond to pressure, how comfortable we are with disagreement and how we interpret the behaviour of the people around us.
Some of these patterns serve us well. Others may limit us without us even realising it. The first step is learning to recognise them.
In this webinar, Divya Mahendran draws on research from behavioural science, neuroscience, complexity, leadership and behavioural governance to explore the relationship between life experience, behaviour, self-regulation and decision-making.
Together, we will look at what happens when different personalities, experiences and behavioural patterns meet within a board, leadership team or organisation.
How do they affect trust? How do they shape the way we challenge one another, respond to risk or try to maintain control? And what do they ultimately mean for the decisions we make together?
This conversation moves beyond governance structures and processes to consider the people within them.
What We’ll Explore
During the webinar, we will consider:
- How our experiences shape the way we interpret people and situations
- The role self-regulation plays in thoughtful decision-making
- Why certain behavioural patterns become automatic
- What happens when different individual patterns meet within a group
- How human dynamics influence trust, challenge and disagreement
- The ways behaviour can affect risk perception and control
- Why understanding people is an important part of understanding governance
Divya Mahendran
Co-founder and Research & Development Lead, CoSteer
Divya Mahendran is a co-founder and Research & Development Lead at CoSteer, where she specialises in human decision-making and behavioural science.
Her work sits at the intersection of governance, behaviour and organisational culture. She explores the human dynamics that influence how organisations think, respond and make decisions, particularly when people are working together within complex systems.
Divya is also a published author in governance and culture and contributes to CoSteer’s governance and research programmes.
Join The Conversation
Good governance depends on more than well-designed structures, policies and processes. It also depends on the people using them.
Whether you sit on a board, advise senior leaders or simply want to better understand how groups make decisions, this webinar offers a different way of looking at what happens inside the room
EVENT TIMES
DATE:
6 October 2026
04:00 Los Angeles
07:00 New York
08:00 Rio de Janeiro
12:00 London
13:00 Cape Town
14:00 Riyadh
16:30 New Delhi
19:00 Beijing
20:00 Tokyo
22:00 Melbourne
00:00 Auckland
SAVE THE DATE
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