My name is Ben Brikman. I currently work for Boston Consulting Group, known as BCG. I currently work in the Knowledge team. My actual title is a Knowledge Analyst for the Change Management Purpose and Culture Knowledge team. My main focus is the overlap of change management and behavioral science, but I also research other applications of behavioral science outside of change management.
It's important to note that the knowledge team is different from the consulting team or full client-facing roles. The knowledge team is more of the internal research arm that reflects on historical casework and client work, understanding what we have done and what has been successful, and then use that to adapt our current frameworks, approaches, and strategies related to our topic. In this case I can look at our historical behavioral science or change management work, or the intersection of the two, and then use that to adapt and improve their strategies related to behavior, change management or the intersection of the two.
How did you apply for this position? Was it through an internship or did you know somebody there that connected you to?
I did not know anyone at the organization. It was actually a cold application through LinkedIn. The title didn't have anything to do with behavioral science. I was searching for behavioral science using it as a keyword and found this position because it was in the job description. The team was looking for someone that had behavioral science experience to serve as a specialized change management analyst. Generally, they wanted someone who could bring in behavioral science domain knowledge to the team. Throughout the interview process, they emphasized the behavioral science aspect of the role, even though it wasn't reflected in the title.
To reiterate - I found the role by searching for “behavioral science” in LinkedIn search, looking for roles that mentioned behavioral science in either the description or the title.
Can you tell some more about your team, the Knowledge team? I'm curious if you are the only behavioral scientist on the team or if there are others, and what the backgrounds of the other team members are.
When I first joined the team, there was only one person leading the internal research related to behavioral science. Although, she left for an incredible opportunity about 2 months in. I quickly became the only designated behavioral science person for the research for about 8 months. We eventually hired someone else who became a general change management and culture person within our team, and I am now working to upskill her behavioral science. Currently, I am still the only person fully tagged to the topic on the knowledge side. But on the consulting side, there are four senior leaders strongly affiliated with the topic. We are trying to bring in at least one or two more people on the knowledge side to contribute to upskilling. What's nice about BCG is that even people who are incredibly busy like to get involved in some way. We have a Slack community of around 330 people who attend monthly events, network with each other, and provide feedback on client deliverables.
Why behavioral science?
My story is kind of a weird one. During undergrad I was hired for a position at Walmart’s Innovation team. I didn't know what that meant. I was doing an Econ major with an entrepreneurship minor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. It was just one of those opportunities that randomly came and sounded interesting. I wasn’t sure what it would entail, but I felt like it would be a really cool opportunity. Three folks got hired on to do on-the-ground research for the innovation date, which comprised of collecting data, giving feedback to experimental processes, as well as communication and facilitation of experiments. Two out of the three of us were tagged to product managers. And then I ended up being tagged to a separate manager, a principal behavioral scientist. At that point in time, I was 19.
I didn't know what behavioral science or behavioral economics was, but I just got into an internship without really knowing what I was getting myself into. I ended up working with her and the team for about 3 and a half years. Ultimately that led me into MBDS and then made me interested in sticking in the field and getting a more formal research role. Nearing graduation, I was looking for roles that would give me a research opportunity, which ultimately led me to BCG.
How do you stay updated with research and new insights in behavioral science?
Newsletters. I follow a handful of them and they come straight to my email. I look for at least one to two articles a week that look interesting. For example, the moment that the guide to mega studies came out from Katy Milkman, I felt like “oh this will be quick, I need to look at this.”I plan to read several articles a week and then share it back to the slack interest community I referenced earlier. This community has around 330 people. I'm the primary person that runs that community, for which I share content and also host monthly speaker events. I'm in charge of finding internal speakers to present on their previous research and their methodologies related to behavioral science. I’m kind of like a shepherd pushing the internal initiative to get people to speak about their own work.
My minimum goal is two articles a week to read and share back. In terms of what I really gain is I contribute around 8 to 10 articles a month. It's almost like an even split between Habit weekly newsletter and LinkedIn articles by top behavioral scientists. Also, outside of my posts, I learn when I bring in behavioral science speakers. First, I get to know all those leaders within the organization personally - whether they're in customer experience practice or behavioral design within BCG. Then, when they actually present, I learn about their research and their methodologies. Afterwards, I take all of that knowledge and then file it within our internal resources. Whenever anybody asks me for case support, I use my knowledge of what I've learned from the external resources, what I've learned internally from our employees, and of course the domain knowledge I've learned in MBDS and Walmart.
What is one piece of advice you would give to someone who started their career, based on either your personal or professional experience?
After talking with a handful of folks, it's good to understand that first of all, there's not a lot of behavioral science opportunities available. You have to come in with the expectation that even if you get a degree from a top university, have experience with a top company, you are not guaranteed a position that's going to be related to the topic at first. It's kind of like a sad piece of advice. You need to change your expectations. If you start at a company where behavioral science might not be in the job description or not in the title, you have to really think about how you can create the opportunities for yourself. You have to apply specific principles to build up the skills that you believe will make you a stronger behavioral scientist in the future. And you have to work on how you can get ready for your next role. Just coming into the field, you might not be able to get something immediately, but if you continue working at it, your likelihood of getting it increases. If your time frame is like several years or several months down the line, then you have a much better shot than just thinking about getting a role in less than two months from now.
My role is titled Change Management Analyst, but my constant push internally is to make sure I was really involved with behavioral science. I continually pushed myself to be working on relevant projects. I didn’t get much traction in the first year. It took almost a year and a half for me to transition into a place where my work gets me really excited. I am truly lucky to have a management team that has invested in me and has provided me the space to engage in these projects.
I recently had a conversation where I had to convince stakeholders of the importance of my work and how my current projects would benefit the company. I realized that I had a little bit of an advantage given that behavioral science was in my job description and part of my expectations. But I can even see the opportunity in other teams where it might not even be a direct part of your job description, but you have to convince the stakeholders around you about the importance of the work. Then, you can get your hands on more interesting projects and projects that will develop you in a way that will either allow you to develop within the organization or to get a future position somewhere else. Even though behavioral science was not in my title, I did whatever I could to make it my title, so then I can position myself for wherever life will take me in the future, whether at BCG or elsewhere.
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This interview has been edited for clarity and confidentiality.
Ben and I had this chat on 03/03/2023.
You can connect with him on his LinkedIn
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