Interview with Michael Delaney
- Merle van den Akker
- Apr 27
- 7 min read
Behavioural Science is a rapidly expanding field and everyday new research is being developed in academia, tested and implemented by practitioners in financial organisations, development agencies, government ‘nudge’ units and more. This interview is part of a series interviewing prominent people in the field. And in today's interview the answers are provided by Michael Delaney.
Michael is an entrepreneur and applied behavioural scientist based in Berlin, Germany. He is currently the co-founder of a startup focused on making resistance training more accessible and engaging for the 50+ population. Previously, he worked as an innovation consultant at Accenture, a behavioural scientist at a startup developing an app for individuals with type 2 diabetes, and a co-founder of Nuance Behavior, a behavioural science consultancy for digital product design. He is also a member of Harvard’s AI for Human Flourishing working group, where he volunteers to advance this timely field. Ultimately, Michael is mission-driven to create a significant positive impact on society, currently through blending his intellectual interest in behavioural science with the creative fulfilment gained from entrepreneurship.
Who or what got you into behavioural science?
I started out with a fascination for neuroscience, first exposed to me during high school biology and philosophy classes. Specifically, it was a video on phantom limbs by V. S. Ramachandran and books by Oliver Sacks. Purely out of an intellectual interest, with no career thinking, I pursued a double degree BSc in Neuroscience and Psychology. Throughout, I quickly realised that I enjoyed the academic insights more than being an academic scientist in the lab, and so I started to explore how I could apply the learnings outside of the lab.
I was tinkering with entrepreneurial projects next to uni and so the most relevant business application seemed to be consumer and marketing psychology. Anchored to my initial interest in neuroscience, I explored the world of “neuromarketing”. This then led me into the broader fields of behavioural economics and applied behavioural science. I pursued a MSc focused on these topics, alongside which I freelanced for other behavioural scientists and interned at neuromarketing and behavioural science agencies. These experiences taught me that psychology, or behavioural science more broadly, was more applicable in the real world than an exclusive focus on neuroscience. Thus, I was fine to label myself as a behavioural scientist, despite hesitancies towards the credibility of social sciences versus neuroscience.
Presented with an opportunity to join an early-stage health tech startup straight after my MSc, I fortunately navigated into the field of applied behavioural science in health and product design, which was more aligned with my interests and morals.
That’s how I got into behavioural science, but I also got out of behavioural science (kind of). After diving deep into the world of applied behavioural science, I realised that it locked me into a narrow-focused view of the world. Thus, to broaden my creativity and gain a more holistic understanding of how the world operates, I have decided to reduce the salience of behavioural science as a primary factor in work-related decisions and instead set it aside as a secondary toolkit. Understanding humans is only one variable necessary to create scalable interventions that positively impact the world and I am keen to learn about the other variables too.
After diving deep into the world of applied behavioural science, I realised that it locked me into a narrow-focused view of the world.
What is the accomplishment you are proudest of as a behavioural scientist? And what do you still want to achieve?
I think it’s too early for me to feel pride in a pursuit, as there is still lots to be done. Yet, I do feel fortunate to have been able to contribute to the scalable, positive impact that Una Health are having on people with type 2 diabetes, through their fully reimbursed health app. The positive impact was vividly clear when both talking with the users and seeing the quantitative data. However, the praise lies more in the hands of the entire team than in mine.
As to what I still want to achieve; too much. I want to have as big of a positive impact as possible.
How do you think behavioural science will develop (in the next 10 years)?
Greater influence of neuroscience. Greater usage of technology (e.g., AI and computer science) to enhance the research process and capability. Less ego, more humbleness. Greater convincing ability amongst the players, to get it into the right places. Greater appreciation of the other variables that need to be in place (e.g., operations) for an intervention to succeed at scale. Greater number of generalists who can unleash the expertise of the specialists.
My hope is that a greater number of behavioural scientists will become entrepreneurs. Many of us engage in a form of first principles thinking when trying to understand humans. This approach can be greatly beneficial in the world of entrepreneurship, for identifying ideas, packaging solutions, attracting a team, and achieving product-market fit. I would love to see more businesses and products built with behavioural science from the ground up, versus established organisations bringing in behavioural scientists later on to tweak an already existing system. Peter Thiel talks about the value of identifying “secrets” for entrepreneurship, in his book “Zero to One”. He states that there are secrets of nature and secrets of people. Behavioural scientists are ideally positioned to identify the latter.
What are the greatest challenges being faced by behavioural science, right now?
I think there are other, more experienced, people (your past interviewees) who are better suited to answering that.
Halt yourself from pursuing behavioural science as the end-goal. Clarify your end-goal and leverage behavioural science as a means to that end. Ditch it, if you discover a better means to the end.
What advice would you give to young behavioural scientists or those looking to progress into the field?
Follow your curiosity. Proactively reach out to the academics and practitioners. Keep reaching out. Work with them, help them. Position yourself in jobs where you are accountable for and see the real-world impact your advice actually has. Don’t over-philosophise and start doing. Fail often and fail fast.
Don’t box yourself in too early. Niche down, test it out, take a step back, niche down somewhere else, take a step back, repeat – until you’ve found the niche you definitely want to double down on or the ability to creatively connect various niches, leading to more interesting, novel and unique pursuits. Also, seek out the less obvious and less sexy industries.
Halt yourself from pursuing behavioural science as the end-goal. Clarify your end-goal and leverage behavioural science as a means to that end. Ditch it, if you discover a better means to the end. So, regularly self-reflect and be open to leaving the path titled “behavioural science”.
There is always more nuance and you’ve never reached the 100% correct answer, due to time-constraints in life.
With all your experience, what skills would you say are needed to be a behavioural scientist? Are there any recommendations you would make?
Curiosity, first-principles thinking, high need for cognition, analytical thinking, creativity, critical thinking, patience, comfort in ambiguity, and storytelling that stays true to the data. Theoretical knowledge from the relevant scientific fields. Qualitative and quantitative research methods and tools. Data analysis and statistics. Science communication.
Unfortunately, constant second-guessing. As there is always more nuance and you’ve never reached the 100% correct answer, due to time-constraints in life.
What is your biggest frustration with the field as it stands?
Focusing too much on self-interested intellectual pleasure or minute pixels, versus solving big problems in the world by grappling with the complexity, putting in the hard work, and walking the long road. In short: too many incremental optimisations versus disruptive innovations and too much talking the talk versus walking the walk.
My working hypothesis is that many behavioural scientists overlook the triviality of yet another hyped-up behavioural tactic, overshadowing the more fundamental deep-seated character traits that need to be reinforced or changed for long-lasting positive outcomes.
If you weren’t a behavioural scientist, what would you be doing?
I would be an entrepreneur, artist, product designer, innovation consultant, or in the health and performance industry.
Or simply enjoying life being less nerdy and ambitious.
How do you apply behavioural science in your personal life?
Less intentionally. I’m fortunate to have grown into an identity that naturally drives me towards behaviours that leave me healthy, happy and fulfilled. I reinforce this through regular self-reflection and self-honesty, ensuring the steps I take are true to my (desired) self. I don’t incorporate many of the common tactics, as I perceive many of them as superficial and short-lasting. My working hypothesis is that many behavioural scientists overlook the triviality of yet another hyped-up behavioural tactic, overshadowing the more fundamental deep-seated character traits that need to be reinforced or changed for long-lasting positive outcomes. Hence, why I also think we need to innovate beyond yet another personal development app and start crafting interventions that help people engage in deeper, more impactful experiences.
Humorously, I don’t think I’m in the minority when I say I am a behavioural scientist who hardly applies behavioural science to themselves. However, I do believe that the past years of learning about behavioural science and psychology have been one huge act of heightening my mindfulness, due to an increased ability to label and more deliberately act on thoughts, feelings and behaviours.
Which other behavioural scientists would you love to read an interview by?
Hans Rocha IJzerman, Sandra Matz, Jason Hreha and Rafa Ballestiero. The latter is a technologist with whom I’ve been ideating and prototyping numerous behavioural science products.
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions Michael!
As I said before, this interview is part of a larger series which can also be found here on the blog. Make sure you don't miss any of those, nor any of the upcoming interviews!
Keep your eye on Money on the Mind!
