ESThe event was attended by around 300 in-person guests, over 2,000 via streaming, and more than 50 professionals in the behavioral science.
In November 2024, Madrid became more than just the capital of Spain: it was the epicenter of a global conversation about business decision-making processes. On November 14th and 15th, the city hosted the second edition of The Behavioral Way Summit, the premier event for behavioral science in Spain and Latin America.
Behavioral science lies at the intersection of psychology, economics, sociology, and neuroscience. Popularized by the work of scholars like Daniel Kahneman, Amos Tversky, Richard Thaler, and Cass Sunstein, it explores how people make decisions. Unlike traditional economic theory, which assumes that humans are fully rational and calculating, behavioral science recognizes biases, heuristics, and emotions as fundamental influences.
Over recent decades, behavioral science has increasingly shaped public policy design, marketing, finance, and health. Countries like the United Kingdom have established Behavioral Insights Teams to apply these insights. Now, Spain and Latin America are quickly embracing behavioral science, as demonstrated by the growing prominence of The Behavioral Way Summit II.
About the Summit
Organized by BeWay, the event was a gathering for a community increasingly connected through behavioral science. Nearly 300 guests attended in person, more than 2,000 participated online, and there were over 50 speakers, including top executives and leading professionals in behavioral science.
The icing on the cake was provided by the five top speakers: Linnea Gandhi, assistant professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business; Jaime Bermúdez, former Colombian foreign minister; Suzanne Shu, John Dyson Professor of Marketing at Cornell University’s Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management; Stephen Shu, professor of practical behavioral economics at the same institution; and, as the highlight, Cass Sunstein, professor of law at Harvard Law School and co-author of Nudge, and Richard Thaler, Nobel Prize winner in Economics
Embracing Failure as a Learning Tool
Linnea Gandhi opened the event with her talk, Which Nudge Works? With a lively and direct presentation, she emphasized the need to systematize accumulated knowledge: “We cannot know what we know if we do not systematically learn from past research.”
In this vein, he emphasized the value of failure as a lesson. As Thomas Edison said about his many failures before inventing the light bulb: “I have not failed. I have simply found 10,000 ways that don’t work.”
Reducing “Sludge”
One of the highlights of the Summit was Cass Sunstein, participating remotely. Interviewed by Lee Newman, Dean of IE Business School, he shared successful examples of behavioral interventions: from the automatic enrollment of children in school feeding programs in the US to the default design of green energy contracts in Germany.
The expert emphasized how simplification, automation, and personalized reminders are fundamental pillars for transforming human behavior on a large scale.
He also introduced an important concept: the need to reduce “sludge”, those invisible bureaucratic frictions that wear down users and employees alike. “Removing unnecessary barriers can be as transformative as any great innovation,” he said.
Behavioral Insights into Public Policy
Jaime Bermúdez provided an institutional perspective. The government functions like a company. In fact, it is a public company! From his experience in political communication and diplomacy, he highlighted the need to integrate behavioral knowledge into the design of public policies, especially in a polarized and information-saturated context. “The problem is not the lack of data. It is how we interpret it and what we do with it,” he said.
Disinformation was one of the focal points of his talk, as behavioral science plays a key role in understanding why we fall for fake news and how we can prevent it from happening.
Humanizing Data
One of the summit’s most anticipated sessions featured BeWay’s CEO Gonzalo Camiña interviewing Nobel Prize winner Richard Thaler. With his usual ironic and approachable tone, the economist addressed several important points, such as the need to combat the status quo bias in companies, giving the example of Netflix, and improve talent acquisition through behavioral science.
“Why are we still relying on poorly structured interviews when we can apply behavioral science to better predict performance?” he questioned.
Also present on the day were Suzanne and Stephen Shu, professors at the Cornell Dyson School. Suzanne explained how nudges are evolving from generic to personalized, a trend aligned with the era of hyper-segmentation. Stephen, meanwhile, presented tools such as behavioral auditing and choice architecture, essential for improving the user experience at any touchpoint
Real Cases from Spain and LATAM
Beyond these talks, if there was one aspect of the Summit that stood out, it was the presence of real cases that demonstrate the potential of behavioral sciences. Grupo Coppel (Mexico), for example, presented how it has redesigned communication processes with its customers based on behavioral principles, achieving significant improvements in timely payments and reducing friction.
Meanwhile, executives from BBVA Mexico and Spain shared how they have used behavioral sciences to help their customers make better financial decisions.
Ethical Consideration of the Field
It is important to note that the Summit did not avoid ethical debate, one of the main concerns when talking about Behavioral Science. Is it legitimate to use behavioral principles to influence people’s decisions? Where is the limit between pushing and manipulating? These questions were present in both talks and hallway conversations.
It was Sunstein who focused most on the ethical dimension of behavioral interventions, recalling that transparency and consistency, as well as personal values, are key to the legitimacy of nudges.
The shared conclusion was clear: behavioral design must be transparent, welfare-oriented, and, above all, based on the autonomy of the individual.
Towards a Behavioral Future
The closing of the event left a clear message: behavioral sciences are a rigorous, empathetic, and evidence-based way to understand and transform our environment.
Knowledge of human behavior thus becomes the best compass for the future.
