Glenn Riseley

Glenn Riseley is the Founder and CEO of HeadUp, having previously established the Global Corporate Challenge (GCC). For almost 20 years, he has been a regular and engaging media commentator on health and wellbeing-related topics in the workplace.

Man in a white t-shirt is facing away from the camera. A snake is peeping over his shoulder looking towards the camera.

The deadliest animal in the world isn’t what you think.

“Dad, what’s the most dangerous animal?”.  Now this is a a good question for a Dad who runs a data science business focusing on human health and well-being, because helping people identify and quantify risk so they stay alive (and healthy!) is what we do. At HeadUp Labs, we’re really good helping people identify what their big risks are. But what are the biggest risks to your kids? It’s not something like heart attacks or strokes… so, what is it? Hint: it’s something much bigger.

I should be so lucky.

Here’s a term that I recently learned that’s worth knowing: a micromort. Unless you’re an actuary or have swallowed a dictionary, you probably haven’t come across this term before. I only know it due to spending the last couple of years absorbing myself in the world of insurance, and it’s worth knowing—and not just for potential Scrabble points. We love the saying “one in a million”, but we’re not that great at perceiving and understand risk… even in a global pandemic.

People are not one number.

People are not one number. You are not one number. People are people and they’re scared and just doing the best with what they have. They need your help. But if you’re thinking of distilling their entire life down to one number. Don’t. Just don’t. We can show you a better way.

How much can a polar bear?

Working backwards from an extrinsic end goal doesn’t work. Instead, the key to successful population health is understanding how people think and feel, where changing this then naturally changes their behavior. For instance, don’t implement recycling quotas, but instead educate on why recycling is important (because we all love polar bears).