John Coates is author of the financial bestseller The Hour Between Dog and Wolf: How Risk-Taking Transforms Us, Body and Mind. He is a former Research Fellow in Neuroscience and Finance at the University of Cambridge, and previously traded derivatives for Goldman Sachs and ran a trading desk for Deutsche... Read More
John Coates is author of the financial bestseller The Hour Between Dog and Wolf: How Risk-Taking Transforms Us, Body and Mind. He is a former Research Fellow in Neuroscience and Finance at the University of Cambridge, and previously traded derivatives for Goldman Sachs and ran a trading desk for Deutsche Bank.
John Coates now researches the ways in which our biology affects risk taking. Employing emerging wearable technology he helps traders and PMs understand the physiology driving their risk-taking and P&L. His science papers have been published by Nature, the Royal Society, and the National Academy of Sciences USA. His research has become need-to-know in the corporate world. Companies are increasingly eager to understand the biology underlying their employees’ risk taking, fatigue and stress; how these differ between men and women; how they can be managed.
Coates covers topics such as the biology of exuberance and pessimism and how this challenges risk management; wearables in the workplace; humans vs machines.
His book, The Hour Between Dog and Wolf, was short listed for the Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year, and the Welcome Trust Science Prize. The book reveals the biology of financial boom and bust, showing how risk-taking transforms our body chemistry, driving us to extremes of euphoria or stressed-out depression.
The journal, Foreign Policy, named him one of the most influential thinkers of 2017. His research on risk taking has attracted interest from business, tech, medicine, the military, as well as elite sports teams.