Ian Robertson

I was really young.

It was interesting because Professor Ian Robertson, who is a neuroscientist, and he was on kind of talking about what's actually happening in the brain, what's happening in the body when somebody is experiencing anxiety or a panic attack.

Fascinating.

So interesting.

Well, this time last week, US President Donald Trump was almost on his way to the US Embassy in the Phoenix Park where he surprised those assembled with a bit of a backhanded compliment for Irish people and their business dealings.

But is it true? Are we the vicious types in business that he says we are? Ian Robertson, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin and author of How Confidence Works, has been giving it some thought.

Donald Trump's chummy accolade for the Irish...

You are some of the most vicious bastards I've ever done business.

All that we really have as humans is each other.

And to the extent that you care about authentic human relationships, ruthlessness and viciousness will, unless you are dealing with a lone former cyclist thumbing a lift to Galway, come back to bite you.

Ian Robertson there.

That's all we have time for this week.

These episodes are based on the learning from a wonderful book that's been on my shelf for a while now called How Confidence Works, The New Science of Self-Belief.

It's written by an academic called Ian Robertson, which is not a paid ad.

It's a book that I bought myself with my own money.

As I said, I've read it.