August Fireside | When the Stakes Are High: How People Make Decisions in High-Risk Environments

In high-risk work, people must make decisions under conditions of uncertainty, time pressure, and incomplete information. Resilience Engineering and High Reliability Organizing recognize that successful performance depends not on finding the "right" answer, but on adapting to changing conditions and making the best possible decision with the information available.

In this conversation, Liam Duggan and Gordon Walsh explore the science and practice of decision-making in dynamic, high-consequence environments. Drawing on human factors, cognitive science, policing, and high-risk industry, they examine how stress, attention, and cognitive capacity shape decisions in the moment. They will discuss how leaders can strengthen decision-making by improving sensemaking, understanding work as it is actually performed, and learning from everyday performance rather than judging decisions through hindsight. While grounded in policing and energy operations, the lessons apply to any industry where people make critical decisions under pressure.

Liam Duggan

Chief of Police, Prior Lake Police…