Laura Maguire on the Nuances of Navigating Complex Environments

Utah Avalanche Center Podcast

Where and when does a situation go bad? It's easy to think that an accident is the result of a single bad decision. But as Laura Maguire tells it, to understand an accident, which can be read as a failure of decision making, you really need to examine the systemic influences and the progression of choices that led up to that pivotal moment, because no decision is made in a vacuum. Maguire is an expert on human decision making. She joins us to talk about how the choices we make can be influenced by many factors, and how we can make safer decisions by developing a deeper understanding of both the benefits and limits of our thinking. She also shares tools for hacking the decision making process to build in greater safety margins.