What are some of the external influences that can affect your decision-making? This was the question at the heart of this exploration of risk mitigation, suitable preparation, and approaches to failure, which went down a treat at the 2016 Leaders Sport Performance Summit in New York.

Speaking that day were the former US Air Force Pararescueman Douglas Kechijian and New York Times-bestselling author Adam Alter, who is the Associate Professor of Marketing at New York University’s Stern School of Business, with an affiliated appointment in the New York University Psychology Department. Staff Sgt. Kechijian, who has since retired from the role, has been called upon to jump into the some of the most volatile combat zones in the world, provide medical care, and perform extrications - all while leading a highly-trained team of professionals. His is a world of known unknowns, which has formed the basis of much of Alter's research into risk assessment and strategic awareness at moments of heightened arousal.

The duo were join onstage at Manhattan's Times Center by regular Leaders Performance Institute moderator Dehra Harris, who is Assistant Professor of Child Psychiatry and Director of Wellness and High Performance for Graduate Medical Education at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, commented and contributed throughout to a conversation that also touched upon:

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• Absence/presence, the ‘liberation of latent energy’, and the reasons why sportspeople would do well to focus on no more than a few opponents at any one time;
  
• The importance of checklists in mitigating human error
  
• Empathy and the impact of positive peer pressure
  
• The impact of hierarchies and the importance of humility
  
• Gender differences in the experience of failure
  

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Leaders Performance Podcast: Decision-Making Under Pressure

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