Navigating Uncertainity with David Samuelson | Season 1 Trailer

Every day, students across the nation face decisions that will shape the rest of their lives. And the adults responsible for preparing them must make high-stakes decisions, under pressure, and in a world that keeps changing.How do education leaders, from superintendents and principals to policymakers and researchers, approach decision-making as they help prepare students not just to pass a test, but to navigate what comes next? These are the questions at the heart of this series.Navigating Uncertainty is a limited series podcast, brought to you by the Alliance for Decision Education, a nonprofit dedicated to bringing decision-making to every student, in every classroom, across the U.S. In each episode, Alliance Executive Director, David Samuelson, sits down with a leader in education or policy to explore how they make decisions, what they've learned from getting it wrong, and what they believe it will take to give the next generation the tools and the agency to think for themselves.Because in a world increasingly shaped by algorithms and artificial intelligence, the most important skill we can give young people isn't the ability to find an answer. It's the ability to own one.

What if the goal of a disagreement isn’t to win it? Dr. Julia Minson, professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and founder of Disagreeing Better, LLC, joins host, Annie Duke, to explore why disagreements so often go wrong, and what it takes to have them go well. Julia explains why we each assume our own view is the reasonable one, and why that leads us to conclude that people who disagree must be uninformed, biased, or worse.This episode explores how asking why someone holds a belief helps you address the real disagreement, and how Julia’s HEAR framework helps others feel heard while you make your case. It also covers why teams need robust disagreement before committing to a decision, and how recognizing that others may have good reasons can help you change your mind when it matters.—--------------------------------------------------------This is The Decision Education Podcast, where we explore the science of decision-making with a diverse range of experts and offer practical strategies to transform our understanding of the role decisions play in our lives.

What if the most dangerous vulnerability in any network isn't a line of code, but a person who hasn't learned to question what they're being told? Vice Admiral Jan Tighe, one of the Navy's most decorated commanders and a pioneering career cryptologist, joins host, Annie Duke, to explore the intersection of cybersecurity, foreign manipulation, and the urgent case for Decision Education. Jan and Annie trace the arc from Cold War signals intelligence to today's AI-saturated information ecosystem, examining why protecting our networks means little if we haven't first strengthened our thinking.Key takeaways include why the greatest risk to any secure system is human behavior rather than technology, why decision makers consistently underweight future risk in favor of present convenience, and why teaching decision-making early in K-12 may be one of the most powerful tools we have for protecting the public from disinformation.—--------------------------------------------------------This is The Decision Education Podcast, where we explore the science of decision-making with a diverse range of experts and offer practical strategies to transform our understanding of the role decisions play in our lives.

What do we lose when a machine can think for us? Dr. Eric Horvitz, Chief Scientific Officer at Microsoft, joins host, Annie Duke, to explore what it really means for humans to stay "in the driver's seat" as headlines about an AI takeover proliferate the news. Drawing on decades of research into human-AI collaboration, Eric argues against the passive framing of an AI "takeover," making the case that governance, design, and clear values determine whether these tools sharpen human judgment or quietly erode it.Key takeaways from this episode include why today's best AI users are already experts in their fields without it, distinguishing nostalgia from genuine skill loss, and why understanding the difference between a good decision and a good outcome matters more as uncertainty rises.—--------------------------------------------------------This is The Decision Education Podcast, where we explore the science of decision-making with a diverse range of experts and offer practical strategies to transform our understanding of the role decisions play in our lives.

What if the biggest parenting mistake is following a script you never consciously chose? Corinne Low, associate professor of business economics and public policy at the Wharton School, joins host Annie Duke to explore how cultural expectations have turned parenting into an endless series of high-stakes decisions. Together, they unpack the hidden trade-offs behind today's parenting norms, the pressure to optimize every choice, and why the best decisions come from understanding your own values rather than following what’s trending on social media–or everyone else's definition of success.Key takeaways from this episode include why every decision has opportunity costs, how weighing trade-offs leads to better outcomes rather than chasing the "perfect" answer, and why stepping back to question default assumptions is one of the most powerful ways to make better decisions.—--------------------------------------------------------This is The Decision Education Podcast, where we explore the science of decision-making with a diverse range of experts and offer practical strategies to transform our understanding of the role decisions play in our lives.

Can you really put a number on what matters most? Barry Schwartz, emeritus professor of psychology at Swarthmore College and a visiting professor at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, joins host, Annie Duke, to challenge the idea that good decisions come only from spreadsheets, expected utility, or any framework that assumes one’s values can be weighed on a single scale. Drawing on his new book, Choose Wisely, Barry argues that rational choice theory can sometimes push people to rely on oversimplified frameworks that give us a false sense of certainty, when the real world is actually much messier and uncertain, and the decisions we make are more complex.Key takeaways from this episode include why understanding what matters most to you in a situation is the first step to making better decisions, how choosing from a large set of options reveals more about your values than choosing from a small set, and why luck and the quality of your decisions are the true determiners of how your life turns out.—--------------------------------------------------------This is The Decision Education Podcast, where we explore the science of decision-making with a diverse range of experts and offer practical strategies to transform our understanding of the role decisions play in our lives.

What if the same mindset that built a billion-dollar trading firm could change the way women relate to money, risk, and power? Jenny Just, co-founder of PEAK6 and founder of Poker Power, joins host, Annie Duke, to explore how a career built on options trading taught her that you don't have to win every time to have a winning strategy.Jenny reflects on the experiences that shaped her approach to risk, from building one of the world's most successful trading firms to learning how luck and skill interact in every important decision. She and Annie discuss why the best decision makers embrace a range of possible outcomes, how fear can be reframed into curiosity, why waiting for certainty is often the riskiest choice, and what poker teaches us about thinking strategically under uncertainty.Key takeaways from this episode include why good decisions can still produce bad outcomes, how practicing decisions builds better judgment, why understanding risk is more important than avoiding it, and how teaching decision-making through games like poker can help people, especially women, become more comfortable making high-stakes decisions in work, money, and life.—--------------------------------------------------------This is The Decision Education Podcast, where we explore the science of decision-making with a diverse range of experts and offer practical strategies to transform our understanding of the role decisions play in our lives.

Season 7 of The Decision Education Podcast unveils decision-making tips from experts in AI, risk, entrepreneurship, and the military. Host, Annie Duke, engages our guests in interesting discussions, in which they unpack their decision toolkits and share how the world might look different if we practiced decision-making skills from a younger age.

Why do we crave explanations—and what happens when they lead us astray? In this episode, our host, Annie Duke, sits down with cognitive scientist Tania Lombrozo to explore the psychology of “why.” From puzzling over everyday baking mishaps to big-picture questions about conspiracy theories, Tania unpacks how our drive to explain shapes what we believe, how we learn, and the choices we make. Together, Annie and Tania dive into strategies for better reasoning—like probabilistic thinking, generating alternative explanations, and shifting from “could it be true?” to “must it be true?”Key takeaways include why teaching is one of the most powerful learning tools, how to avoid the trap of “satisfying over correct” explanations, and what conspiracy thinking reveals about our deep discomfort with randomness.—--------------------------------------------------------This is The Decision Education Podcast, where we explore the science of decision-making with a diverse range of experts and offer practical strategies to transform our understanding of the role decisions play in our lives.

How do leaders in sports balance analytics with the human element? In this episode, our host, Annie Duke, welcomes Paraag Marathe, Chairman of Leeds United Football Club and President of 49ers Enterprises & Executive Vice President of Football Operations for the San Francisco 49ers. Together, they discuss how analytics-based decision-making helps to build successful sports teams. Paraag shares how Leeds United, a club with a rich history that has faced recent challenges, was transformed through decision science and strong leadership that prioritize long-term sustainability over short-term gains. He also stresses the importance of creating a safe environment that shields staff from external pressures, allowing them to focus on data-driven decisions that lead to lasting success.Key takeaways from this episode include why the emotional framing of decisions matters more than the decisions themselves, the challenges of aligning different time horizons and goals within an organization, and why being an analytics trailblazer requires support from top leadership.—--------------------------------------------------------This is The Decision Education Podcast, where we explore the science of decision-making with a diverse range of experts and offer practical strategies to transform our understanding of the role decisions play in our lives.