Military decisions carry high consequences, often life or death. An artillery shell or an anti-aircraft missile launched in the wrong circumstances can have devastating results. Similar life-and-death decisions are a daily occurrence for many medical staff, firefighters and police. These decisions, and the process for making them, are the subject of Dirk Maclean’s Shoot, Don’t Shoot.
The book uses historical military events to illustrate the concept of high consequence decision-making with the aim of giving military and emergency services personnel the ability to determine if their decision-making processes are on track or are at risk of failure. The associated training program gives personnel the confidence to step in and prevent a catastrophic outcome. As expertise and knowledge can reside at all levels of any organisation, Dirk’s book encourages even the most junior person in a team to speak up rather than shut up.
Shoot, Don’t Shoot provides a framework for dealing in environments where the consequences of decisions and errors can be catastrophic.