What avalanche safety training can teach corporate boards about bad decisions

When everyone agrees, that might be the biggest warning sign of all. Unanimous decisions often reveal as much about group dynamics as genuine agreement.

There is an unlikely field that studies this problem with unusual clarity: avalanche safety.

In avalanche safety training, there is one rule that overrides all others: if a single person in the group says “no,” everyone turns around. Corporate boards could learn something from that.

Corporate boards make some of the most consequential decisions in business ...