Why Your Safest Decisions Are the Most Expensive Ones
Hosted by Dr S Shah
Wed, May 20, 2026
5:30 PM UTC (1 hour)
Virtual (Zoom)
Free to join
Go deeper with a course

Wed, May 20, 2026
5:30 PM UTC (1 hour)
Virtual (Zoom)
Free to join
Go deeper with a course

What you'll learn
Spot defensive decisions in yourself before you make them
Diagnose the fear-driven patterns shaping your decisions.
Leave with a structural countermeasure you'll use this week.
Why this topic matters
You'll learn from
Dr S Shah
Decision Strategist | Speaker | Founder-Educator
I spent years researching a single paradox: why defensive decisions made under pressure so often create the very outcomes leaders were trying to prevent. This became the foundation of my decision-making framework, the Defensive Decision Paradox.
Since 2016, I’ve run my own education company, Learning Brains, where I’ve taught, built programmes, and made real business decisions under pressure. I’ve also experienced the cost of fear-driven choices firsthand, giving the framework both academic depth and practical relevance.
As a PepTalk speaker, I share ideas on fear, pressure, and judgment at work.
I also live with a metabolic condition that creates physiological anxiety without cause, teaching me that the urgency of fear is rarely reliable evidence of the true stakes.
University of Bath
