Dr. Sidney Dekker on the Resilient Performance Podcast

Dr. Sidney Dekker was born near Amsterdam in the Netherlands. He studied psychology at the University of Nijmegen, now known as Radboud University, where he was ranked among its famous alumni. After completing his Masters’ Degree in Organizational Psychology from Nijmegen, he pursued a Masters’ in Experimental Psychology at Leiden University, also in the Netherlands. Four years later, he earned his PhD in Cognitive Systems Engineering from The Ohio State University in the USA, where he worked with his advisors Prof. David Woods and Dr. Charles Billings. Since his PhD, Sidney has gained worldwide acclaim for his groundbreaking work on human error and safety. He was previously at Lund University in Sweden as Professor where he founded the Leonardo da Vinci Laboratory for Complexity and Systems Thinking, as well as an MSc in Human Factors and System Safety. He has also been a Senior Fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and Honorary Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, and visiting Professor of Community Health Science at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba, in Canada.

Topics Covered Include:

1. Limitations of the broken part model in complex systems
2. How and when should we draw boundaries in complex systems
3. How much is knowable in a complex system
4. Avoiding the pitfalls of blame culture while maintaining individual accountability
5. How to promote diversity of thought/global thinking in a specialized industry (e.g. aviation, medicine)
6. When it comes to safety, what should we measure vs. not measure
7. What are the drawbacks of risk aversion and valuing the wrong metrics
8. Concrete risk mitigation strategies

Links of Interest:

• Sidney’s Website