Chris Brown is in human risk management and practice is set in backcountry snow. He grew up outside of Philadelphia and after graduating with a degree in Urban Design/Architecture, he moved to Utah to pursue certification with the AMGA (American Mountain Guides Association) in avalanche training. 


Chris works as a ski guide and avalanche/snow science professional, but his real job is helping skiers overcome their biases. He incorporates the work of Kahneman and Tversky, Richard Thaler and other great researchers into his classes and we found his intentionality in decision making noteworthy.


We had a great conversation with Chris and we also want to express our gratitude to friend and colleague, Ben Granlund, for connecting us with Chris. Ben attended one of Chris’ classes and found it so engaging that he referred us to Chris. Ben was also delighted that Chris relies heavily on behavioral science and reminds us that the biggest threat to your life in avalanche country is your own decision making.


After our recording stopped, we discussed Guide Services for training. If you are interested, check out AMGA (amga.com) and the American Avalanche Association: https://www.americanavalancheassociation.org/


 


Links

Chris Brown Email: [email protected] 


Chris Brown Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cbskiclimb/ 


Ian McCammon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKeoF53syKw


Phil Tetlock “Super Forecasters”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV5Gicb66WA


Familiarity Bias: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Familiarity_heuristic


Expert Halo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_effect


System 1 / System 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow


Premortem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-mortem


Bruce Tremper: https://backcountrymagazine.com/stories/video-avalanche-expert-bruce-tremper-risk/


Bayesian Decision Making: https://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Bayesian_decision_theory


First Tracks: https://www.boston.com/culture/ski-guru/2012/01/31/its_all_about_f


Laurence Gonzales “Deep Survival”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTyfvOrEm1w


Wicked Learning Environments: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/5c5d/33b858eaf38f6a14b3f042202f1f44e04326.pdf


Daniel Kahneman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Kahneman


The Tao of Wu: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tao_of_Wu


 


Kurt Nelson: @motivationguru


Tim Houlihan: @THoulihan


 


Musical Links

Hip Hop: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_hop


Reggae: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggae


Classical Music: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_music


Death Metal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_metal


Steel Pulse: https://steelpulse.com/


Wu Tang Clan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBwAxmrE194


MadLib: https://www.stonesthrow.com/madlib


Gang Starr: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/gang-starr-guru-bad-name-video-909996/


John Coltrane: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH3mb3oXCpw


Marcus Miller: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kCi-SsYD5s


Stanley Clarke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcuigwtdzS4


Bela Fleck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWIfFIEeZjw


Victor Wooten: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzL4BkqmzDQ


Herbie Hancock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHhD4PD75zY