Chicago Booth Review Podcast What a missing cat tells us about high-stakes situations
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Feb 11, 2026 Lisa Stefanik, a leadership and organizational behavior expert at Chicago Booth who advises leaders on high-stakes responses. She tells the missing cat story and other real-world examples. Listens on how stress narrows focus, triggers fight/flight/freeze patterns, and cascades through teams. Offers practical ways to notice hijacked reactions, slow down, and de-escalate tense situations.
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What Defines High Stakes
- High-stakes settings involve significant consequences to safety, career, or reputation and often include urgency or uncertainty.
- Perceived high stakes feel as real as objective ones, so dismissing someone's feelings as "not important" won't help.
How High Stakes Change Behavior
- High stakes narrow cognitive flexibility and push people toward heroic or shadow modes of behavior.
- Heroic modes can fix problems, while shadow modes lead to attack, blame, or withdrawal that harm teams.
The Missing Cat That Raised Stakes
- Lisa Stefanik cared for a friend's 13-year-old declawed cat, Brittany, who escaped three days later and triggered her into 'fix' mode.
- Her husband stayed calm and waited, which created conflict until the cat returned that evening.