During my years as a member of an airline crew, I found pilots something of an enigma: they often seemed reserved and difficult to get to know. My apologies to the pilots reading this—that was my impression, not a judgment of their personalities. Watching Season 2 of Nathan Fielder’s The Rehearsal brought that impression back to mind. In exploring why planes crash, Fielder examines a communication problem that also appears in workplaces: people recognize a risk but hesitate to challenge someone with more authority. The cockpit voice recordings he uses include examples of first officers raising concerns that captains did not act on before fatal crashes. He also notes how solitary pilots’ work can be; some meet for the first time just before flying across the Atlantic together.
Fielder’s central premise turns on the gap between recognizing danger and openly challenging a captain’s decision. For first officers, hierarchy, fear of seeming difficult, and weak interpersonal rapport can make that challenge harder—even when they believe the decision is dangerous. The season explores how those barriers can leave a concern unspoken, with serious consequences.
Think of a time when you hesitated to raise a concern or disagree with a senior leader. Were you worried about seeming difficult? Now consider the role of rapport: have you missed an opportunity to build a relationship with a colleague, then found that your perspective was not heard or considered?
Speaking up under pressure takes practice, not just awareness. That is a valuable training lesson from the show: knowing you should raise a concern is different from being able to do it in the moment. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has similarly recommended role-play or simulator exercises in which junior crew members practice asserting concerns and leaders practice responding supportively. The rationale is that lecture-only training does not adequately build those behaviors.
Here are the practical behaviors I took away from The Rehearsal:
Coach team members to use a simple escalation sequence when wanting their voice to be heard:
- Name the observable fact: “The client has not approved the revised specification.”
- State the risk: “Proceeding could create rework and margin exposure.”
- Recommend an action: “I recommend pausing production until written approval.”
- Seek an explicit decision: “Do you want to proceed, pause, or escalate?”
- Escalate respectfully if unresolved: “I remain concerned, so I need to involve the project sponsor before we commit.”
For managers, the responsibility is twofold: invite challenges and receive them constructively. Establish a “challenge and response” norm by asking, “What am I missing?”, requiring a dissenting view on consequential decisions, and responding without defensiveness—even when you ultimately choose a different path. Aviation crew resource management (CRM) frames assertiveness as inquiry, advocacy, and assertion, not aggression; it expects people in authority to give and receive challenges constructively. Fielder illustrates these complementary roles through a training role-play featuring Captain All Ears, who welcomes feedback, and First Officer Blunt, who communicates directly and clearly.
The lesson reaches beyond the cockpit: speaking up and listening well are shared responsibilities. Build rapport before a difficult conversation arises, stay open to incoming information and feedback, and make your voice heard—especially when you see a risk.
