There is an important difference between PRIORITIES and PREFERENCES. The most common SWAT example I see where these are conflated is on hostage calls. When responding to hostage incidents, without question the preferred resolution is a negotiated surrender. A successful negotiated surrender has a 100% guarantee that no one will be harmed. Tactical intervention, on the other hand, has a risk that the hostage may be harmed, a police officer may be injured, and force will be required against the suspect. When a commander should proceed with negotiation versus tactical is not an easy calculation. ❌ While negotiation is preferred, we have to ask what it looks like if it fails. Often, it means a hostage is killed by the suspect and tactical intervention is necessary anyway to try to render aid. So you still have all the risks of tactical intervention, but it's often late, and there is a significant reduction (if not elimination) of the potential to achieve the priority to save the hostage. If the commander misconstrues the *preferred* negotiation resolution as a *priority*, or mistakes the *priority* of rescuing a hostage as being merely a *preference*, good decision making becomes impossible. ❇️Priorities are outcome-focused and linked to your mission. They are WHAT you must accomplish. ❇️Preferences are process-focused and linked to your manner of execution. They are HOW you hope to be able accomplish your mission. If we fail to achieve our priorities, it means we failed our mission. But if we don't get our preference in how to achieve our priorities, that can still be okay. There's always another way, even if less desirable. We can pick what our priorities are. But we can't pick if we get to carry out our preferred plan. We don't control all of the variables, and external factors (like the suspect's decisions) will determine the means by which we will have to accomplish our mission. ❌ If we mistake our preferences to be priorities, then we risk failing the mission as we will be hyper-focused on doing it only one way. We eliminate all of our flexibility, and by the time we realize it, it is often too late. ❌ If we relegate our priorities to be only preferences, then we will too easily allow other considerations to eclipse our mission. Risk and uncertainty will erode our resolve. Failing to delineate our priorities and our preferences is a key error in high-consequence decision making. It's not easy to firmly establish our priorities and then be willing to accept that we might not get our preference in how we achieve our mission. But if you work in high-consequence environments, it is a crucial skill to learn.