Decision-Making in Government: Why It’s So Hard — and What to Do About It
Featuring:
Jonathan Allen, Executive Vice President - Decision Lens
& John Saaty, Co-founder & CEO - Decision Lens
On January 20, 2025, as the new president took office, his administration launched an unprecedented overhaul of the executive branch — slashing some agency budgets by 50–70%, eliminating thousands of federal jobs, and offering many employees buyouts through the Deferred Resignation Program (DRP). Since then, we have seen a shutdown, sweeping reorganizations, and further cuts still unfolding. At the same time, rapid advances in artificial intelligence and other technologies are transforming the landscape, creating powerful new ways for leaders to harness data. These major forces have resulted in an environment unlike anything government has faced before. Amid this upheaval, government leaders must deliberately cultivate decision-making as a core competency — a capability with outsized impact on their ability to achieve their mission.
This session explores the external forces reshaping decisions in government, the internal systems and structures that enable (or constrain) them, and the human biases that subtly shape outcomes. With a particular focus on strategy and resource allocation, we’ll examine a practical model and guiding principles for strengthening decision-making capabilities — helping leaders navigate uncertainty, allocate resources more effectively, and make decisions that truly move the mission forward.
In addition to Jonathan Allen, we’ll be joined by John Saaty, Co-founder and CEO of Decision Lens. John brings a unique perspective on how decision science moves from theory into real-world planning and prioritization—especially at scale. His work has shaped how large organizations, including public-sector leaders, make trade-offs and allocate resources under uncertainty.
Having both perspectives in the same session—one grounded in decision practice and one in building decision systems that actually get used—will make this a richer, more dynamic conversation than originally planned.