High-Stakes Fields
Where Purpose Meets Pressure, and the Cost of Caring Runs Deep
By Michelle LukenJanuary 2025
At Canary & Willow, I serve highly attuned professionals working in any industry, with a special interest in educating and empowering those working in what I consider high-stakes fields.
What is a High-Stakes Field?
A high-stakes field is any industry or profession responsible for protecting the safety, freedom, life, health, or well-being of others. It is a profession in which both mission success and mission failure can significantly change the lives of others.
This article focuses on some of the following highest stakes fields, industries, and professions: the military, law enforcement, emergency response, and healthcare. However, there are many other industries that are high-stakes in their own right. Examples include early childhood education and administration, social activism, politics, and the legal profession. Additionally, some could argue that a high-stakes field is in the eye of the beholder. In other words, to a certain extent, if someone perceives or believes their work to be particularly risky and impactful for others, that is what matters most to me. After all, perception is reality.
What Many of These Fields Have in Common
Nature of the Job
Professionals in these fields receive extensive training to perform highly technical and/or risky procedures, drills, and tasks. They are often expected to juggle a broad range of tasks at the same time, often in dangerous, austere, and/or unpredictable environments. Even when operating in a safe or stable environment, the stakes are high in that someone else’s safety, freedom, life, health or well-being is on the line.
Surely, I gravitate toward this population because of my experience as a Highly Attuned Professional in these fields. In my 16 years as an Occupational Therapist, I’ve cared for many patients with extensive traumatic injuries, life-altering cancer diagnoses, and invisible mental health disorders. During my 10 years of service in the U.S. Army, I was on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic and cared for countless other service members, including those injured in the line of duty. I have experienced firsthand what it’s like to be highly attuned when the stakes are high, and it can be a lot to process!
Oath of Service
Many high-stakes professions also involve an oath of service and some require a service obligation - a contracted commitment to serve/work for the organization for a certain period of time. These professionals must adhere to high standards of conduct and may face significant professional and/or personal consequences when they do not.
Organizational Values
These professionals also adopt organizational values, such as loyalty, duty, honor, and selfless service. While these values are mission-critical in many ways, they have a way of further “upping the ante.”
Strong Sense of Purpose and Identity
Over time, I’ve observed that many professionals in these industries (myself included) consider their work as more than just a job. It is a calling for many. Even for those who don’t consider it a calling, their service typically becomes an important part of their identity. This is great in that a strong identity reflects a strong sense of personal purpose and often translates into the ability to serve others.
While some might overlook and consider this as something that “comes with the territory” of serving in these professions, I believe that having a strong sense of identity and purpose tied to one’s work significantly raises the personal stakes of their profession. This becomes particularly relevant when one experiences a significant or sudden shift or change. For example, a firefighter retiring after decades of service, a patrol (police) officer reassigned to desk duty, a surgeon who experiences a career-ending hand injury, a soldier separating from the military after being passed over for promotion.
The Impact of High-Stakes Fields on Highly Attuned Professionals
While these aspects of high-stakes fields help to produce hard-working professionals, high-quality service, and outcomes, they come with a cost. In my experience, those most likely to pay the price are Highly Attuned Professionals. Their empathy, depth of processing, and ability to take in the entirety of their surroundings make them especially prone to emotional exhaustion and burnout. Read more about the strengths and needs of Highly Attuned Professionals and Leaders in my other articles From Canary in the Coalmine to Canary on the Front Lines and The Willow’s Strength.
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