How The Pressure Of The Holidays Can Make You Better Under Pressure
As I’m writing this, the U.S. Thanksgiving weekend is just ending, and we’re all well into the throes of the holiday season. There’s nothing quite like the pressure of preparing a Thanksgiving dinner...
View ArticleHow To Produce Under Pressure Like A Concert Pianist
Last night I attended a performance by the Seattle Symphony of Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto. If you’ve ever seen the movie Shine, you know how daunting this piece is to a concert pianist. It’s a...
View ArticleWhy You Choke Under Pressure, And What To Do About It
Last night, I played keyboards in a band for a holiday party. I was playing songs that, for the most part, I hadn’t played in a year or more. There were several songs that I’d never played before. In...
View ArticleWill You Fail This Ultimate Leadership Test?
What is it that defines a truly great leader? Why is it that names like Joan of Arc, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Mother Teresa resonate throughout history, while countless others are...
View ArticleAre You Missing This Opportunity To Engage Your Customers?
What’s your story? Why are you in business? How did you start? What drove you to do what you do? If you work in a larger corporation, what’s their story? Do you know? Your story, and that of your...
View ArticleTry This Technique To Be Your Best Under Pressure
Do you have a Power Phrase? [You: “I ate a Power Bar for breakfast. Is that the same thing?” Me: “No.”] A Power Phrase is a concise phrase — one to five words — that encapsulates your highest self, the...
View ArticleThis Is What Leadership Really Is
Leadership is, at times, an honor, a burden, a privilege, a headache, a riddle, a mirror, a crisis, and a joy. Sometimes it’s two or more of these at the same time. But leadership is first, foremost,...
View ArticleDo You Trust Your Team When It’s Crunch Time?
I still remember the first time it happened. The first time I went home on a Friday night thinking, “We don’t have a show.” You see, for roughly 15 years, Saturday was show day for me and my team....
View ArticleWhy The Most Accomplished People Are Also The Laziest
So there was that time when I told 500 geniuses to stop being so mentally lazy. I was the opening keynoter for the annual convention of Mensa, the high IQ society. [Full disclosure: I’m also a member....
View ArticleHow To Tell If You’re Under Stress Or Under Pressure
Like you, I often hear people say, “Oh, I’m under so much pressure!” When I hear this, I generally ask them what’s going on. And often the answer is something like, “Oh, nothing specific. Politics,...
View ArticleWhy You Need To Be Challenging Your Team More
You are surrounded by ingenuity that you’re not taking advantage of. Probably. Most leaders are. And the reason most leaders are is actually pretty simple. It’s because most leaders spend too much time...
View ArticleWhy (and What) You Need To Be Reading If You Want To Be Leading
My favorite quotation (and yes, the word is “quotation;” “quote” is a verb, thank you) from Harry S Truman (and no, there’s no period after the “S,” because it’s not an abbreviation; “S” was his entire...
View ArticleHow Burning Dinner Can Make You Better Under Pressure
I burned the broccolini last night. As world crises go, this was pretty minor. Still, it served as a useful metaphor for producing under pressure. (Hey, it was useless as a side dish, so I had to do...
View ArticleHow To Survive When You Have To Make An Unpopular Decision
It happens to every leader — every real leader. A situation comes up, and a decision has to be made. Half of your team wants to go one way; the other half wants to go another way. There are good...
View ArticleIs It Stress Or Is It Pressure? Why You Need To Know
“I’m so stressed out! Can you help me?” I get that a lot, particularly when people hear that one of my areas of expertise is helping people produce under pressure. It’s a fair question, but an...
View ArticleWhy You Need To Care About Creativity
I’m continually astounded by how short-sighted some leaders are. Let me tell you what I mean. Last week, I was booked by the CEO of an organization that wants me to keynote their annual conference in...
View ArticleChange One Thing To Produce Better Results Under Pressure
John Hypothetical has a big exam coming up, and there’s a lot riding on the outcome. He prepares well for the exam, but he’s understandably nervous. When the big day arrives, he can feel his heart...
View ArticleHow Influential Are You As A Leader?
There’s a lot of pressure on the leader. There’s the pressure of the clock. The pressure of the boss. The pressure of the stakeholders. The pressure of results. There’s a lot of pressure on the leader....
View ArticleIs Your Lack Of Confidence Killing Your Success?
Do you like roller coasters? I like roller coasters. Not everyone does, but I do. The ups and downs, the ins and outs. The steep climbs and the sharp drops. I like roller coasters. Literal roller...
View ArticleHow To Conquer Pressure Like A Brain Surgeon
Some people would say that I have a high-pressure job. I’m a professional speaker. My job is to do what, to most people, is their number one fear: speaking in public. In a few days, I’ll be speaking to...
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