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It is generally accepted that success breeds confidence, and confidence increases the ability to handle pressure. And yet, as the experiences of Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka have shown this year, the story is not so simple. While success can indeed breed confidence, it can also increase visibility, multiply expectations, and raise pressure to unhealthy levels over time. When you are leading star performers, you need to recognize the double-edged nature of success and help them do two things: keep the stakes of failure in perspective and manage the volume of demands for their time.
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In response to the increase in volume, Osaka — like all of us — had two choices: accommodate more or eliminate the volume that was creating the most pressure. She chose the latter, which is exactly the right response to pressure that comes from volume.
As leaders, we can ai...
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Understanding the burden of status requires understanding what creates pressure.
Dane Jensen, author of the book “The Power of Pressure” has, for the past three years, conducted research into pressure with hundreds of high performers in sports, business, medicine, and the ...
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In short, players who have the skill but not yet the status that comes with winning a major award performed far better than those who had both the skill and the status. Status, it turns out, can be a burden.
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So, if you’re the coach, you want your superstars taking these shots, right? Not necessarily. Researcher Geir Jordet studied 366 kicks from 37 penalty shootouts held at the world’s largest soccer tournaments. His counterintuitive
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Following her decision to withdraw from the Olympics’ team final in gymnastics, Simone Biles laid bare exactly how high the stakes were for her: “We hope America still loves us,”
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As success and visibility accumulate, the stakes in high pressure situations expand from tangible things like medals or compensation and begin to encompass existential things like identity and self-worth. Leading or coaching highly successful performers t...
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Such questions force us to challenge our view of what’s in play when confronting a high-pressure challenge and thus broaden our perspective to see those stakes in balance alongside all the things that are not affected by our performance.
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When Norwegian speed-skater Johann Koss found himself overwhelmed by pressure in the lead-up to his first Olympic Games in 1994, his sports psychologist did just that. The psychologist methodically worked through with him all of what wasn’t at stake: his future career as a doctor, Norway...
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If something is hurting performance, is detached from growth, and is not linked to regret, it’s a source of pressure that likely should be eliminated or redirected from your stars to other team members.
Few of us will ever know the pressure of carrying the expectat...
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Even the greatest performers feel pressure more than you might think. Consider the penalty kick in soccer. The stakes for each shot are immense, and players are expected to score; a miss is considered a failure. Beyond losing the game, players who miss high-profile shots often fa...
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Jensen has found that pressure is a function of three things:
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As you work through the stakes with someone, play the role of challenger. For example, at a key moment Koss’ sport psychologist asked, “Do you think the Norwegian people care whether you or another Norwegian win a medal?” This push caused Johann to admit that, no, the Norwegian p...
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A reminder that pressure is not only felt, it is also laden - sometimes we are laden with it, sometimes we lade it on others
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