Embracing Leadership Pressure: A Path to Growth and Excellence

Understanding Leadership Pressure

Leadership creates pressure. In the Netflix series The Playbook, Doc Rivers shares the philosophy that inspired the Boston Celtics to a championship and his response to racism while coaching the Los Angeles Clippers.

One valuable lesson he imparts is that "pressure is a privilege."

What is the alternative to leadership pressure? No productive conflict? No aligned goals? No board meetings? No difficult customers? As an executive coach, I often speak with leaders. A common theme is the immense pressure they face.

Leaders can quickly feel overwhelmed by the complex and fast-paced digital business environment. Stress is a serious issue for many in leadership roles. A recent global study of CEOs and C-suite executives found that 56% are burned out, up 52% from the previous year. Leading successful organizations creates personal and professional situations that heighten stress.

It may seem logical to view pressure as a negative to be avoided, but should you? Here are three reasons to embrace the leadership journey, including the pressure it brings, along with four tips for making better decisions under pressure.

"A soft, easy life is not worth living if it impairs the fiber of brain and heart and muscle. We must dare to be great, and we must realize that greatness is the fruit of toil and sacrifice and high courage." — Theodore Roosevelt

Reason 1: Pressure Accelerates Change

One reason to embrace pressure is that it accelerates change, and leadership is fundamentally about change. In the book Leading Change, renowned change management expert John Kotter emphasizes that overcoming complacency requires a sense of urgency.

Leaders in a fast-changing world must articulate their vision while remaining open to necessary adjustments due to the world's turbulence. Leading change creates pressure and stressful situations.

Research from UC Berkeley shows that while too little or too much stress can cause anxiety and health issues, a moderate amount of stress can enhance performance and health. Pressure drives leaders and organizations to explore new directions and reject the status quo.

No organization wants to remain stagnant. Pressure serves as a powerful change agent for leaders eager to accelerate transformation.

Reason 2: Pressure Creates Learning

Leaders and organizations must learn at a pace that matches change. Continuous learning is essential because the future is unpredictable. You are either ripe and rotting or green and growing.

But shouldn't the learning process be free from stress?

A foundational study on learning found that an element of struggle significantly enhances long-term retention. While pressure may slow the learning rate temporarily, it ultimately improves retention and the transfer of knowledge.

Pressure creates desirable difficulties, enhancing the opportunity for personal and professional growth.

"Usually, if you have tremendous pressure, it’s because an opportunity comes along. Give me the ball. Give me the problem to solve. Let’s figure this out. Let’s go." — Billie Jean King

Reason 3: Pressure Creates Purpose

High-pressure situations reveal more about who you are than your specific skills. Often, it takes the pressure of a crisis to break away from the routine. Pressure challenges assumptions about our purpose or the organization's purpose.

Living a life of purpose is unparalleled. Studies show that leading with purpose results in higher personal satisfaction, performance, innovation, and economic growth.

"Don't aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater." — Viktor Frankl

How to Make Your Best Decision Under Pressure

The way you approach decisions under pressure can significantly impact the outcomes for you and those you lead. Here are four tips to help you make your best decisions:

Decision-Making Tip 1: Visualize the Desired Outcome

Athletes often visualize themselves successfully achieving their goals before events. Numerous studies link creative visualization to improved performance, goal achievement, and stress management. Research supports that creative practice boosts our confidence and competence.

Check out this short video from an Olympic athlete on the power of mental imagery.

Decision-Making Tip 2: Be Curious

Asking questions can reveal alternative scenarios. The field of strategic foresight offers tools that help leaders see around corners, leading to greater confidence and competence in decision-making.

Tools like the Futures Wheel, STEEPLE, and scenario planning can help leaders and organizations break free from a fixed mindset.

Decision-Making Tip 3: Don't Get Stuck on Stupid

One of my favorite leadership quotes comes from a military commander who served after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. The community was paralyzed and lacked direction. In an interview, the commander stated he didn't know what specific time frames looked like but could guarantee that recovery operations would not be "stuck on stupid."

Leaders who are action-oriented and make decisions for the right reasons can overcome the fear of failure that often accompanies pressure.

Decision-Making Tip 4: Avoid Isolation

Many leaders report that their organizations do not provide the support needed to manage increasing stress levels. A leadership coach facilitates experimentation and self-discovery by applying insights from coaching conversations. Skillful executive coaching enables you to "dance in the present moment" and take necessary actions aligned with your values.

Modern organizations resemble pressure cookers. Effective leadership acts as a pressure control valve, releasing pressure to prevent catastrophic failures while increasing it when necessary to maximize performance.

The reality of a volatile work environment, leadership pressure isn’t something to escape—it’s something to understand and manage well. The leaders who thrive over time don’t carry the pressure alone or ignore it; they create space to think clearly, test assumptions, and decide with intention rather than reaction. In a volatile environment, clarity becomes a competitive advantage.

Where might you be experiencing leadership pressure right now—and what decisions would benefit from slowing down long enough to think clearly?

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References:

• Bjork, E. L., & Bjork, R. A. (2011). Making things hard on yourself, but in a good way: Creating desirable difficulties to enhance learning.

• Campbell, M., Baltes, J.I., Martin, A., & Meddings, K. (2019). The stress of leadership. Center for Creative Leadership.

• DDI. 2023 Global Leadership Forecast. Development Dimensions International.

• Doolittle, J. (2023). Life-Changing Leadership Habits: 10 Proven Principles That Will Elevate People, Profit, and Purpose. Organizational Talent Consulting.

• Ekeocha, T. (2015). The effects of visualization and guided imagery in sports performance.

• Kotter, J. P. (2012). Leading change. Harvard Business Review Press.

• Ottesen, K. (2019). Tennis icon Billie Jean King on fighting for equal pay for women: Pressure is a privilege. The Washington Post.

• Pomerantz (Eds.) & FABBS Foundation, Psychology and the real world: Essays illustrating fundamental contributions to society (p. 56–64). Worth Publishers.

• Powell, A. (2018). When science meets mindfulness. The Harvard Gazette.

• Quinn, R. E., & Thakor, A. V. (2019). The economics of higher purpose: Eight counterintuitive steps for creating a purpose-driven organization. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Incorporated.

• Sanders, R. (2013). Researchers find out why some stress is good for you. Berkley News.