Most business leaders can take only so much pressure before their performance slides. Yet some CEOs deliver their greatest successes when times get toughest—when customers’ preferences are shifting away from a company’s products, when new regulations are shrinking profit margins, when political unrest is destroying supply lines.
In Better Under Pressure , Justin Menkes reveals the common traits that make these leaders successful. Drawing on in-depth interviews with sixty CEOs from an array of industries and performance data from two hundred other leaders, Menkes shows that great executives strive relentlessly to maximize their own potential—as well as stoke their people’s innate thirst for their own triumphs. To do so, they draw on a set of three essential and rare attributes:
• Realistic optimism: They recognize the risks threatening their organization’s survival—and their own failings—while remaining confident in their ability to have an impact.
• Subservience to purpose: They dedicate themselves to pursuing a noble cause and win their team’s commitment to that cause.
• Finding order in chaos: They find clarity amid the many variables affecting their business by culling data and forming the conclusions that matter most to the company.
The good news: these three capabilities can be learned. Drawing on a broad range of examples from real companies—including Avon, Yum Brands, Southwest, Procter & Gamble, and Ryerson Steel, to name just a few—Menkes demonstrates how each psychological attribute manifests itself in real life and enables top performance under extreme duress. He also shows you how to develop and deploy those attributes—so you can transform yourself into a leader who only shines brighter as the pressure intensifies.
Deeply personal, brimming with compelling stories from real-life CEOs, and packed with powerful insights, tools, and practices, this book is a potent resource for aspiring, emerging, and seasoned business leaders alike.

Menkes, Justin

Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business Press

United States, United States of America

Boston, Mass, Massachusetts, 2011

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Most business leaders can take only so much pressure before their performance slides. Yet some CEOs deliver their greatest successes when times get toughest. In "Better Under Pressure", Justin Menkes reveals their secrets. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 60 CEOs from an array of industries, Menkes shows that great leaders strive relentlessly to maximize their own as well as their people's potential and possess three cornerstone attributes: (1) Realistic optimism: They recognize the risks threatening their organization's survival, yet remain confident that the company will prevail, (2) Subservience to purpose: They dedicate themselves to pursuing a noble cause, and win their team's commitment to that cause, and (3) Finding order in chaos: They find clarity amid the many variables affecting their business and cull data to form the conclusions that matter most to the company. Menkes demonstrates how each attribute manifests in real life and enables top performance under extreme duress. And he shows how to deploy those attributes to become a leader who only shines under pressure

xii, 191 p. ; 25 cm
Includes bibliographical references and index
Great leadership in a world of ongoing duress -- Learning how to realize potential -- Realistic optimism : awareness of actual circumstances -- Realistic optimism : a sense of agency -- Subservience to purpose : affiliations based on shared dedication -- Subservience to purpose : affect tolerance -- Finding order in chaos : driven to solve the puzzle -- Setting the virtuous flywheel in motion

Most business leaders can take only so much pressure before their performance slides. Yet some CEOs deliver their greatest successes when times get toughest. This title reveals their secrets. It draws on interviews with 150 CEOs from an array of industries.

2023-06-28