Better Under Pressure

Today, I’m talking to Marcia Gay Harden. An actress with 40 years’ experience on film, TV and Broadway, Marcia has won many awards including an Oscar and a Tony in a career that lists cult films like Miller’s Crossing, Pollock and Mystic River. She’s featured in (and been nominated for) many of her performances in TV shows like, The Newsroom, Uncoupled and - one of my personal favourites - The Morning Show.  
Outside acting, her book, The Seasons of My Mother: A Memoir of Love, Family, and Flowers details her bond with her mother as they travelled the world, and how they dealt with her mother's Alzheimer's disease. 

She is a vocal supporter of LGBTQ+ and is on the advisory board of Hearts of Gold, a New York charity that supports homeless women and their children.

In our conversation - which is longer than normal by the way - Marcia shares:
- Why her children go mad when she takes her work home
- What the young Marcia would do when her father was coming home
- And why, for her, the key to freedom is preparation.

 

Outline📍
00:00 Intro
04:13 Work with Pressure
06:54 The first time you felt Pressure
09:22 How is pressure manifesting in your life now?
14:36 Prioritizing and making decisions under intense pressure: How do you do that?
19:22 How do you find space for you?
24:48 Turning pressure into growth: How to keep it enlivening and avoid burnout?
29:36 Director's pressure leadership and fostering actor energy control on set
33:54 Pushing beyond comfort zones for growth: How does a bigger purpose drive motivation?
37:45 Insight 1: Lessons learned
41:16 Rising with Pressure
46:01 Managing performance pressure on set: What's your process?
58:36 Juggling various pressures: How do you manage them simultaneously?
01:12:03 Insight 1: Lessons learned
01:14:33 What 2 pieces of advice would you pass forward on how to be better under pressure?
01:23:03 Outro

In this episode, I’m talking to Daniel Priestley, entrepreneur, author and speaker. 

Since the age of 21, he has started, bought and sold multiple businesses in training, publishing, IT services and tech. 

He’s written best-selling books like Key Person of Influence, Oversubscribed and Entrepreneur Revolution - and is known for his work on entrepreneurship and business development, offering practical advice to entrepreneurs on scaling their business, personal branding and becoming influential within their industries. 

In our conversation, Daniel discusses...

• The pressure of going through a buy-out
• What it’s like when your business goes from zero to a million in 12 months
• And why it should all be ‘fun and games’.

Outline📍
00:00 Intro
02:39 How do you experience pressure now?
08:12 What was the worst pressure that you ever experienced?
13:43 You can grow with pressure
17:00 How do you stay in positive pressure?
18:38 Insight 1: Lessons learned
20:46 Coaching entrepreneurs for rapid growth and personal fulfilment: How do you manage the dynamic?
28:53 Biggest piece of advice to entrepreneurs under extreme pressure
34:08 Different types of working hard
36:02 Pressure, Emotional Regulation, Education - Insights for the Future
45:48 Insight 2: Lessons learned
47:31 What 2 things would you pay forward to others wanting to be better under pressure?
50:59 Outro

In this episode, I’m talking to Charlotte Cox, President Emea at Pentland Brands. With over 20 years of commercial experience - during which time she has had leadership roles for sporting brands like Canterbury of New Zealand, Mitre and Speedo – Charlotte has won regional awards such as Business Woman of the Year in 2019 and was a Future is Female European winner in 2020.

Charlotte’s ambition is to get more people to support their mental and physical well-being by increasing participation in sports and outdoor activities. She’s also been instrumental in the development and delivery of the Pentland Brands global diversity and inclusion strategy. 

In our conversation, Charlotte shares…

• What stopped her from picking up the telephone as a child
• How team sports show up in business
• And how she managed to reel in one of her colleagues with fishing

Outline📍
00:00 Intro
02:38 When do you remember first experiencing pressure?
06:29 How does a shy girl handle the pressure of a show?
11:47 How do you identify and manage pressure when it starts to mount?
17:20 Insight 1: Lessons learned
20:01 Promoting active listening and self-awareness in others
28:14 How do integrity and kindness allow you to show up better?
31:01 The preparation of “You”
35:59 What was the worst pressure you have ever felt?
38:44 How do you manage personal and professional pressure?
40:47 Insight 2: Lessons learned
45:46 What 2 pieces of advice would you pass forward to be better under pressure?

In this episode, I’m talking to Amanda Brennan, a coach and trainer of actors in Film, Television and Theatre. She runs an MA course in Screen Acting at Central School of Speech & Drama and is the author of two books, The Energetic Performer, published in 2016, and The Craft of Screen Acting, due out in 2024.  Amanda has also produced films that have been screened at the Raindance, Sundance and London Film Festivals.  She has most recently coached actors in TV shows like The Crown and Sex Education as well as forthcoming films like The Yellow Tie starring John Malkovich and Miranda Richardson.

In our conversation, Amanda discusses…

• What she learnt from standing in the rain for half an hour
• What she can tell from looking at someone’s feet…
• And why the training for actors can be applied to all of us /everyone to perform better under pressure.

Outline📍
00:00 Intro
02:52 Do you remember when you felt pressure for the first time?
06:51 Do you still do self-reliance when you feel pressure?
09:17 Did you learn specific techniques for reflection, or do you generally apply the principles under pressure?
18:02 Do you teach that process before nerves kick in or when adrenaline rushes in pressured situations?
27:51 Taking the moment to be
40:07 Insight 1: Lessons learned
43:31 What was the worst pressure you ever experienced?
47:48 What do you see that leaders do, in moments of high pressure, that you think is really helpful?
54:44 What are your non-negotiables for being at your best?
56:38 How do you help actors manage pressure when they're not working?
01:03:17 Insight 2: Lessons learned

In this episode, I’m talking to Andy Salmon CMG and CBE who was a Royal Marine for 36 years. 

A former Commandant General Head of service, his front-line work included the Falklands War, Sierra Leone, the Kurdish humanitarian crisis in Northern Iraq, the Civil War in Angola and lastly as Commanding General of Coalition Forces handing over Basra in 2009. Between 2011 & 2013 he built the crisis-management centre for NATO and was responsible for finding forces for their global operations including Afghanistan.

Since retiring, he has founded Journey Through Conflict, a multi-media theatre company that creates performances to help alleviate suffering in people from myriad conflicts. He also takes elements of the performance into businesses to coach them in co-creating journeys to success.

In our conversation, Andy reveals: 

• Why he used to carry around a crash helmet without having a motorbike,
• Why he believes in ‘Enforced Rest’
• And what memorable tactic he used to make sure his troop was awake before a big attack.

Outline📍
00:00 Intro
03:45 How would you describe your relationship with pressure?
05:18 Can you remember your first experience with pressure?
07:54 Did you know you wanted to be a Marine?
09:16 Enhancing your capacity for handling the pressure you were in
16:35 Humor during the toughest situations
20:29 How were you taught to be chief in adversity?
35:04 Insight 1: Lessons learned
38:26 How do you maintain your SHED conditions for ongoing campaigns despite challenges?
44:35 How can a leader rapidly bond a changing team to handle organizational pressure?
49:35 How do you manage others' pressure when not feeling it yourself?
58:30 Do you understand the actions you take to cultivate a sense of acceptance?
01:03:09 Who are you serving?
01:06:44 Insight 2: Lessons learned
01:09:28 Telling the story through performing arts
01:13:07 What 2 pieces of advice would you pass forward to be better under pressure?
01:14:35 Do you have a specific practice for self-discovery and understanding your own identity?

In this episode, I’m talking to Laura Try, a business founder who left it all behind to become an extreme adventurer. Having owned a beauty salon for nine years, Laura made the decision, aged 29, that her values no longer served her, and she wanted something different. Very different. The hunger for experiences and challenge meant firstly entering multi-day adventure races, then rowing 1,800 miles around Great Britain and, most recently, an attempt to be the fastest women’s boat rowing 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean.

In our conversation, Laura discusses 

- What she means by Type-2 fun,

- How you get around different personalities in a boat race,

- And what she learned from trying to ignite a Bow Drill fire.

 

Outline📍
00:00 Intro
02:38 How would you describe your relationship with pressure?
03:40 Why did you feel the need to stretch your "pressure muscle" for everyday learning?
06:57 What compelled you to change your life path?
14:44 How would you describe your relationship with your "expansion muscle" now?
20:00 What was the worst moment of pressure for you?
25:29 Insight 1: Lessons learned
28:21 The power of other people keeping you going
33:20 How do leaders apply that lesson when you engage in conversations with them?
35:00 What's a key step you take to regain focus and get back on track now?
38:29 What fuels your positive and energizing momentum?
42:31 Insight 2: Lessons learned
45:14 The power of the ocean
51:40 What is next in terms of your relationship with pressure?
57:35 What would be your advice to people, on how to be better under pressure?
01:03:25 Outro