Business, Sports & Gaming
Performing Under Pressure
Lesson time 13:06 min
This lesson is about testing and expanding your team members’ abilities. Learn how Geno applies extreme amounts of pressure in practice situations to predict team members’ performance and prepare them for when the real pressure is on.
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Topics include: Create Pressure Situations • Rising to the Occasion Takes Training • Use Practice to Predict Performance • Sometimes You Have to Relieve the Pressure
Teaches Leading Winning Teams
Legendary basketball coach Geno Auriemma teaches you how to lead any kind of team, inspire others to new heights, and build sustainable success.
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[MUSIC PLAYING] - I truly believe that with the absence of pressure, it's very difficult to accomplish great things. Pressure helps you accomplish those things. There's a process that you have to go through to accomplish something great. The reason it's called great things is because you have to go above and beyond. So what kind of pressure? Time pressure, peer pressure that somebody's trying to get there before you are, pressure in how many people are counting on you to make sure you get it done. So all those add to the pressure. If somebody says to you, hey, listen, this is what I want you to do. You've got an unlimited amount of time to do it. You've got no obstacles to overcome. And you know what? If you don't accomplish it, it's OK. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Well, then tell me how that's a great thing you just did. Anybody can do that. So pressure, to me, brings out the best in people, and it also brings out the worst in people. Once kids actually perform under pressure, they grow. Like, right in front of your eyes, they just get this big because now they think they're invincible. They think nothing can touch them. [MUSIC PLAYING] You as a leader owe it to your team-- as a group and as individuals-- to have them experience what pressure feels like. They have to feel it. They have to handle it. They have to overcome it. You have to train them for that. You have to create those scenarios that are pressure. I create situations where the possibility of winning is slim. But I want to see how they react to that-- whether they just give up before the fight, or whether they say, oh yeah. We're going to figure out how to beat these seven guys. Have four of them play against five. Have five of them play against seven. You have to practice under unrealistic, sometimes, expectations. I don't know how else you get them there without putting them in that situation. You go get your driver's test. You go get your driver's license. People are already afraid when they get behind the wheel. It used to be like this, anyway. I don't know if it's still like this. The policeman sat there, and you drove. And he watched you, and you feel his eyes on you. And you don't want to make a mistake. And you go, well, I'll bet you do this at home all the time when you're in your car by yourself. Yeah, but if I get it wrong at home, I just do it again. If I get it wrong here, I fail. So there's always pressure when you're trying to accomplish something that's meaningful and rewarding. And you have to perform. And because of the pressure, and because you perform, and you handle it a certain way, you've just grown as a person. You've just become something more than what you were before. That's the beauty of pressure. If you fail under pressure, if you for whatever reason just completely fall apart and come up short, you've also just learned something. And you go back, and you train, and you practice, and you s...
About the Instructor
With 11 national college basketball championships and two Olympic gold medals, Geno Auriemma has coached some of basketball’s most iconic teams. Now he’s showing you how to build and lead any kind of team—at home, work, or in your community—and achieve sustainable success. Learn strategies for being an empathetic, resilient leader so you can inspire others to push past their own barriers and reach their highest potential.
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Geno Auriemma
Legendary basketball coach Geno Auriemma teaches you how to lead any kind of team, inspire others to new heights, and build sustainable success.
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