Leadership means making critical decisions while markets shift, plans fall apart and employees struggle. Much of what creates that pressure sits outside a leader’s control. The leaders who handle it best sort what they can control from what they cannot. They invest their energy in the first group.
On today’s episode of Business Trends Today, Raymont Harris, Founder and CEO of Elite Mindset & Performance, joins us to explain how leaders build high-performing teams under pressure. Harris is a former NFL running back and author of the new book Control the Controllables: Mindset, Pressure, and the Power of Control.Â
Choose patience and positivity over pressureÂ
According to Harris, pressure makes every task feel like the top priority at once. Leaders cannot control the weather, traffic, whether people like them or what the markets do. They can control their attitude, attention to detail, effort, adaptability and resilience.
"Pressure has a way of making every single thing feel important at the same time."Â
Harris recounts that most leaders and high achievers struggle with patience and positivity when pressure rises.
Patience works best as an intentional choice. It creates space for an alternative idea that can help over the long term. Society has conditioned people to expect quick results, which feeds impatience. Leaders who apply patience often find additional ways to get things done, and the work carries more impact.
Preparation sits beneath every visible result
Fans see the results of a pro football career but rarely the preparation behind them, Harris says. The Chicago Bears drafted him in 1994. He later played for the Green Bay Packers, Denver Broncos and New England Patriots.
Business works the same way: outcomes are visible, but the preparation behind a high-pressure job is hidden. Leaders who look beneath the surface and notice the nuance gain an advantage over their peers.
“Being able to see things beyond face value, being able to get to like one step below where the surface is tends to be the place that separates you from the other leaders and gives you an advantage as well,” Harris said.
Authentic leadership builds teams people want to follow
Driving teams toward numbers and outcomes can burn out the very people leaders hope to inspire, Harris said.
Leaders cannot control how a message lands or what employees face in their personal lives. They can build a worker-first environment with an open door and show up with authenticity and vulnerability. That approach helps people do their jobs well, work through adversity and build a stronger relationship with the leader. Relatable leaders also get followed, and they inspire others across the same workplace.
Harris’s first NFL coach, Dave Wannstedt, was considered a players’ coach. Wannstedt gave athletes room to express themselves instead of fitting them into a rigid system, Harris said. Leaders can connect with employees the same way by showing they matter beyond their output.
Start with daily habits and relationships
The first step for an overwhelmed leader is to focus on what can be controlled, according to Harris. It is easy to get pulled into chatter about the economy, tariffs and trade wars, which leaders cannot control.
Showing up daily, building relationships at work and with customers, and staying authentic can win and keep long-term business. Outside forces then matter less. The same principle applies across the NFL, corporate America and philanthropy, according to Harris. He spent 15 years in the philanthropic world, including as director of development at his alma mater, Ohio State.
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