Dealing with pressure situations comes with the territory when you are in leadership.
Pete Carroll the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks had to make a call to run or pass the ball with 20 secs left on the clock to win the Super Bowl. He quickly assessed the situation and mapped out a plan accordingly. His plan consisted of two phases. First phase, go with the pass to catch the defense sleeping. If the pass attempt failed, he planned to shift to the second phase of the plan. Phase two is to do what they did all year, give it Marshawn Lynch, Seattle’s premier running back. As a seasoned coach, Pete Carroll was well aware of the risk of the Patriots intercepting the ball. Well, everybody found out that the Patriots weren’t sleeping! They intercepted the ball and the Seahawks didn’t have opportunity to activate Marshawn Lynch’s “Beast Mode”. The Patriots ran the clock out and won the Super Bowl.
Part of being a leader is dealing with the pressure of public opinion. If you come in second place you will experience the myriad of opinions from self-proclaimed experts saying, “Should’ve, Would’ve, Could’ve.”
John Madden said, “The biggest gap in sports, is the difference between the winner and loser of the Super Bowl.”
So what can we learn from Pete Carroll’s 2015 Super Bowl experience?
1. Pete Carroll is one of 3 coaches that have won a college national championship and a Super Bowl. Going with our guts brings victory and defeat, so we have to have the mind set of “next play, next mission, next year”.
2. The coach made a decision and his team supported his decision. Supporting your leadership is crucial regardless if you are winning or losing. Great leaders aren’t perfect and won’t always make the right decisions. If you are under poor leadership and you are constantly enduring bad decisions, what compels you to stay on the team? You can bounce! However, if your leader is on point, you live and die when he/she takes the final shot.
3. If perception is our reality then pressure is perceived. If you are at peace with yourself, the bad press, negative remarks and exaggerated stories only have as much power as you give them. When we take responsibility we cease shifting blame and we make room for growth.
4. Keep it moving. Pete Carroll and the Seahawks will more than likely play at a high level next year. Learn from the past but don’t dwell on people, situations or things that you can’t change. Pressure can make us better or bitter, it can expand or crush us, it can boost us or bust us! So as a leader, how will you handle the next pressure situation?
“There is nothing so elastic as the human mind. Like imprisoned steam, the more it is pressed the more it rises to resist the pressure. The more we are obliged to do, the more we are able to accomplish.”
-Tryon Edwards
