In today’s episode, I’m unpacking one of the most misunderstood dynamics in leadership and culture: pressure. Most of us are taught to manage it, reduce it, or even escape it. But the world’s best teams—from the New Zealand All Blacks to Pixar’s story rooms—do the opposite: they normalize it, ritualize it, and transform it into purpose.
The All Blacks put it bluntly: “Pressure is an honor.” It’s not a burden, it’s evidence that the moment matters. And they back this ethos with cultural anchors like “Sweep the sheds” and “Leave the jersey in a better place.” In Danny Meyer’s restaurants, pressure fuels hospitality. At Pixar, it fuels creativity. Across wildly different arenas, pressure becomes a marker of significance—not something to avoid, but something to lean into.
Join me as I explore:
✅ Why most leaders treat pressure as a threat—and why it backfires
✅ How elite teams reframe pressure as proof of significance
✅ The role of mantras, rituals, and shared language in metabolizing stress
✅ How trust transforms pressure from fear into fuel
✅ Practical ways to shift your own relationship to high-stakes moments
🔑 Key Takeaways:
✔ Pressure isn’t the problem—our framing is
✔ Great cultures name, normalize, and ritualize stress
✔ Shared language turns pressure into purpose
✔ Humility and stewardship ground performance under pressure
✔ The highest-performing teams lean into pressure as proof of meaning
🔎 Resources & References:
📖 The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle – Lessons from the All Blacks and beyond
📚 Setting the Table by Danny Meyer – Insights into hospitality under pressure
🎥 Pixar’s Braintrust process – Building safety for creativity under stakes
📌 Research on performance under pressure – Harvard Business Review
📩 Subscribe & Share:
If this episode reframes how you think about pressure in leadership and culture, share it with someone navigating their own high-stakes arena. And subscribe so you don’t miss future deep dives into the mindsets that separate good teams from great ones.
#LeadershipCulture #HighPerformanceTeams #PressureIsAPrivilege #OrganizationalCulture #FutureOfWork #ResilientLeadership
Steven Morris, CEO of Matter Consulting is an ever-curious life-seeker, brand and culture building expert, advisor, author, and speaker.
With over 27 years of entrepreneurial experience, he has served as a trusted advisor to over 3,000 business leaders and evolved more than 250 brands and cultures, including Google, Habitat for Humanity, Samsung, and Disney.
His best-selling book, "The Beautiful Business," and his widely read Insights blog are a testament to his consulting expertise in creating unignorable, magnetic, and sustainable companies.
His diverse interests, including meditation, fine art painting, surfing, and beekeeping, infuse his work with creativity, soul, and a deep understanding of the human experience.
You can find more podcasts and join 30,000+ other brilliant and soulful readers of his weekly INSIGHTS blog at MatterCo.