Construction has always involved pressure.
Deliver the project. Meet the milestone. Protect the budget. Solve the problem. Keep moving.
For generations, that mindset has helped build extraordinary projects and remarkable careers.
But project delivery has changed. Projects are larger, more complex and more connected than ever before. Expectations are higher. Decisions are more visible. And for many leaders, pressure no longer comes in waves. It has become the background noise of everyday work.
Leading Under Pressure explores what happens when sustained pressure begins to erode the capacity leaders rely on to think clearly, communicate effectively and make sound decisions.
Drawing on decades of experience in major infrastructure projects, leadership insights, neuroscience and wellbeing research, Laurice Temple shows how pressure shapes behaviour, how behaviour shapes culture, and how culture influences the quality of decisions teams make every day.
More importantly, she shows what leaders can do about it.
Practical, grounded and designed for the realities of project life, this book helps leaders create the conditions where people speak up earlier, think more clearly, work together more effectively and perform at their best, even when the pressure is high.
Because great projects are never built by systems alone.
They are built by people - and by leaders who know how to protect the capacity people need to deliver them.