Product Description

It has been written for executives in business who wish to achieve consistent high level performance under pressure and is underpinned by Graham's published research which shows that high performers do more then merely cope with pressure - they thrive on it! The vital Factor in thriving on pressure and moving to a higher level of performance is the development of mental toughness.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #325429 in Books
• Published on: 2007-02-01
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Review
'A gift. The definition of mental toughness is a gift. If one accepts, as I do, that the sporting analogy is valuable in business, then understanding mental toughness is critical. The real value of the book is enabling the reader to develop it! Thank you.' Ann Horner, Director, Bourne Leisure 'I found the book extremely valuable and very easy to read. I have been driving turnaround in the business and the book was fantastic in helping me understand how I could help and support my people to better performance and a happier state (I also got lots of good pointers for myself).' Liz Moseley, Business Director, 3M 'I found this book to be both relevant and thought-provoking. What particularly resonates for me is its ability to break down complex and intricate topics such as motivation, which helps the reader to formulate a series of practical steps to turn concepts into executable strategies.' Graham Hodgkin, Managing Director, Deutsche Bank 'This book is the most useful, insightful and complete resource I have come across for those who want to unlock their full potential. It will be really useful in helping people to find ways to solve problems they previously thought insoluble.' Steve Yick, IS Programme Director, Dixons Store Group 'This book has helped me better understand where my own mental toughness as a performer comes from, and has provided a valuable resource for taking the lessons I've learned into the commercial world.' Greg Searle MBE, Olympic Gold Medal rower in 1992 and Portfolio Director at Lane4 'This self-help book offers some sound and valuable advice along with practical techniques which are both challenging and inspiring.' Human Capital

From the Inside Flap
'This self-help book offers some sound and valuable advice along with practical techniques which are both challenging and inspiring.' Human Capital

About the Author
Professor Graham Jones is one of the world's leading sport psychologists, having published ground-breaking research in the area of elite performance; and having advised and consulted with numerous World Champions, Olympic medal winners and other world-ranked performers from a wide variety of sports. As co-founder of performance consultancy Lane4 Graham's experience of working with business executives spans over ten years and includes working closely with company boards as well as on large scale initiatives around culture change, mergers and global roll-outs of people development programmes. Adrian Moorhouse MBE won an Olympic Gold medal in the 100m Breaststroke at the Seoul Olympic Games in 1988 and was World Number One in his event for 6 consecutive years. Adrian has also been a BBC Swimming Commentator since 1995. Adrian is MD at Lane4 and was a founding member in 1995. He designs and delivers programmes for organisations and is leading the companies' worldwide expansion.

Customer Reviews

Absolute Quality
Developing Mental Toughness is a compelling, dynamic and, overall, informative read. Normally I'm quite slow to finish a book but I devoured this in a couple of days. The book is based on the premise that Mental Toughness allows people to not only manage pressure, but actually thrive on it and deliver sustained high performance. This message is relayed to business and life through the metaphor of elite sport. And the best bit... mental toughness is not limited to elite athletes and senior executives - the book has helped me appreciate how I can develop it too!

The book is packed with strategies, techniques and exercises that can help you develop the key components of mental toughness. These relate to staying strong in your self-belief; focussing on the things that matter; making your motivation work for you; and keeping your head under pressure. I genuinely believe that the simple models and original techniques contained in this book could revolutionise many facets of your life. It would also be invaluable for anyone seeking to facilitate others in the delivery of sustained high performance. Hugely relevant in today's pressurised world; the book strikes an impressive balance between academically rigorous research and thought-provoking insights from elite sport and top business.

I would recommend it to people in business, sport and anyone looking to generally develop a psychological edge in life.

Challenging and thought provoking
There's a large amount of garbage spoken in the name of "business psychology", but I would set this book well apart from such efforts.

Prof. Jones' writing is clear, incisive and most importantly entertaining - quite an achievement for such a highly qualified academic and such a potentially dry subject. Jones' delivery has a distinct "real worldly" edge to it which leaves you with the impression that there is a real person in there.

The relevance of the elite sporting model to business is often mentioned but rarely is it explained as well as it is here. The many contributions from Adrian Moorhouse can seem a little autobiographical after a while, but that is actually the point isn't it?

Buy it, read it, live it.

Now I know where my self belief is I can take better care of it
The mixture of the theoretical and the experiential makes this book an enjoyable and informative read. The authors call on their own rich experience and use insights and strategies drawn from performing, coaching, psychotherapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and sports psychology.

I particularly liked Chapter 5 - 'Staying strong in your self-belief'. This Chapter was quite a revelation and helped me make sense of how self belief is internal and constant and mostly unshakable, whilst levels of confidence can be battered and bruised by other people and working life in general.

I will be re-reading chapter 5 regularly and always before a big day.