Product Description

High achievers do more than merely cope with pressure A C they thrive on it!This book has been written for executives in business who wish to achieve consistent, high level performance under pressure. It is underpinned by published research from leading sport psychologist Professor Graham Jones, which shows that high achievers do more than simply cope with pressure A C they thrive on it!The vital factor in thriving on pressure and moving to higher levels of business performance is the development of mental toughness.By applying elite sport psychology to the business world, this book highlights the enormous role played by pressure in both business and sport and draws parallels between them. It shows how by developing mental toughness it is possible to manage pressure to such an extent that you are able consistently to deliver extraordinary levels of performance.Together with the necessary skills and competencies you need to perform your role, mental toughness is the vital factor in delivering high performance that is sustainable. It will enable you to: n THRIVE ON, RATHER THAN MERELY COPE WITH, PRESSURE n MAINTAIN BELIEF IN YOURSELF EVEN WHEN IT AZS BEING SERIOUSLY CHALLENGED n ACHIEVE A LEVEL AND TYPE OF MOTIVATION THAT WORKS FOR RATHER THAN AGAINST YOU n STAY FOCUSED ON THE THINGS THAT MATTER IN THE FACE OF A MULTITUDE OF POTENTIAL DISTRACTIONS

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36687 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Review
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 solveproblems they previously thought unsolvable. A Steve Yick, IS Programme Director, Dixons Store Group Packed with stories, advice and self-assessment exercises, this book provides an original step-bystep guide to replicating gold medal brilliance in modern business A Helen Latham, Director of Value Solutions, Capita Symonds 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 mypeople to better performance and a happier state (I also got lots of good pointers for myself!). A Liz Moseley, Business Director, 3M The book has highlighted to me the difference between good and great leaders/performers. Not only are they able to thrive on pressure, but also have the humility to seek feedback and consistently set out new personal action plans and targets. A Steve Holliday, CEO at National Grid ...relevant and thought-provoking...helps the reader toformulate a series of practical steps to turn conceptsinto executable strategies. A Graham Hodgkin, Managing Director, Deutsche Bank

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.