When the Pressure’s On: The Secret to Winning When You Can’t Afford to Lose

225 Pages·2016·0.9 MB·English

by  Louis S. Csoka

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WHEN THE
PRESSURE’S
ON
WHEN THE
PRESSURE’S
ON
LOUIS S. CSOKA
THE SECRET TO WINNING WHEN
YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO LOSE
AMERICAN MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Csoka, Louis Stephen, 1941- author.
Title: When the pressure’s on : the secret to winning when you can’t afford
to lose / by Louis S. Csoka.
Description: New York : American Management Association, 2016. | Includes
index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015050001 (print) | LCCN 2016001157 (ebook) | ISBN
9780814436103 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780814436110 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Success in business. | Performance--Psychological aspects. |
Goal setting in personnel management. | Stress management. | Leadership.
Classification: LCC HF5386 .C8986 2016 (print) | LCC HF5386 (ebook) | DDC
658.4/09--dc23
© 2016 Louis S. Csoka
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
This publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in
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recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of AMACOM, a division of
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About AMA
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development, advancing the skills of individuals to drive business success. Our mission
is to support the goals of individuals and organizations through a complete range of
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To my patient wife, Judy and my children Christa,
Tracy, Nancy, and Matt who supported and encouraged
me all these years to follow my dreams and to write my
dang book! To all my family and friends (impossible to
list them all), I wouldn’t be the person I am or be where I
am today without your continuous love and support.
CONTENTS
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1
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2
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9
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10
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FOREWORD
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DESERT STORM HAD JUST been won in a resound-
ing victory, and fresh from the ticker tape parade
in New York City was the man who led the United
States to victory, General Norman Schwarzkopf. In 1992,
he visited his alma mater, the United States Military
Academy at West Point. One of his key stops was a new and
innovative center that was working on improving human
performance. In a scene I will never forget, General
Schwarzkopf sat in an egg-shaped chair hooked up to bio-
feedback equipment. He was asked to think about a situa-
tion that made him mad—the biofeedback readings were
nearly off the computer screen. Then he was asked to
think about a situation that would relax him and the read-
ings dropped to a very low level. General Schwarzkopf
clearly understood how critical it is to maintain control in
life or death situations; he referred to an example of com-
bat in Vietnam when he was a younger officer and his unit
was caught in an ambush. He remembered experiencing a
calm, almost like things were moving in slow motion in the
middle of the chaos as he gave directions to soldiers and
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FOREWORD
they gained the upper hand on the enemy. He was clearly
in “the zone” during this life-or-death situation. He had
not experienced that type of slow motion control since he
was on the football field years earlier at West Point.
Coaches, surgeons, military leaders, business leaders,
and numerous successful leaders from all different fields
have visited the Center for Enhanced Performance at West
Point and all completely understood the efforts to develop
leaders with effective mental tools to deal with the chal-
lenges ahead. I was a young captain with about ten years in
the Army when I had the privilege of working alongside
the brainchild of this innovative center, Colonel (Dr.)
Louis Csoka. A West Point graduate who led troops in com-
bat in Vietnam and a brilliant professor in the Behavioral
Sciences and Leadership Department at West Point for
many years, Dr. Csoka would go on to develop revolution-
ary techniques for leaders to excel in any given field. His
efforts would lead to critical changes in leadership devel-
opment with an emphasis not only on physical develop-
ment, but on gaining the mental skills needed for
success.
One of his key strategies was to properly develop effec-
tive goal-setting skills. Tough, demanding, yet realistic and
measurable goals are key to enhancing performance in
any field. Teaching West Point cadets these goal-setting
skills led to increased performance in the classroom, on
the athletic fields, and in their leadership abilities as future
Army lieutenants. I continued to use these goal-setting
skills successfully throughout the next twenty-six years in
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