HUMAN PERFORMANCE
Why Skilled People Sometimes Fail When the Stakes Rise
Pressure does not erase expertise. It can change the way a performer uses it.
Human Performance, Leadership and Society.
Exploring Human Performance, Leadership and Society through evidence-based journalism, long-form essays and thoughtful analysis.
LEADERSHIP
What Is Leadership?
Leadership is not a title, a trait, or a performance. ALTIUS defines it as a learnable practice grounded in research from Burns, Kotter, Eurich, and Gallup.
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Latest articles
COMMUNICATION
A Political Consultant Is Not Paid to Tell the Candidate They Are Right
Power does not merely attract flatterers. It changes the conditions under which honest information can reach the person who most needs to hear it.
COMMUNICATION
A Campaign Does Not Begin with a Slogan. It Begins with a Diagnosis
The rush to communicate before understanding produces campaigns that are visible, expensive and sometimes fundamentally wrong.
PSYCHOLOGY
Why Enjoying Competition Makes You More Competitive
Many athletes believe enjoying competition makes them less competitive. The opposite is often true. When athletes embrace challenge instead of fearing failure, they stay curious, adapt more effectively under pressure and unlock more consistent, resilient and sustainable high performance.
Latest Essays
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HUMAN PERFORMANCE
The Four Seconds That Decide the Next Point
Sport psychology has a name for the chain reaction that a single mistake can trigger: cognitive interference. The term sounds clinical. The experience is not.
SPORT
Training in the Heat: From a Problem to a Potential Tool for Improving Performance?
Training in high temperatures creates additional strain. When carefully planned, however, repeated heat exposure may increase haemoglobin mass and become a deliberate training stimulus.
PSYCHOLOGY
The Performance After the Mistake
A mistake may last a second but influence the actions that follow. The real recovery test is not how an athlete feels—it is what the error changes next.
POLITICS
What Power Reveals About Character
Power does not simply expose a hidden “true self”. It changes the conditions in which character operates—expanding permission, amplifying goals, increasing social distance and weakening ordinary correction.
POLITICS
The Five Engines of Political Ambition
Political ambition is rarely driven by a single motive. The question that matters is which motive takes control when recognition, comfort and applause disappear.
POLITICS
The Revenge Motive in Politics: When Anger Holds the Steering Wheel
A grievance can bring someone into public life and give a neglected community a voice. The danger begins when solving the problem becomes less important than defeating the person blamed for it.
HUMAN PERFORMANCE
Why the Simplest Question in Politics Is So Difficult to Answer
The motive that gets someone into politics may not be the motive that governs them once pressure, status and disappointment enter the room.
LEADERSHIP
What Is Leadership?
Leadership is not a title, a trait, or a performance. ALTIUS defines it as a learnable practice grounded in research from Burns, Kotter, Eurich, and Gallup.
HUMAN PERFORMANCE
The Mind Does Not Spectate — Why Mental Coaching Is Not Optional in Sport
The sprinter was physically ready. She false-started because her mind was not. Mental coaching addresses the gap between capacity and performance.
EDUCATION
The Attention Crisis No One Is Teaching Students to Solve
Attention is treated as a character trait in schools. Research says it is a trainable skill. The difference between these two ideas is the difference between blame and development.
HUMAN PERFORMANCE
Why Skilled People Sometimes Fail When the Stakes Rise
Pressure does not erase expertise. It can change the way a performer uses it.
HUMAN PERFORMANCE
Recovery Is Not the Opposite of Performance. It Is Part of It
We tend to measure commitment by how long people keep going. A better measure is whether their effort can still produce useful work tomorrow.