Managing under Pressure

Where does the insight and judgment that leads to effective action come from? How do we get more of it - especially under pressure?  Can it be learned?

Here is a story that gets to the heart of what I am wondering (HT: Warren Bennis at the NeuroLeadership Conference at UCLA this last week, who told the story there):

During the early weeks of the Iraq war, the television set in my office was tuned all day to CNN, with the sound muted. On the morning of April 3rd, as the Army and the Marines were closing in on Baghdad, I happened to look up at what appeared to be a disaster in the making. A small unit of American soldiers was walking along a street in Najaf when hundreds of Iraqis poured out of the buildings on either side. Fists waving, throats taut, they pressed in on the Americans, who glanced at one another in terror. I reached for the remote and turned up the sound. The Iraqis were shrieking, frantic with rage. From the way the lens was lurching, the cameraman seemed as frightened as the soldiers. This is it, I thought. A shot will come from somewhere, the Americans will open fire, and the world will witness the My Lai massacre of the Iraq war. At that moment, an American officer stepped through the crowd holding his rifle high over his head with the barrel pointed to the ground. Against the backdrop of the seething crowd, it was a striking gesture—almost Biblical. “Take a knee,” the officer said, impassive behind surfer sunglasses. The soldiers looked at him as if he were crazy. Then, one after another, swaying in their bulky body armor and gear, they knelt before the boiling crowd and pointed their guns at the ground. The Iraqis fell silent, and their anger subsided. The officer ordered his men to withdraw.

You can read the entire story in the New Yorker article by Dan Baum here.  The CBS news video is here.

A question haunts me now…  Where did the extraordinary insight of that 40-something Lt. Col come from?  None of the actions were typical of a combat-hardened leader... The decision to show a gesture of respect, back away, effectively to retreat, is not a natural thing to do for a commanding officer.  The use of non-verbal communication, the orderly removal of troops with backs turned. 

How do we develop this extraordinary ability to stay calm under intense pressure so that we can develop those kinds of insights?  How do we develop the judgment to choose wisely and act in ways that lead to effective outcomes?  How do we develop others to be able to do the same -- to train them away from reactive thinking and towards proactive thinking, to go beyond compliance with rules, processes and policies to curiosity, reflection, creativity, insight and experimental discovery?

I've started paying a lot of attention to the neuro-sciences to see what answers might lie there... and recently attended the 3rd annual NeuroLeadership conference.  I am too overwhelmed with all of it right now to write coherently (no comments from the peanut gallery!)  - but I will start sharing some thoughts and discoveries in the near future as I integrate what I've been learning with my understanding of MBM.