14 Days, 200+ Live Effects, 7,000+ Soldiers: Notes on Leading Under Pressure
Leading Under Pressure Starts Before the Pressure Hits
Ever been dropped into a mission so fast and chaotic that your internal monologue sounds like, "Let's just try not to light anything on fire"?
When stakes are high and timelines are tight, showing up with good intentions and caffeine is... not enough. Leading under pressure calls for structure that doesn't strangle and speed that doesn't self-destruct.
Some leaders cling to hierarchy like it's a life raft, counting on top-down control to keep things in order. Others go full startup mode and decentralize everything, hoping someone somewhere will figure it out in time.
Both approaches come with fine print: pressure has a habit of exposing the weak spots.
In this rundown, I’m going to provide some insights and lessons gained from my annual training with the Army Reserve. We executed an event that trained over 7,000 soldiers over a 14-day period.
And the lessons are things you can deploy in your own agency.
Leading Under Pressure at Scale
So what does "leading under pressure" actually mean? Simple: it's staying sharp when it feels like complexity, urgency, and unpredictability threw a surprise party, and you're the guest of honor.
For two weeks, our team ran over 200 coordinated live effects, simulating combat conditions for more than 7,000 soldiers. Chemical gas synchronized with drone flights. Smoke screens timed to cover advancing units. Electronic warfare jamming sequences that had to hit precise windows or mess up everyone else's day.
Each effect required coordination between multiple units, safety clearances, and split-second timing. One miscalculation could shut down training for hours.
Here's what worked. And what you can try to replicate in your own business.
1. Build a Team of Solvers
Problem-passers kill momentum. Solvers build it.
In a high-stakes environment with no pre-written script, tried-and-true chaos shows up early and stays late. Our team excelled because they didn't just throw problems upstream and hope for divine intervention.
When a drone's flight path clashed with aviation assets, one teammate didn't stall. He roped in air traffic control, the UAS pilots, and the opposing force coordinator. Fifteen minutes later: problem solved, schedule saved, and no angry emails required.
The difference between problem-passers and solvers isn't skill level. It's ownership mindset. Solvers see a broken process and think, "How do I fix this?" Problem-passers see the same thing and think, "Whose fault is this?"
Before a task starts, define what "done" looks like, assign one actual owner (not a vague group email), and normalize flagging issues early. Create psychological safety around admitting when something's off track. Make it clear that bringing up problems early gets rewarded, not punished.
Solvers don't hand off problems. They hand off progress.
2. Mission Over Position
Badges do not get things done. People do.
During execution, a Captain spotted a developing issue that would have blocked the next step. Following the Captain’s lead, several Majors stepped in immediately, took ownership of what they could influence, and worked the problem to resolution. No territory talk. No waiting for permission.
That only works when everyone agrees the mission comes first. Make it normal to ask, “Does this help the mission right now?” Build a culture where getting results beats checking boxes, and reward cross-silo action, not just tenure.
How we tracked contribution
Who moved the mission forward fastest
Who removed blockers outside their lane
Who asked for help early and brought the right people in
Recognition followed the outcome, not the org chart. The Captain was credited for spotting the risk early. The Majors were credited for jumping in and closing the gap.
But at the same time, no one was looking for credit. They just wanted to get the job done.
When the mission leads, the org chart becomes a suggestion.
3. Make the System Easy
Clarity scales. Complexity breaks.
We kept things painfully simple: one-pagers built around roles, not just task lists. Each included comms flows, key checkpoints, and success markers. No 30-slide decks here.
For example, every OC/T (Observer Coach, Trainer) received a document that included all of their training units’ missions over the next 24 hours. It had the content info for any enablers. It had the grids for where certain effects would go live.
Ultimately, it had everything they could possibly need to be successful.
Result: fewer errors, faster handoffs, and a better flow of effects.
The magic wasn't in the format. It was in the thinking behind it.
We anticipated the questions people would have at 2 AM when their brain was running on fumes. What do I do if this breaks? Who do I call? What's the fallback plan?
Pick your top five recurring workflows. Break them down. Customize each for the person, not the process. Update constantly. Iterate shamelessly.
Simplicity isn't dumbing it down. It's removing the parts people skip anyway.
4. Make It Fun
High performance doesn't require high blood pressure.
I’d visit multiple cells to coordinate for each day’s missions, and I noticed that everyone looked overwhelmed and defeated. When I’d return to our cell, however, I found the team listening to music, joking around, and still crushing their workload.
Even when we were average 18-hour work days, morale was high.
But this isn't about turning work into a party. It's about recognizing that sustained high performance requires deliberate recovery moments. Stress compounds. Without release valves, people hit walls instead of goals.
We also celebrated micro-wins in real time. "First smoke effect executed flawlessly." "OPFOR coordination beat the timeline by three minutes." "Zero safety incidents for 48 hours straight." Small recognitions that built momentum instead of waiting for some big finish line.
Add energy on purpose. Use music to set the tone. Celebrate the little wins so they turn into big ones.
Morale isn't optional. It's a multiplier.
5. Control the Narrative
Silence invites assumptions. Control tells the story.
Every daily brief started with quick wins like, "12 priority effects executed, zero delays." Then we covered friction points before anyone could ask. "Yes, the UAS team has their battery resupply coming in at 1800." "Weather's looking marginal for tomorrow's air support, here's our contingency."
The narrative also worked internally. Instead of letting rumors fill information gaps, we over-communicated status. People knew what was working, what wasn't, and what came next. No guesswork. No anxiety about being left out of the loop.
We also shared the reasoning behind decisions, not just the decisions themselves. "We're pushing tomorrow's timeline back 30 minutes because weather patterns show better visibility windows later in the morning." Context helps people adapt instead of just comply.
Lead with results. Anticipate the tough questions. Ask for what you need before circumstances force the issue.
Control the narrative, or spend your energy correcting it later.
Results At A Glance
200+ live effects coordinated across units with zero major failures
7,000+ soldiers trained in immersive, high-tempo environments
100% of critical effects delivered on time, no mission delays
Team morale stayed high over sustained 18-hour operational shifts
Zero safety incidents across 14 days of live fire and explosive effects
Take This With You
Leading under pressure isn't about unlocking your inner motivational speaker or micro-managing everyone into burnout. It's about people who fix, systems that scale, culture that breathes, and storytelling that earns trust.
Do all of those, and big, intimidating missions stop feeling like you're pushing an elephant uphill.
The real test isn't whether your team can perform when everything goes according to plan. It's whether they can adapt, solve, and maintain momentum when nothing goes according to plan. Build for the chaos, not the calm.
If you run a team, reply with one ritual that keeps morale high when the hours get long and the sanity gets short.
Level Up Your Leadership Under Pressure
Here's the thing: preparation doesn't magically delete stress. What it does do is convert that stress into forward motion. With ownership-driven teams, systems that get out of the way, and a culture that actually values humans, your worst days become... tolerable.
Maybe even repeatable.
Ready to stop going it alone? Join a community of operators, founders, and leaders who've all been neck-deep in pressure—and figured out how to thrive inside it. The Dynamic Agency Community offers practical resources, weekly prompts, and brutally honest playbooks from people who talk like you, think like you, and still somehow have a sense of humor.