Mental Preparation Secrets of Top Athletes, Entertainers, and Surgeons

HBR IdeaCast

Harvard Business Review

Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Communication, Marketing, Business, Business/management, Management, Business/marketing, Business/entrepreneurship, Innovation, Hbr, Strategy, Economics, Finance, Teams, Harvard

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 29 June 2017

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Dan McGinn, senior editor at Harvard Business Review, talks about what businesspeople can learn from how top performers and athletes prepare for their big moments. In business, a big sales meeting, presentation, or interview can be pivotal to success. The same goes for pep talks that motivate employees. McGinn talks about both the research and practical applications of mental preparation and motivation. He’s the author of the book, "Psyched Up: How the Science of Mental Preparation Can Help You Succeed." His article, “The Science of Pep Talks,” is in the July-August 2017 issue of Harvard Business Review.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	When leadership advice feels like buzzwords and platitudes, it's time to get real.
0:05.9	HPR's podcast Coaching Real Leaders brings you behind closed doors as Muriel Wilkins coaches anonymous
0:11.9	leaders through raw honest career questions
0:14.6	that we all face.
0:15.9	Listen and follow coaching real leaders for free
0:18.3	wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the HBR Idea Cast from Harvard Business Review.
0:32.8	I'm Sarah Green Carmichael.
0:35.3	To get psyched up for the big game,
0:37.4	sports teammates give each other pep talks,
0:39.7	listen to an exciting song during warm-ups,
0:42.1	or follow a particular pre-game routine.
0:45.6	Then there's a locker room speech, often dramatized in popular movies, where the coach
0:49.9	inspires individuals to greatness.
0:52.4	I'm sick and tired of hearing about what a great
0:55.5	hockey team the Soviets have. Screw them! This is your time.
1:06.0	Now go out there and take it.
1:10.0	But what's the business equivalent of the PEP talk? When you have a big presentation, job interview, quarter ending sales meeting, or a situation where you really need to be on, how do you prepare for it?
1:18.0	If you're like a lot of people, you probably think about what you're going to say and what you're going to wear and then you just kind of well show up.
1:25.3	HBR senior editor Dan McGinn thinks we can all do better than that by taking a cue from how the best
1:32.2	athletes and performers prepare.
1:34.7	He's the author of the article The Science of Pep Talks in the July-August 2017 issue of
1:39.5	Harvard Business Review, and he is also the author of the book, Psyched Up, How the Science of Mental
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Harvard Business Review, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Harvard Business Review and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.