Leading in Pressurized Environments: On-scene Leader

What separates leaders who thrive under pressure from those who crumble when everything is on the line?

In this powerful episode of the APEX Performance Podcast, Dr. Anthony Simmons explores what it truly means to lead in high-pressure environments where uncertainty, complexity, and rapid decision-making are part of everyday life. Drawing from decades of leadership experience as a U.S. Navy commander, Dr. Simmons shares why exceptional leaders don't wait for perfect information. They prepare their people, trust their teams, and make confident decisions when the stakes are highest.

You'll discover how emotional intelligence, leadership in depth, decentralized decision-making, and building a strong leadership bench create organizations that remain resilient in volatile environments. Through compelling stories from military command and practical leadership principles, Dr. Simmons explains why empowering others, planning for uncertainty, and developing future leaders are essential to long-term success.

Whether you're leading a business, a team, or an organization through constant change, this episode will equip you with the mindset and strategies to remain calm, decisive, and effective when others hesitate.

Because leadership isn't measured when everything is going according to plan.

It's revealed when the pressure is at its highest.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Do you ever feel like you're doing all the right things, but success still doesn't last? If you're struggling with a strange relationship or performance that feels harder than it should, then this podcast is for you. Here's your host, executive leader, and scholar practitioner, Dr. Anthony Simmons.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Hey greetings and welcome to another episode of Apache Performance Podcast, where all pathways are cemented in authentic relationships through a common act while continuing to offer accelerated pathways to excellence. Today's pathway highlights leading in pressurized environments, on scene leader. The narrative surrounds the charge that comes with being out front with unbounded latitude. And again, I am Dr. Anthony Simmons, your host. In episode two and six, Command at Sea and Men's in Via Adversity, I talked about two major concepts: leadership and depth and emotional intelligence stamina. Well, emotional intelligence stamina enables calmness under pressure, and leadership and depth allows one to lead through others and facilitates contingencies to flex to uncertainty, to build endurance and allow recovery, which actually deters burnout. It allows what I call my own scene leader to pivot as appropriate to tackle the unknowns, exercise in decentralized planning and execution, which is a little different than what normally happens in today's environment. Normally the planning is more centralized, but my concept allows you to do decentralized planning and execution, which enable strategic thinking and acting in a concurrent manner. The episode represents the capstone to the leadership series that I have presented throughout my previous episodes. You go all the way from transactional to self-transcendence. It's the crescendo of leadership. It marks the place where all great leaders expire to thrive. This is also a result that you are able to ascend the massive hierarchy to foundational, high level, and six-tier needs. Hencefore, you begin to invite the DNA to exude greatness under all circumstances. I offer this context because we are in a time of what we call VUCA, which is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguity and ongoing change to add to that. So this makes contingency plan vital to organizational success. We say a plan only survives first contact. We're in a time when we must show up with a contingency or ad hoc season, which in the Navy we call branches and sequels. You know, this is done through executing through people with the team and team concept I introduced in my team building episode. This team and team concept allows you to build a deep bench to enable layered leadership, which is achieved through what I previously presented as my inverted Pareto 2020, where I have 20% making the 80% better. Teams are only as formidable as their weakest links. Pressurized environments leave little room for error. Now, in the Commander C episode, it merely introduces leadership in depth. This episode will expound on how the process underscores high caliber performance in pressurized environments through real-time strategic thinking and acting. This concurrent thinking and acting is illustrated by the on-sene leader, the person in power to make tough decisions downrange. Now, go to this bona for Diaz. Whether I was playing point guard or quarterback with the game online or being a surface action group, a surface action unit, a commander in the Navy, in contestant environments at sea, I have performed in this landscape for years on end. Being out front, you know, taking on the headwinds keeps my engines firing. When I attempted to move to running back in high school, I was pushed back to the quarterback position. When I was attempted to move to the shooting guard, I was moved back to the league guard position. So to me, leadership was inevitable. I was built to be out front. So from my days in high school and collegiate athletics to commanding guiding muscle destroyers in the Western Pacific and extracting greatness and championing excellence from my teammates and ships' mates has been my superpower. These attributes have underscored cultures of empowerment, which has been catalyst to successful operations at sea in pressurized environments where I execute it through people. It's like having a point guard at sea. Now, speaking of having a point guard at sea, an old scene leader is the senior most and the most experienced person at the scene that autonomously takes charge of the situation. He normally has the best pitcher and really is the most capable. He has that emotional intelligence stamina, so he's capable of being successful to any response. In firefighting, in particular, this is the person who calls the shot while combating any damage. And it's more critical that he has a really good relationship with the team leader, the one who's at the scene of the fire. The own scene leader coordinates with the executive leadership and directs the team leader in each effort. In a search and rescue warfare engagement, he is the one who is in charge to take the lead and represent the commander in a remote manner. He has the decision-making authority and he must possess that ears, you know, that is Jack Wells' ears to make the tough calls if he is the commander de facto. So as for the commander, he must relish control and empower and trust the on-sing leader's judgment and decision-making progress. He must know how to engage, and this actually requires you to be really, really adept in two fronts. You must be a self-starter and also you must be empowered to act. So the prerequisite for the commander is he must know and trust and empower this on-sing leader. So let's talk about success amid uncertainty. It's realized through leadership and depth. It's bolstered through a deep bench of complementary skills for the team and team's development concept that I introduced in the team building episode. It provides agility, flexibility, and recovery. This helps to avoid burnout, which a lot of leaders are experiencing today. And this is achieved through operationalizing the five practices of exemplary leadership. We have to enable others to act and also encourage the hardness. These are really key attributes in pressurized environments. Empowering others affords collective intelligence that enables the operational agility to tackle whatever threat or scenario you may encounter when over the horizon. It's actually like seeing over the horizon through people. That's what you get from that defense in depth. Now, speaking of operating at the scene in a pressurizing environment, I'd like to bring up one of the most intriguing leadership books that I've read recently. It's Call Sign Chaos. It was written by General Mattis and Bean West. Earlier I talked about the importance of the executive leadership, you know, relinquishing authority to the on-seen commander. General West talks about if you don't allow this on-seen leader to have that autonomy, then you have a tendency to do real-time communications when working with the on-seen leader. And if you're not careful with these real-time communications, you'll create a mother may I situation which will force the on-seen leader to hesitate and be listening for guidance and which really will erode his capacity to anticipate the unknowns. This can be suffocating, you know, to the scene response. Instead, consulting in my organization design, I argue for an elevated and flat structure consistent of, you know, a culture of knowledge and empowering others, you know, to share information to enable the concurrent thinking and acting so leaders and people out front can have that autonomy to execute. General Mattis advocates for a similar model in his conviction. Notice that he talks about the centralized vision coupled with decentralized planning and execution. Most business models encourage centralized planning and decentralized execution. So the distinguishing point here is you allow decentralized planning and execution. This is what enables strategic thinking and acting in a real-time manner. Now let's explore some of the attributes and the mindset of on-seen leaders. And it goes into, once again, having a growth mindset. I like to say teaching is worthless. On-seen leaders have a growth mindset. They're willing to think again and they relish being wrong. And think again, Adam Grant says, it's a sign of growth. It's identifying with vulnerabilities, which is good. And outfront leaders, they have an uncanny willingness to not only make unpopular decisions, but they are comfortable making these key decisions with limited information available. They relish making these unpopular decisions. They embody the edge, which requires making tough decisions. And also just moving into emotional intelligence stamina, it requires self-assurance and self-confidence. These attributes are pivotal to staying composed under pressure while taking on headwinds that a leader mostly encounters. You have to keep pressure on yourself and do not pass it alone. It's managing myself, doing my C details and heavy situations in the Navy that have mentioned in previous episodes really, really, I felt set me apart and made my crew more comfortable executing in those environments. So operating in calmness and pressurized environment is really critical and it also becomes contagious with your crew members. So you have to draw from, you know, these on-seen responsibilities over the rise. We must understand the value of being out front. It's the price for authentic leadership. It's a matter of being, you know, able to brace for that shock position to take on and fight that bear or swimming upstream. On-scene commanders, they're resilient. You know, they should endure setbacks and expect to be ostracized without cracking under pressure. You know, it's a matter of letting you know without a doubt what it looks like to be out front. So focusing on the spirit of the message is important. That's what prepared me for being out front. From reading my devotion and Barbara Publishing, I learned that fate prepares you to swim against every current in the world. However, you must act from the position of strength and hope. But regardless of how many players we have on the team, we must all have a plan for recovery. So in that vein, let's reference Laura and Swartz's book, The Power of Full Engagement, where they suggest there must be a balance between energy expenditure and recovery. And they suggest that all great performers have a ritual to optimize this balance. They must be able to oscillate between stress and recovery. So leadership in Dell mirrors the deformation of the way that the birds actually fly. You know, you must have a team with leadership responsibilities or where they actually share. Team development must yield interchangeable members. They must have the same flying capacity to share the load, to rotating, to allow this recovery. It was a means to deflect, you know, the headwinds, to expand the physical endurance in order to enable that emotional stamina. So that's the context of this entire, you know, operating in pressurized environments of being the on-sing leader. So let's get to a few stories here as we talk about leadership and depth to overcome these VUCA conditions that we are facing. I always felt that, you know, my teams was never distracted, you know, by any kind of outside assessments or any kind of pressurized situation because we always prepare through what I mentioned earlier. I call it my P10E5. We have proper prior planning and prevents what we call piss poor performance. You have to be passionate and professional. You have to take what I call the good pride in everything we do. We have to have the energy, we had to energize, we have to have the edge, we execute it, and that we had the ethics, and that follow on a tie-in to the Jack Welsh four E's and where the Navy came up with the fifth E, where the ethics was actually added. So as we look at these and talk about an exemplary leadership concept, we must continuously exercise these practices on a day-to-day basis to establish this culture of excellence. We must inspire a shared vision. We must encourage the heart and enable others to act. Because these are the keys to being equipped to make these decisions with limited information and also having the confidence to perform as an on-seen leader. So operating at the tip of the spear, you know, we never had to worry about, you know, as I mentioned earlier, being called to duty. I remember on Sunday, my boss called and said, Hey, we need something, we need the last thing to get on the way. We need you guys over the horizon, ASAP. And as I got on the way, ASAP, I need you to be at a certain place at a certain time. I said, you know, I told the boss, well, we're on the way, we have to do week one workups. I had to get so many hours, you know, for the helicopter crew, you know, to get up to speed. He said, Tony, you got it. I don't worry about, you know, you doing what you have to do. I just need you to get over the horizon. I need you to make things happen, you know, as you move along the path there. And I trust you're going to do it the right way. So in that regard, I was given the opportunity to be the on-scene leader, to make those tough decisions. And so having that opportunity in my space tied right into how my crew was prepared. So despite the vulnerabilities that came with being out front, you know, the ship never faltered. And they always went the extra distance, you know, with an extended hand to support any mission and beyond. I found the crew to always be resilient. You know, not only were they equally responding to these challenges, they also was taking them in stride with a humble and focused approach, as if it was just merely business as usual. And moreover, they always considered it as an inherent obligation to do so. And we did do recovery, you know. Every opportunity we on Sundays, we had still beach picnics, these are holiday routines, you know. So every Sunday without compromise, unless we were lunching missiles or prosecuting submarines, we observed that recovery time. So I would always, you know, having that experience of firsthand and having the crew prepared to operate in those environments, I felt was, you know, really, really critical. And it was a reflection of how well we prepare, you know, in those times when we was doing routine matters there by standard practices and procedures. And so let's move into the emotional stamina, you know, staying calm in the rough seas, where I say if you exude, you know, the right confidence, you know, your team will also follow you in that regard. You know, as a commander of a frontline destroyer in the United States 7th Fleet, the lasting consistently operated out front under intense, you know, conditions. You know, the crew always thrived in those settings, whether we was riding shotgun, you know, setting off the carrier right there, supporting the carrier as a primary defense asset, or we was doing plane guard, you know, in-flight emergencies, or it was operating as a surface action group, a surface action unit commander doing independent operations over the horizon, you know, escorting the special mission ships, you know, the ship always responded. I remember one night in particular, we was riding a shotgun on one of the aircraft carriers there, and we had an in-flight emergency. And I was given the option, you know, can I break off another one of the destroyers that's closer, you know, to your asset and push them out there to meet the aircraft on the path? And I was no, we're we're fine, we'll take this on. So I wanted to be able to recover my aircraft. So if we got out of formation and, you know, made our best effort and best speed to, you know, to meet that aircraft, you know, as they were experiencing that emergency, you know, they were belonged to our ship, and we didn't felt that was any challenge that we could not take on with confidence. So that was just a testament to having a ship that was always prepared, you know, to meet any of these conditions under whatever circumstances. So I would always look at the crew and just be so honored to have one that was so resilient and that could respond and had that edge and that want to make things happen under the most challenging conditions. Now, as I looked at my team building episodes, I addressed, you know, building the damage control emergency response team. You know, in these teams, you know, we employ, you know, the critical positions of what I mentioned earlier, the on-sene leader and the team leader. You know, as a former damage control officer, nothing gave me more satisfaction than to develop these two positions. As I felt the schoolhouse taught them how to fight and manage fires, but the honors was on me to teach them how to lead people and manage the scenes and also deal with emergencies, you know, with the right mental approach, you know, to the situation. Now, as the leader and integrator, I knew it was key to extending my full trust in them. So I was assured of their actions regardless of the level of complexity they face. And as you can imagine, many people are born with the capacity to learn a trade, but few can transfer that capacity to team members. The key to success of on-scene leader and team leader was the abilities to direct and inspire the entire team. So our front leaders perform their best when the game is on the line. I recall in high school, we were playing this team Wimblebarrow, and they had a really, really good team, and we played them throughout the game. We beat them the first time around like about 15 or so points, but they had gotten really, really good down the stretch. So we was playing them at home at this time, and we couldn't get within five points of winning. And so in the fourth quarter, about midway through, I just said, coach, this is not working. We just beating us at this game that we're playing. So I just pestered the coach. It was not one of those coaches that was really too fond of directions. So I pestered him to change the defensive scene in order to erupt the opponent's flow. And although it was high risk, as I mentioned, this coach was not always open to, you know, inputs from his players. So, anyways, we went on and we won the game, you know. So as I feel when you have that edge to make those tough decisions and be willing, you know, to take on the risk that comes with that, it allows you to arrive at a better situation. So we're at a time now where I talk about making those tough, unpopular decisions. We have to watch how our kids, now, what are they aligning to in this time of social media? Are they doing what's most common and more popular? Are they making the tough decision, doing what's right to best promote their careers and take advantage of opportunities in life? So we just have to be careful in that environment. I was once visiting my high school, and my coach shared with me, and it was a while back, it was probably around 2008 time frame, when I was there just having a conversation with my high school basketball coach, and he was, you know, he made it pretty clear and how distinguishing it was today, during that time where his players were more aligned with the players, with the people around the school that had less positive impact on the student body, where there was a time when the athletes was the one who really was desired to be around. And the athletes are pretty much aligned to the other student body that really are not the ones that probably have the best interests. So that's just some food for thought there. So, what are the future implications of this environment we're in, this pressurized environment, as we know change, whether deliberate or unplanned, is inevitable. So it must be managed effectively. The saying goes the plan will only survive first contact. But this can be mitigated when you believe through people, you know, with multi-skill sets and take the team-and-team approach, you know, you have the capacity to adapt in these fouca landscapes. You can manifest an adhocracy culture that fosters workforce agility and underscores the branches and sequels I talked about in order to have contingencies for varied approaches to problem solving, you know, in amid adversity. So if your team is properly prepared, you know, they have the depth, agility, they share information. It doesn't matter what is over the horizon, it doesn't matter the conditions. Friction will serve to move the subject along the path to success. This is pivotal in the culture of doing more with less, or we have all the belt tightening that's taking place now. You have personnel and equipment, they must be optimized under these conditions. So genuine and uncompromising leadership is measured by how well our team responds amid adversity. As I've said before, we're all good when winning, but true leadership is how well we perform when things become pressurized. If your leadership is authentic, people will walk with you. Notice I didn't say follow you without any extra dramatic solicitations. True leadership is a walk rather than a talk. Now, for its unintended consequences and contingencies, vision and mission statements must account for these contingencies to dampen out and to mitigate adverse conditions. Organizations must get comfortable with ad hoc cultures to pace ongoing change and enable real-time strategic thinking and acting in the same plane. This is done through near interchangeable parts akin to how the most successful NBA teams are able in these times, you know, to reach deep into their benches without losing efficiency. And also a birds flying in the V formation to reserve the 70% of their endurance rates. Also, let me finish with a quote I heard recently. The world needs good men. It needs good women, good leaders, good parents, raising good children. There is no national success that can compensate for failure to be good and noble people. Mitt Romney. Harvard Bend School speech. Wednesday, May 27, 2026. Thank you for joining in on Apex Performance Podcast. Please subscribe to the next episode where I will discuss a coaching organization. So Apex Performance will always guarantee you game-changing pathways to excellence. Right there at your fingertips. Thank you and see you next time.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

So that's it for today's episode of Apex Performance. Head on over to Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen and subscribe to the show. One lucky listener every single week that posts a review on iTunes or Apple Podcasts will and a chance to win a grand prize drawing worth $5,000 for a private VIP day with Dr. Simmons himself. Be sure to visit Apex Performance Podcast.com to pick up a free copy of your gift and ask your questions for Doctor Simmons in your own voice, and he'll answer you back privately in his. Then join us on the next episode.