Staying calm under chaos, especially in a business setting where leadership during a crisis or “wartime” scenario is critical, can be cultivated through various strategies. Drawing on lessons from military leadership, wartime CEOs, and high-stakes environments, here are key strategies for maintaining composure and effective decision-making:

Jefferies Jiang
4 min readOct 3, 2024
  1. Develop Mental Resilience

• Mental preparation: Expect volatility and challenges. Knowing that uncertainty is part of the process reduces the shock when chaos arises. Regularly engage in stress-testing situations in simulations or smaller decisions to build resilience for larger crises.

• Mindfulness and emotional regulation: Practice mindfulness, meditation, or breathing exercises to help regulate emotions and keep focus during high-stress situations. Leaders like Steve Jobs were known for their meditation practices to stay calm under pressure.

2. Prioritize Clarity in Decision-Making

• Separate emotions from facts: During a crisis, emotions run high, but it’s crucial to separate emotional reactions from objective facts. Create frameworks where facts drive the decisions rather than emotional impulses.

• Simplify decisions: Wartime leaders often talk about focusing on the core, critical decisions that move the needle. Distill complex issues into…

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