Clutch: Why Some People Excel Under Pressure and Others Don't
Paul Sullivan, New York Times columnist
October 27, 2010
4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Santa Monica
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| "The people who were truly clutch were not necessarily smarter or savvier than those who were not. But they had learned the skills needed to be clutch," says author and New York Times columnist Paul Sullivan.
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Is performing well under pressure a gift, or is it learned behavior? That's the question journalist Paul Sullivan answers in his first book, "Clutch: Why Some People Excel Under Pressure and Others Don't."
Sullivan, who writes the Wealth Matters column for The New York Times, bases the book on new research as well as interviews with both famous figures — golfer Tiger Woods, former GM chairman Roger Smith, Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus, tennis great Billie Jean King — and everyday heroes to uncover the shared traits that define clutch performers. (Click here to read The Wall Street Journal's review of "Clutch" and here to visit Sullivan's website.)
A self-professed choker on the golf course, Sullivan writes about:
A skinny, rodeo-obsessed sergeant who saved his battalion in Iraq
An eccentric psychiatrist who trained a group of financial traders to become the best in the world
A rookie baseball player who pitched his team into its first World Series
A lawyer who struggled in school but is now one of the top litigators in America
At this Milken Institute Forum, Sullivan revealed how these people trained themselves to react in high-stress situations using focus and discipline and how anyone can develop that skill. "The people who were truly clutch were not necessarily smarter or savvier than those who were not. But they had learned the skills needed to be clutch," he says.
In addition to The New York Times, Sullivan's work has appeared in Conde Nast Portfolio, The International Herald Tribune, Barron's, The Boston Globe, Food & Wine and the Financial Times, where he was a reporter, editor and columnist from 2000 to 2006. Sullivan has been interviewed on radio programs across America and has appeared several times on Fox News. He received degrees in history from Trinity College and the University of Chicago.
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