COMPLIMENTARY 60 MINUTE LIVE MASTERCLASS
Under Pressure
When stress rises, clarity drops. How to steady yourself and lead effectively.
Wed, August 27 | 12:00 PM EDT | 60 minutes | Live
THE HIJACK POINT
The hard part of leadership
Handling crises is the job: on the road, the scene, on the floor, and it becomes second nature.
What wears leaders down isn’t the crisis. It’s the friction that comes with the promotion: the feedback that gets put off, or the tension between two teammates that has to be addressed.
When the work is life or death, stopping to regulate can feel like a luxury there’s no room for. The same instinct that keeps someone steady in a real emergency, move now and process later, makes its almost impossible to pause and settle before a hard conversation. So the nervous system treats the conversation like the emergency, and the heightened state takes over.
Knowing when to pause, and how to steady the nervous system, is a skill, and it can be learned.
WHY IT HAPPENS
Seven reasons clear thinking slips
Nobody trained for it. The promotion is earned by being good at the job. The leading part is just assumed.
The feeling gets treated as proof. "I feel panicked, so something must be wrong." That's the heightened state talking, not the situation itself.
It should already be handled. Emergencies are routine, so a conversation that rattles feels like something to hide.
Hiding it doesn't help. A crew clocks a leader's state before a word is said.
Breathing is the only tool most people get, and for many it just makes the panic worse. The tool was wrong, not the person.
One wrong word could end up in a grievance, so staying quiet starts to feel safer than leading.
Deciding feels risky, so it goes up the chain instead, and the manager wonders why it wasn't just handled.
WHY IT HAPPENS WHAT LEADERS ARE SAYING
From people who do the work
"I've really valued learning how to recognize when I need to regulate my nervous system in high-pressure environments, along with practical tools to do that in the moment. That awareness alone has been incredibly impactful."
"Before the course, I often kept things to myself because I didn't want to come across as angry. This course gave me the tools to express myself in a healthier, more productive way."
ABOUT THE HOST
Kim Rigden
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I built this masterclass because I didn't have it.
Kim Rigden spent 35 years in public safety, working as a paramedic, an emergency tele-communicator, and a senior leader. Early on she carried the same doubt so many do: overwhelmed, second-guessing herself, half-sure the promotion had been a mistake. She tried breathing. It didn't work.
What worked was understanding how emotions actually operate, which she studied through a Master of Science in Applied Positive Psychology. She now teaches the practice to emerging leaders in 911 centres and tech companies: feelings aren't facts, and steadying the nervous system is something that can be trained.
Kim Rigden · Chief Thriving Officer, Safety Net Consulting
Reserve a Seat
A good hour for the conversation that keeps getting put off.
August 27 · 12:00 PM EDT · Live · 60 minutes