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Clutch: Why Some People Excel Under Pressure and Others Don't
Is clutch performance innate-or can it be learned?
Sooner or later everyone encounters a situation in which the stakes are high and the outcome is crucial. And even top performers can crumble when faced with such extreme pressure. Consider the CEO who panics in a desperate attempt to shore up his company's earnings, the veteran politician who grows overconfident and loses to the upstart candidate, the quarterback who carries his team to the Super Bowl but falls apart in the final quarter. All of them choked. But then there are the performers who thrive under such the ER doctor racing the clock to save someone's life, the lieutenant who leads his platoon to victory after an ambush, the young attorney who refuses to be intimidated in court and wins the crucial case.
These people are clutch, and their ability to overcome extreme pressure consistently and beat the toughest odds fascinates us. How do they do it? According to Paul Sullivan, clutch performance does not stem from an innate ability. It's a learned the art of operating in high-stress situations as if they were everyday conditions. Even some of the most experienced and talented performers lack this skill-but Sullivan shows that anyone can develop it. Drawing on new research and interviews with stars across a range of fields, Sullivan uncovers the shared traits that define clutch performers and explains how anyone can apply their strategies. He builds his case through many inspiring true stories, including those of
* a skinny sergeant who saved his battalion in Iraq;
* a rookie baseball player who pitched his team into its first World Series;
* an eccentric psychiatrist who trained a group of financial traders to become the best in the world;
* a lawyer who struggled in school but became one of the top litigators in America.
Full of powerful advice and real-world examples, Clutch will show you how to overcome extreme pressure to achieve greatness.
Sooner or later everyone encounters a situation in which the stakes are high and the outcome is crucial. And even top performers can crumble when faced with such extreme pressure. Consider the CEO who panics in a desperate attempt to shore up his company's earnings, the veteran politician who grows overconfident and loses to the upstart candidate, the quarterback who carries his team to the Super Bowl but falls apart in the final quarter. All of them choked. But then there are the performers who thrive under such the ER doctor racing the clock to save someone's life, the lieutenant who leads his platoon to victory after an ambush, the young attorney who refuses to be intimidated in court and wins the crucial case.
These people are clutch, and their ability to overcome extreme pressure consistently and beat the toughest odds fascinates us. How do they do it? According to Paul Sullivan, clutch performance does not stem from an innate ability. It's a learned the art of operating in high-stress situations as if they were everyday conditions. Even some of the most experienced and talented performers lack this skill-but Sullivan shows that anyone can develop it. Drawing on new research and interviews with stars across a range of fields, Sullivan uncovers the shared traits that define clutch performers and explains how anyone can apply their strategies. He builds his case through many inspiring true stories, including those of
* a skinny sergeant who saved his battalion in Iraq;
* a rookie baseball player who pitched his team into its first World Series;
* an eccentric psychiatrist who trained a group of financial traders to become the best in the world;
* a lawyer who struggled in school but became one of the top litigators in America.
Full of powerful advice and real-world examples, Clutch will show you how to overcome extreme pressure to achieve greatness.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published September 2, 2010
30 people are currently reading
528 people want to read
About the author
Paul Sullivan
2 books9 followersPaul Sullivan is the author of Clutch: Why Some People Excel Under Pressure and Others Don't (Portfolio/Penguin,), which was published in 2010. The Wall Street Journal praised Clutch for offering “valuable suggestions for what we can do to get through a make-or-break moment with a better chance of success,” and Time Magazine called it “a well-written examination of what makes a person perform despite stress”.
His second book is The Thin Green Line: The Money Secrets of the Super Wealthy (Simon & Schuster, 2015).
He writes The New York Times’ Wealth Matters column, which he started in 2008. He has also written for Conde Nast Portfolio, The International Herald Tribune, Barron’s, The Boston Globe, and Food & Wine. From 2000 to 2006, he was a reporter, editor and columnist at the Financial Times.
He received degrees in history from Trinity College and the University of Chicago.
His second book is The Thin Green Line: The Money Secrets of the Super Wealthy (Simon & Schuster, 2015).
He writes The New York Times’ Wealth Matters column, which he started in 2008. He has also written for Conde Nast Portfolio, The International Herald Tribune, Barron’s, The Boston Globe, and Food & Wine. From 2000 to 2006, he was a reporter, editor and columnist at the Financial Times.
He received degrees in history from Trinity College and the University of Chicago.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
October 30, 2010
In a nutshell, clutch characteristics are:
1. Focus
2. Discipline
3. Adaptability
4. Powerful fears and desires culminating in a positive outcome
5. Double clutch (what women must be in male-dominated fields)
What's not clutch?
1. An inability to take responsibility for your actions
2. Overthinking
3. Overconfidence
1. Focus
2. Discipline
3. Adaptability
4. Powerful fears and desires culminating in a positive outcome
5. Double clutch (what women must be in male-dominated fields)
What's not clutch?
1. An inability to take responsibility for your actions
2. Overthinking
3. Overconfidence
November 26, 2013
The book was a bit of a let down. I saw it on the shelf at the library and thought, how awesome! Being a veterinarian requires being great under pressure all the time, this book will be really helpful. Unfortunately the book let me down.
1 - It's based mostly on cherry-picked examples, without any scientific studies to support the points. If you pick the right anecdote you can support almost any theory. I feel like there is a lot of science out there on this topic, so its absence was suspicious.
2 - The concepts presented were fuzzy. For instance, in the focus chapter, the contrast between the "clutch" example and his opponent wasn't clearly drawn, so I'm still not sure what constitutes the right *kind* of focus to be clutch. The traits ascribed to the "clutch" individuals were largely nebulous terms that could have been useful only if more strictly defined or more clearly illustrated. For instance from the "Fear then Desire" section, I'm still not sure if you should or should not always be fearful of the consequences of not performing in a "clutch" moment or if that would take away from your "focus" or at what point exactly fear should become desire.
I felt like the author was headed in the right direction and I got the jist of what he was trying to say but ultimately didn't walk away from the book with any concrete "aha!" insights.
3 - The examples focused on what seems to differentiate the "clutch" from the "chokers" but very little on how to develop those traits. The only chapter focusing on how to be clutch focused only on two very specific scenarios - performing in sports and dealing with financial crises.
I have just read a lot of books like this like "Make it Stick" or "The Charisma Myth" where I felt like I could go out and put the book's recommendations to work in my own life right away.
A book like this had that potential, but was both to imprecise with its underlying concepts and too specific in its proposed applications to be helpful.
1 - It's based mostly on cherry-picked examples, without any scientific studies to support the points. If you pick the right anecdote you can support almost any theory. I feel like there is a lot of science out there on this topic, so its absence was suspicious.
2 - The concepts presented were fuzzy. For instance, in the focus chapter, the contrast between the "clutch" example and his opponent wasn't clearly drawn, so I'm still not sure what constitutes the right *kind* of focus to be clutch. The traits ascribed to the "clutch" individuals were largely nebulous terms that could have been useful only if more strictly defined or more clearly illustrated. For instance from the "Fear then Desire" section, I'm still not sure if you should or should not always be fearful of the consequences of not performing in a "clutch" moment or if that would take away from your "focus" or at what point exactly fear should become desire.
I felt like the author was headed in the right direction and I got the jist of what he was trying to say but ultimately didn't walk away from the book with any concrete "aha!" insights.
3 - The examples focused on what seems to differentiate the "clutch" from the "chokers" but very little on how to develop those traits. The only chapter focusing on how to be clutch focused only on two very specific scenarios - performing in sports and dealing with financial crises.
I have just read a lot of books like this like "Make it Stick" or "The Charisma Myth" where I felt like I could go out and put the book's recommendations to work in my own life right away.
A book like this had that potential, but was both to imprecise with its underlying concepts and too specific in its proposed applications to be helpful.
June 30, 2011
While I didn't disagree with the author's view, it felt like he just selected stories and jammed them into his idea for the book after he already decided what his point was going to be. Some of the stories were somewhat interesting, but they weren't compellingly told and I wasn't convinced that the success or failure of each example was solely due to their personal "clutchness" or "chokeness". None of the advice was very inspiring to me, and he even had to distill it down into just two areas: finance and sports. I don't feel like I gained anything from reading the book besides one or two short stories I hadn't already heard elsewhere. One star may be a tad harsh, but I can't bring myself to give it two.
November 11, 2017
Good book
The book was helpful and interesting with great stories, but the simple principle of being clutch didn’t require so much book with so many details.
The book was helpful and interesting with great stories, but the simple principle of being clutch didn’t require so much book with so many details.
December 12, 2013
The idea of thriving under pressure is interesting although the method introduced by the author (by and large interviewing successful people) may be influenced by survivorship bias.
still, I think the book may appeal to readers who are more competitive in nature. One can do a self evaluation based on the following framework provided by the author:
Clutch means (1) focus (2) discipline (3) adaptability (4) being present (5) (motivated by) fear and desire while choking means (1) (lack of) personal responsibility (2) overthink and (3) overconfident.
2 areas that I think may need further explanations:
(a) How much of that can be nurtured vs say influenced by environment.
(b) correlation vs causation. Just because it always rains when I wash my car doesn't mean that when I wash my car it will rain.
still, I think the book may appeal to readers who are more competitive in nature. One can do a self evaluation based on the following framework provided by the author:
Clutch means (1) focus (2) discipline (3) adaptability (4) being present (5) (motivated by) fear and desire while choking means (1) (lack of) personal responsibility (2) overthink and (3) overconfident.
2 areas that I think may need further explanations:
(a) How much of that can be nurtured vs say influenced by environment.
(b) correlation vs causation. Just because it always rains when I wash my car doesn't mean that when I wash my car it will rain.
October 28, 2020
This book’s title caught my eye in the store, so I picked it up. I read it on a plane trip recently. I was hopeful based on the title, and found it like many other books written by journalists – well researched, full of good writing and good stories.
ClutchThe author starts by describing what “clutch” is – and isn’t – through examples. (Clutch is the ability to do what you could normally do but under extremely challenging or pressure filled situations).
- See more at: http://blog.kevineikenberry.com/leade...
ClutchThe author starts by describing what “clutch” is – and isn’t – through examples. (Clutch is the ability to do what you could normally do but under extremely challenging or pressure filled situations).
- See more at: http://blog.kevineikenberry.com/leade...
June 13, 2012
The author is a reporter who obviously had to brainstorm to find a unifying theme in all the stories that he had worked on in the past to tie them all together into one book. That theme is "clutch" or performance under pressure. Filled with lots of anecdotes and very little insights or data, I wouldn't say this book completely fails -- it has some interesting stories (probably more so if you like golf; I don't) -- it just completely fails at having any insights into "Why Some People Excel Under Pressure and Others Don't"
November 17, 2012
Very interesting book - enjoyed hearing about the Leader's Responsibility which covered the differences between JP Morgan Chase's Jamie Dimon and BoA Ken Lewis's actions and inactions during the 2008 financial meltdown. Dimon did what he did just as if there was not a crisis, and did he stuck to what he knew, and was present in the moment.
Author Paul Sullivan covers a lot of disjointed ground - from Baseball, Billy Jean King, Tiger Woods to David Boies to Broadway plays & financials (UBS, Dimon, BoA) to the Iraq war. [not in that order]
Author Paul Sullivan covers a lot of disjointed ground - from Baseball, Billy Jean King, Tiger Woods to David Boies to Broadway plays & financials (UBS, Dimon, BoA) to the Iraq war. [not in that order]
June 14, 2013
Clutch is an exceptional how-to guide for performing as well in the critical moments as one does in their best moments of relaxed practice. Sullivan makes his points primarily through stories - interesting ones - drawn from scenarios ranging from combat, to sports, to Fortune 100 finance. The successful characteristics he summarizes are made memorable by phrases like "fight the fight, not the plan." I'd recommend this book to anyone, because he applies the concepts equally to amateur sports and personal finance as to pressure careers and life-or-death moments.
January 2, 2014
I was excited to read another book about Sports Psychology, but found myself progressively disappointed as the book went on. The book boils down to the advice, "Just, practice a lot in high pressure situations." Of course, that doesn't really get at the issue: it just seems to be a way of avoiding the fact that the author couldn't crack the code, so to speak. And even for the principles of successful performers that he DID notice, these were too vague and obvious to even create any actionable advice from.
September 25, 2010
Two and a half stars. Some of the case studies were interesting, but I would have liked more of a global perspective. Most of them were about manly American men doing manly American things: playing baseball or golf or tennis, running a bank or a car company, selling real estate. The author tries to bring in a female perspective but provides few examples of females who perform in the clutch (Billie Jean King) or who don't (Michelle Wie).
July 14, 2015
I didn't finish this book. The concept is interesting enough, but the logic of the arguments fell short for me. The author told stories that emphasized his arguments, but it sounds forced and it wasn't interesting enough for me to try and devote the time needed to see if he was making sense or not. My guess is that he had this collection of stories of successful people and didn't know how to tie them together- so he choose clutch.
December 22, 2011
An informative and highly readaable book on the differences between people who choke under pressure and people who are "clutch," i.e. deal well with such situations. The book uses lots of case studies, many from the sports world. He's not deep or academic, but Sullivan does offer entertaining food for thought.
February 5, 2013
5 traits for someone who is a clutch:
Focus
Discipline
Adaptability
Being present
Fear
3 who chokes
Personal responsibility
Over thinking
Over confident
Overall a very interesting read. Some great examples. But stops short at providing a reader a solid coaching on practical ways to be a clutch. We all know the theory but yet lacks the working methodology.
Focus
Discipline
Adaptability
Being present
Fear
3 who chokes
Personal responsibility
Over thinking
Over confident
Overall a very interesting read. Some great examples. But stops short at providing a reader a solid coaching on practical ways to be a clutch. We all know the theory but yet lacks the working methodology.
July 15, 2012
Love this kind of book--gives great examples of clutch people and defines clutch in a simple and clear way. After you read this book, you'll have an idea of what you can do to be better at those anxiety-producing situations (run a meeting, public speaking, perform in front of an audience).
June 11, 2012
Two and a half stars: I had some difficulty reading this one. Although it had great points about *how-to* deal with pressure under performance, the vignettes/illustrations weren't enough to keep my attention.
So, I'll just leave this review as it is.
So, I'll just leave this review as it is.
February 1, 2011
Interesting, but did not have me gripped. Now that I know the traits of people who are good under pressure.....it's just too much pressure. I'm not sure I'll ever be good under pressure.
March 1, 2011
Nice book. Made you think, or decide not to over-think about what you do or don't do in clutch situations
September 15, 2012
I can't remember anything about this book and I just finished it a week ago. I liked the stories...but nothing memorable to report.
March 18, 2013
Not what I was hoping for...
August 11, 2013
Worth reading for leaders and leadership coaches. Unfortunately, the most to gain from this, namely, narcissists, pre-madonnas, and overconfident leaders will be in denial in reading this.
August 22, 2013
To be honest, I think this book suffered for me because hearing the word "clutch" repeated endlessly for 8 hours got annoying. The rest of the content didn't make up for it.
November 25, 2013
This book is the idiot cousin of Taylor Clark's Nerve. Read that, not this.
September 16, 2014
The book consists of random examples that are very boring, very long, and had very weak links to what the author thinks what being clutch is. I have found very little useful information in it.
September 23, 2015
Did not finish. This book lacks the insight of the books it's imitating (e.g. Freakonomics).
October 28, 2015
This author needs to stop gushing over his interviewees.
June 4, 2025
[Unfinished, so take any comments with a grain of salt]
Sometimes it’s clear from the outset that an author has nothing meaningful or insightful to share.
Sometimes it’s clear from the outset that an author has nothing meaningful or insightful to share.
August 1, 2011
Not a good book.
May 27, 2017
Excellent
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews