Why slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.

"I love to work at pace. I talk at pace. I am all like go, go, go," says @Caroline Frankum, the former Global CEO of Kantar's Profiles division, "but sometimes you really need to slow down to go faster – and in times of pressure, slowing down the process is really important."

"Pressure is always going to be there. It is really about how you deal with it in a structured way," she adds, "and that sometimes means pausing – which is the thing I had to learn."

Caroline's approach to pressure has been shaped by personal experience (more on that in our conversation) and senior leadership roles at Kantar, Hall & Partners, the Mirror Group, ITV, UKTV, Disney and Sky.

"You have to find the thing that works for you to get your mind into a calmer state. Then you are in a place where you can make a confident decision. Until you get there, you will react rather than respond."

I loved talking to Caroline, she really is a powerhouse and there is a lot more to our conversation. Listen here.

Each month the Better Under Pressure podcast explores how leaders really experience pressure, respond to it and lead others through it for positive outcomes.

Please save, share and follow me, Sara Milne Rowe, for more on leadership, performance and impact for good. Outline 📍 00:00 Intro 02:55 Do you need pressure to be better? 05:40 How to Slow Down When Everyone Around You Wants Speed? 09:53 How great leaders share self-regulation with their teams? 11:42 How childhood silence shaped powerful leadership awareness? 18:22 How do leaders recognise when pressure becomes stress? 19:59 Insight 1: Lessons learned 23:13 What is the very worst pressure that you have been under? 29:24 The biggest future pressures for leaders & how does purpose help navigate them? 36:18 What two things can help you become better under pressure? 39:00 Insight 2: Lessons learned 42:48 Did the doctors ever hear the impact their words had years later? 47:13 Outro