‘I’m at my best when the pressure is high. And I need to be prepared for it, I tend to approach it as a positive rather than a negative’, says my guest on this month’s Better Under Pressure podcast, Thomas Dubaere, CEO, AccorHotels Americas. Thomas’s approach to pressure has been honed over a 20-year career in the hospitality industry with Accor, working in multi-layered, highly networked stakeholder environments across multiple countries and cultures.

In this conversation, Thomas talks about his relationship with pressure: from why confidence plays such an important role, to how he distinguishes when pressure turns into stress, and how he works with his teams to plan for high-pressure meetings. I found this such a refreshingly open conversation and hope you do too!

Outline 📍 00:00 Intro 02:14 How would you describe your relationship with Pressure? 04:30 How have you evolved your relationship with Pressure? 11:21 Can you share an example of how you notice and manage pressure? 19:43 What are your go-to habits that help you stay physically fuelled under pressure? 24:05 How do you set boundaries with your team when work and travel blur together? 25:28 Insight 1: Lessons learned 29:08 What’s the number one thing that pulls you into unhelpful pressure? 32:30 How do you balance family life and leisure alongside work? 38:01 Where do you get your biggest energy from? 39:50 What advice would you give for keeping pressure positive during long-term goals? 44:55 Insight 2: Lessons learned 48:37 What part of your SHED practice is most important for keeping pressure positive? 54:21 What 2 pieces of advice would you pass forward to be better under pressure?