At the age of thirty-five, I became one of the youngest managing directors at UBS Bank, Switzerland. I realized that getting to my position was a challenge, and staying there would require all my focus. I compared my career to that of a professional athlete. I demanded the highest standards from myself and set an example for those on my team. I knew I had the background, knowledge, and experience to do well in my new job, had recently finished an executive MBA at the University of Chicago, and was physically in great shape. I was in a flow. I felt confident and in control. Nothing could stop me.

Then something happened. I was invited to speak at an international banker's conference in London. I had prepared an excellent presentation and felt confident about my skills as a public speaker. However, anxiety started to creep in on the morning of the presentation. An inner voice asked me if I was sufficiently well prepared. The closer I came to the allotted time slot, the stronger my inner voice raised its volume, and the more anxious I became. I tried everything to get over my anxiety and dampen my inner voice. Meditation, deep breathing, power moves, nothing worked. When the time arrived for my presentation, I felt that I wanted to run away. I knew I had lost my "match," even before getting on the stage. The presentation didn't go well. I stumbled over my words and forgot the key points. The presentation slides somehow didn't work as I wanted, and I saw the public without energy, disengaged and yawning. Something had gone terribly wrong in my mind, and I didn't understand why.

Like an athlete wanting to stay on top of his game, I needed external help to deal with my critical inner voice and empower myself. Fortunately, the HR department hada recently started a coaching program for high potentials and invited me to participate.

During the ensuing sessions, my coach and I frequently discussed the parallels between high-performing athletes and executives. A high level of focus, a strong will, continuous improvement, self-confidence, attitude, and resilience are among the qualities necessary to be outstanding in sports and business. Most important, however, he explained, is a winning mindset and a supportive inner voice. To better understand the "inner voice" concept, he recommended reading The Inner Game of Tennis by Tim Gallwey.

The book explains that the biggest obstacles to success and achieving potential lie within the person. It describes how our inner voice can interfere with our potential and reduce performance. Gallwey talks about the importance of a coach who can distract the coachee's inner voice so that the body can take over.  According to him, the body has a pretty good idea of what to do if internal dialogues are suppressed.  For example, in golf, a critical inner voice may appear as soon as one makes a mistake: "My swing is a disaster." As long as one can't distract the inner voice from the "my swing is a disaster" mantra, improving one's golf game will be tough. On the other hand, if a coach makes the golfer focus on something trivial as the golf ball's dimples, it takes the attention away from the swing.  The golfer is more relaxed, the body takes over, and there is a new space for performance improvement.

Through coaching, I got the insight that the same applies to business. A person's critical inner voice may start creating interference: "I don't think I can handle this", "I am not smart enough," "this is too good to be true," "it's impossible," "this is too hard." Only by distracting the person from their inner voice, by refocusing on other issues, can there be space for performance improvement. It made me realize that the answers to my problems lay within myself. Reinforced by this new understanding and working with my coach, I could better deal with self-doubt and overcome external obstacles created by my mind preventing me from succeeding.  It helped me improve in all areas and be more effective and “ahead of the game” at work.

Many years later, while studying to become a leadership coach, I came into contact with Gallwey again through a formula based on his philosophy:

Performance = Potential + Development – Interference.

“P” stands for “performance” in this equation, the sum of results achieved by a person's efforts. We can define the “P” of “potential” as a condition for having power that has not yet come into being; what one might be capable of, given the right conditions. The “D” of “development” is education and training intended to create new knowledge and skills. The “I” of interference is a big issue for coaching. Interference is a performance spoiler. It can consist of many internal beliefs and emotions: a sabotaging inner voice, limiting beliefs, stress, anxiety, and negative past experiences. As leadership coaches, we want to help our clients deal with interference. We want to help silence their inner voices and allow instinct and the clients' essence to take over. Like the golfer, if we can distract the mind, explore worst-case scenarios, and remove the fear of failure, we can help our clients reduce interference, open new space for unleashing potential, and increase performance. The math can't be more precise. The real training work starts now!

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