Three Questions For the Pros
In this newest series, BluChip talks with leaders of industry to uncover the qualities that make successful professionals tick.
Subject: Catherine Sheehan
Company: Strategy by Sheehan
What business are you in? Brand Strategy Consulting
What is your current title/position? Founder
What college did you attend? Harvard College·
What sport(s) did you play? Heavyweight Crew
1. What about being a student-athlete helped you most in your career? Could you provide some details or examples? Is there a specific experience you often reflect upon or advice that you received that had an impact on your success?
“Pressure is a privilege.”
I remember our coach saying that to us less than a week before Eastern Sprints my senior year. The sign that had hung on the wall of the locker room since September – “What can you do today so that in May you’re standing on the podium at Eastern Sprints?” – for me now induced more anxiety than inspiration. I wasn’t the only one feeling that way.
Everyone on the team had trained so brutally hard that year. We’d been on the ergs a month longer than usual as Boston slogged through one of the coldest winters on record. We’d gotten up before dawn six days a week. Pushed through setbacks and injuries. Just about everyone had PR’d, seeing 6K and 2K scores we’d never imagined pulling when we were freshmen. And now we were here. Sitting in a sun-drenched locker room after another practice where we were rowing tight. Not finding much send. Not creating enough boat speed. Instead of feeling connected and fired up, we felt …
“Pressure,” our coach said. “You’re feeling pressure. And pressure is a privilege.” She explained it that day, and her explanation has stayed with me for 20 years since. I’ve drawn on it in every big work moment – pitch, client presentation, late night brainstorm trying to crack a campaign idea, staring at a blank computer screen trying to crack a brief – and in plenty of life moments, too. Basically every time I feel like I’m gonna puke.
Pressure isn’t the “holy sh*t” feeling of not being prepared. It isn’t the panic that hits when you’re in over your head. It isn’t the stomach drop of realizing you screwed up. Pressure is the thing you feel when you are ready. You feel it when you’ve put in the preparation and done the work. You feel it when you’re on a stage – a stage that you’ve chosen, a stage that leaders have put you on – because you’re the one who can do it. Better than anyone else. You’re walking up on that stage because you’re the one most able and most likely to nail it. You feel pressure because you can do it.
And man … what a privilege. Would you ever want or choose anything else?
2. What advice would you have for student-athletes as they pursue their first job after college?
Don’t just pursue opportunities in industries that are familiar or comfortable. Some of my most rewarding professional experiences have been in B2B (businesses selling to other businesses) industries way outside of my comfort zone.
3. Is there any other sage advice you’d like to share? Take a deep breath (and make sure to breathe out, your voice shakes if you try to hold it). Remember the work. Remember the preparation. Acknowledge the pressure you feel. What you’re feeling is real. And that feeling means you can. So go do it.