Olivia: A recent survey of nearly a thousand CEOs found something stunning. Ninety percent of them said that to succeed in transforming their organization, they first had to transform themselves. Jackson: Wow. Ninety percent? That’s a huge number. Olivia: It is. And here’s the kicker: just three years earlier, only thirty percent held that view. Jackson: Okay, that’s a massive jump. What on earth changed in just three years? It feels like the definition of leadership is shifting under our feet. Olivia: That massive shift in thinking is exactly what we're diving into today with Real-Time Leadership: Find Your Winning Moves When the Stakes Are High by David Noble and Carol Kauffman. The book is widely acclaimed and it really unpacks this new reality for leaders. Jackson: And these authors are the real deal, right? I read that Kauffman is a Harvard-trained psychologist, recognized as the world's number one leadership coach, and Noble comes from the high-pressure world of Wall Street and top-tier consulting. That's a powerhouse combination. Olivia: Exactly. They combine deep psychology with hard-nosed strategy to tackle that exact question: how do you lead when the stakes are sky-high and you have no script? And they start with a story that is every ambitious person's worst nightmare.

Jackson: I’m already nervous. Lay it on me. Olivia: Alright, picture this. A top executive named Matt, from a Fortune 50 company, is the frontrunner for the CEO job. The announcement is just a week away. He’s flown to Connecticut for the final interview with the board's nominating and governance committee, the NomGov. This should be his victory lap. Jackson: Okay, he’s at the one-yard line. What could go wrong? Olivia: Everything. From the moment he walks in, he senses doubt. The committee members seem frustrated. He tries to compensate, to show them how much he knows, but the more he talks, the more the tension in the room ratchets up. The Q&A session is a disaster. He leaves the room knowing, deep down, that he blew it. Jackson: Oof. You can just feel the sweat on his palms. So he just… choked? What happened? He was the top candidate, he must have been prepared. Olivia: He was. But he wasn't prepared for the real-time dynamic of the room. The feedback from the committee chair was brutal. He said, "Matt’s the right guy, but he stayed in the weeds the entire time... He came off like a robot, not connecting with any of us. We need a real, strategic CEO." Jackson: A robot. That’s a dagger. Olivia: It is. And the authors argue this is a classic failure of real-time leadership. Matt got caught in a reactive loop. He felt doubt, so he reacted by spewing more data, which created more doubt, and so on. He was stuck. The book quotes the psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, who said, "Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response." Matt had no space. He just reacted. Jackson: That makes so much sense. We’ve all been there, maybe not in a CEO interview, but in a tense meeting or a difficult conversation where you can feel yourself saying the wrong thing but you can't stop. You’re just reacting on instinct. Olivia: Precisely. And in high-stakes situations, instinct is often the enemy. The whole premise of this book is about how to intentionally create that space, to find your winning move instead of your default reaction.

Jackson: So how do you create that 'space' when you're under that much pressure? That's where this MOVE framework comes in, I assume? Olivia: That’s the heart of it. MOVE stands for Mindfully Alert, Generate Options, Validate Your Vantage Point, and Engage and Effect Change. But it’s less a rigid checklist and more a dynamic toolkit. Let’s start with the first two: Mindfully Alert and Generate Options. Jackson: Okay, but "being mindfully alert" can sound a bit... fluffy. How does that actually help when the building is on fire? Olivia: That’s a fair question. The authors make it very concrete. Being Mindfully Alert means asking three questions in the moment: What does a win look like here? Am I being the person I want to be? And am I leading in the way others need me to? It’s about situational awareness, both external and internal. And from that awareness, you Generate Options. Jackson: Options beyond just "fight or flight." Olivia: Exactly. They introduce a simple but powerful tool called the Four Stances. You can Lean In, which is your classic assertive, action-oriented stance. You can Lean Back, which is about pausing, analyzing, and gathering data. You can Lean With, which is collaborative and empathetic. Or you can Don't Lean, which means doing nothing for a moment—just waiting and observing. Jackson: I like that. It’s a menu of responses. Olivia: Let me give you a quick example from the book. A leader named Stevie is in charge of a massive, painful transformation at her company. She’s in a meeting when she finds out someone leaked sensitive information about layoffs to the press. Jackson: Oh, that’s a crisis. My gut reaction would be to Lean In hard—find the leaker, do damage control, get aggressive. Olivia: That’s the default for many leaders. But Stevie, using this framework, could pause and consider her options. Leaning In might mean confronting her team. Leaning Back could mean letting the communications team handle it while she analyzes the impact. Leaning With could mean huddling with her trusted advisors to show solidarity. And Don't Lean could mean just taking a breath and not reacting immediately, letting the dust settle for an hour. The best move depends entirely on the context. Jackson: And having those four options in your head prevents the knee-jerk reaction. It creates that "space." Olivia: You got it. And this brings us back to Matt, our failed CEO candidate. After his disastrous interview, the board chair calls the authors in a panic. Matt has one last shot: a presentation to the full board the next day. Jackson: Wait, so he got a do-over? That never happens! Olivia: It’s his last chance. So the authors run him through the MOVE framework. First, Mindfully Alert: What does the board really need to see? Not a robot who knows the numbers, but a strategic, compassionate leader. Second, Generate Options: He can’t just Lean In with more data. He needs to Lean With the board, connect with them personally. Third, Validate Your Vantage Point: His perspective was "I need to prove I'm smart." He had to validate that the board's perspective was "We need to know you can lead and inspire." Jackson: So he had to completely reframe the goal of the meeting. Olivia: Completely. And finally, Engage and Effect Change. His new plan was to start the meeting by acknowledging the company's challenges, showing empathy for the employees, and then laying out a bold, human-centered vision. He shifted from proving his knowledge to demonstrating his wisdom and compassion. Jackson: And did it work? Don't leave me hanging. Olivia: He got the job. The board was blown away. He made his winning move. Jackson: That's incredible. It wasn't about learning more facts overnight; it was about fundamentally changing his approach to leadership in a critical moment. He had to change who he was in that room.

Olivia: Exactly. And that's the deepest insight of the book. Matt's transformation wasn't just a strategy session; it was personal. Which brings us back to that 90% statistic we started with. The authors argue that you can't transform your organization if you're not willing to transform yourself. Jackson: Ah, so the MOVE framework is the 'what,' but this inner work is the 'who.' You can't effectively use the tools if the person using them is fundamentally misaligned. Olivia: That’s the core of it. The book is filled with stories of leaders who hit a wall not because their strategy was wrong, but because their internal or interpersonal game was off. There’s a story about Marcus, a new CEO of a Fortune 100 energy company. He was brilliant with numbers but terrified his team. He was dismissive, impatient, and emotionally tone-deaf. Jackson: I think we’ve all worked for a Marcus at some point. Olivia: Right? He was appointed CEO on the condition that he get coaching. His journey was about learning empathy and humility. He had to shift his internal priority from "being the smartest guy in the room" to "creating psychological safety for my team." He started visualizing his team members as ten-year-olds who needed to feel safe, and he told them, "I will have your back no matter what." One of his team members actually cried, they were so moved. Jackson: Wow. That’s a profound shift. It’s moving from leading through fear to leading through support. Olivia: And then there’s the story of Gwen, a high-performing executive who was so abrasive and arrogant that her team was terrified of her. She gets a devastating 360-degree review. Her coach doesn't ask her "How can you be less arrogant?" Instead, she asks a transformative question: "If you could be the leader that you most wanted to be, what would it look like?" Jackson: That’s a much more powerful question. It’s forward-looking. Olivia: It is. And Gwen’s answer was simply, "I just want to be a better person." Her journey started there. She began journaling, practicing mindfulness to manage her temper, and asking herself in tough moments, "Who do I want to be right now?" It was about building new internal options for herself. Jackson: It’s so easy to focus on the external goals—hit the target, launch the product, win the deal. But this book suggests the real leverage is internal. It’s about managing your own reactions, understanding your impact, and consciously choosing the person you want to be in the moments that matter most.

Olivia: That's the whole game. Leadership in these high-stakes moments isn't about having all the answers. It's about having the presence of mind to find the right moves. And those moves come from a place of deep self-awareness, not just strategic genius. Jackson: The framework is brilliant because it’s so practical. M-O-V-E. But the real power comes from realizing that the 'V'—Validating Your Vantage Point—isn't just about the market or the competition. It's about validating your own internal state, your own biases, your own emotional reactions. Olivia: Absolutely. The authors make it clear that you can't see the external landscape clearly if your internal lens is smudged. You have to clean your own lens first. That's the personal transformation that those 90% of CEOs were talking about. Jackson: It makes you think... what's the one high-stakes situation you're facing right now, whether it's at work or at home, and what would it look like to create just a little more 'space' before you react? Olivia: A great question to reflect on. The book argues that in that space lies not just a better decision, but your growth and your freedom. We'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Find us on our socials and share what 'winning move' you're planning to make. Jackson: It’s a powerful idea. A playbook for not just winning, but for becoming a more intentional and, frankly, better human being in the process. Olivia: This is Aibrary, signing off.