The Leadership Skill Nobody Taught You Hits #1
The Leadership Skill Nobody Taught You: Calm Under Fire in the Age of Disruption by Claire Hayek launched on September 9, 2026 and reached number one on Amazon Canada in three categories in the same week, including Stress Management and Business Leadership. The book draws on two years of research and more than sixty interviews with senior leaders across four continents.
I owe you an update, because a lot has happened and you have probably not heard about most of it.
The book came out on September 9. The Leadership Skill Nobody Taught You: Calm Under Fire in the Age of Disruption hit number one on Amazon Canada in three categories at once. Stress Management. Business Mentoring and Coaching. Business Leadership. All three, same week.
That number did not come from nowhere. It came from two years of research and sixty plus interviews with senior leaders across four continents. Different industries, different countries, different titles on the business card. And the thing that kept coming up, over and over, was this. People know what to do under pressure. They trained for it in theory. They read the books. And when the moment actually hits, something else takes over anyway.
That gap is the whole book. Not a chapter on it. The whole book.
What the early readers said
Before launch, I sent advance reader copies to a group who showed interest in reading the book before it went to print. I wanted one thing back from them. Did the research actually land, or did it just sound good on paper.
Here is some of what came back.
Tony Tripeny called it the leadership book he wishes existed ten years ago.
Jeannette Wiltse said it named something she had felt in every high stakes meeting of her career and never had the words for.
Craig Dubecki read it twice in one week. Once for himself. Once thinking about his team.
Michael David Morales said it is the rare leadership book that reads like someone who has actually been in the room, not someone describing it from outside.
That last one stuck with me. Because that is the entire point of two years of interviews instead of two years of theory.
Bilbao, then Bogotá
While the book was launching, I was also on the road.
Bilbao first. I keynoted the AIPC Annual Conference in front of a room of conference and events C-suite professionals from around the world. Different industry than mine entirely. Same nervous system problem. Live event, zero room for error, everyone watching. Pressure does not care what your job title is.
Then Bogotá. I spoke at the AIFEC Event Summit in Colombia, in front of an audience that did not speak English as a first language. Different country, different language, and the exact same look in people’s eyes the moment I got to the part about what pressure actually does to the brain.
That was the moment I stopped being surprised by this. The pattern holds everywhere. Montreal boardroom or Bogotá stage, the brain under pressure runs the same program.
Where you come in
If you have not taken the Pressure and Performance Scorecard yet, do it now. Five minutes. It tells you exactly where your own pressure response breaks down, before you find out the hard way in a real meeting.
If you have already read the book, I want to know what stayed with you. Reply to this post. I read every one.
And if you have not read it yet, here is your sign. Number one in three categories, same week.
Two more things
The audiobook is coming. If you have been waiting to listen instead of read, you will not be waiting much longer.
And mark your calendar. The French edition, La compétence en leadership que personne ne vous a apprise, launches October 7. Same research, same voice, in the language I grew up speaking before I ever wrote a word in English.
Thank you for being here for this. That matters to me more than a bestseller tag ever will.
What is The Leadership Skill Nobody Taught You about?
It is about the gap between what leaders know to do under pressure and what happens when the moment hits. Claire Hayek built it on two years of research and more than sixty interviews with senior leaders across four continents.
How can I find out where my pressure response breaks down?
Take the Pressure and Performance Scorecard at clairehayek.com/pp-scorecard. It takes five minutes.
