Mental Training · Leadership Teams

Mental training for leadership teams.

My specialty is mental performance coaching for competitive tennis players. Tennis is a hard test of attention under pressure: the score is public, the error is immediate, and no one can take the next point for you. I bring the same work to CEOs and leadership teams, one to one, built around each person, their role, and what their company is facing.

Christian Straka speaking to a room on mental training
Christian Straka · Los Angeles
The work

It trains three attention skills.

1
ConcentrationDirecting focus to what matters, holding it there as long as the moment requires, and shifting it when the moment changes.
2
Sensory clarityNoticing what is actually happening, in the body, in the room, in the moment, clearly enough to act on it.
3
EquanimityLetting pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral experience be there without fighting it, so a person acts in their own, their colleagues’, and the company’s best interest.

As these strengthen, so does what is built on them: preparation, attitude, and communication.

Research on this kind of training links it to better wellbeing, emotional regulation, focus under pressure, and lower stress and burnout.

Sources: Vonderlin et al., 2020, a meta-analysis of 56 randomized trials of workplace programs (stress, burnout, wellbeing, job satisfaction). Bartlett et al., 2019, a meta-analysis of 23 workplace trials (stress, anxiety, distress, wellbeing). Jha et al., 2010, attention and working memory held up through a high stress period in those who practiced regularly. Guendelman et al., 2017, a review of the emotion regulation findings.

The skills are the same three described in the writing on this site. The training is not. It is built for each person: their role, their patterns under pressure, and what their company is facing this quarter.

How it runs

One to one, over a quarter.

Each participant works with me directly. What I set for one person is not what I set for the next. It follows their role, their patterns under pressure, and what the quarter asks of them. The company’s situation shapes the work; the individual is who I coach.

The CEO has separate time with me each month: their own work, and what the group is showing, in grouped terms only.

1:1
Live sessions with each personEvery participant meets me one to one, every month, remote or in person in Los Angeles. That session is where the work for that person is set, reviewed, and adjusted.
Daily
Practice between sessionsBetween sessions, a daily practice I design and adjust for each person, week by week, so what was set in the session takes hold in the working day. It asks about an hour of the workday, set aside and agreed with the company. The practice fills part of that hour; the rest stays free of screens.
Five
A small group per quarterFive people at a time, so the individual attention is real. At the close, the next group can begin.
Twice
Measured at the start and the closeA full assessment per person at the start and at completion: the attention skills in real work situations, plus a validated wellbeing measure. Nothing is graded.

Individual answers stay between me and each participant. The company sees grouped trends across the group: adherence, and change from start to close. Never anything traceable to one person.

Background

Where the work comes from.

40
Years in TennisFormer professional player, six years as head coach of a tennis academy in Spain, then mental performance coach to professional players. Victoria Azarenka during her rise to world number one in the juniors. Mike Bryan at the 2018 ATP Finals, which he won. Co-authoring a book on mental training in tennis with him.
AR
Adidas Runners, Global Mindset CoachThe same three skills, taken outside tennis at scale. Six years. Created the framework, defined the skills to be trained, and designed how they were trained. Deployed by mindset coaches in approximately 80 cities and reached over 200,000 runners worldwide.
USC
Faculty Lecturer, University of Southern CaliforniaCreated the first course of its kind at USC on mindfulness and athletic performance.
ORGS
OrganizationsNetflix, Amazon, Allianz, Mattel, Soho House, UCLA.
15+
Years of Daily PracticeCertified Unified Mindfulness teacher and teacher trainer. Member of the International Mindfulness Teachers Association.
Full background
A conversation

If this could fit your team.

Write to me. Two things help: how many people, and what the next quarter looks like for them. I reply within 48 hours. Or email directly: christian@straka.la

Received. I will write back within 48 hours.

Christian