Strengthen

What rocket science can teach us about leading under pressure

A view of Earth taken by NASA astronaut & Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman from one of the spacecraft’s main windows after completing the translunar injection burn. April 2, 2026.

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This week’s On Pace is literally rocket science.

Like many people, I’ve been enjoying the story of Artemis II. In such complex times, watching four humans — brave and brilliant enough to boldly go on this journey — splash down at one o’clock a.m UK time on a Saturday morning felt like a moment to marvel.

I’ve also been thinking about space travel because I took my 84-year-old father to watch Project Hail Mary the other day. I’d really enjoyed the book, and the film was fun. I loved the playscience, the fab t-shirts in the movie (the missed opportunities with this merch!)… and thinking about what it would be like to be alone with a humanity-saving Earth-saviour challenge ahead of you.

And this reminded me of a concept I explored in Superfast: Max Q.

Max Q is the moment aeronautical engineers obsess about; the point at which a rocket experiences the greatest aerodynamic stress as it climbs through the atmosphere. The most dangerous point of flight. The moment at which damage occurs.

As leaders we need to watch out for our own Max Q (it stands for maximum dynamic pressure) - when the velocity vortex we’re in starts to risk real damage.

In our teams, and in ourselves.

The instinct when you hit those pressure points is to slow everything down. And sometimes that’s exactly right. There is absolutely often a time and place to channel Billy Joel in Vienna and say “slow down, you’re doing fine.”

The brilliant Emma Harris, CEO of Glow London, Fellow of The Marketing Society has built an entire movement around the fact we need to ‘Slow the f**k down’ and I was Episode one on her fantastic podcast discussing this with her recently.

But here’s something I found particularly fascinating about the actual rocket science.

Once a ship gets through Max Q and withstands the pressure, things get easier.

The density drops, momentum carries you forward, and you can throttle back up to the superfast pace that gives you cosmic velocity.

So perhaps the better question isn’t only when do we slow down — it’s how do we build a ship strong enough to get through the pressure in the first place?

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My word for the year is strengthen.

What can we do, what can we control, when we can’t control the galaxy of complexity that is work and life right now? We can strengthen our team and strengthen ourselves.

To be clear this is not about the techbro high-performance 5am cold showers and hardcore, hardbore hustle. Instead it’s leaders who intentionally build a life which makes them mentally robust, and teams who keep perspective (however fast the view outside their window changes).

We can strengthen our ship on three fronts.

1. Strengthen culture.

Build candour into how you work so tensions don’t fester. Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia had a brilliant framework for this — name the elephants (the big things nobody is talking about), the dead fish (things that happened years ago that people can’t get over), and the vomit (stuff people just need to get off their chest). Name them before they poison the room. And be ready for crises before they arrive — crisis simulation work like that done by Tamara Littleton and her team at Polpeo means you’re prepared for what hits rather than scrambling when it does.

2. Strengthen support.

Something that was in the book of Hail Mary which didn’t make it into the film was the reason why the crew were put into a coma, They did this because the pressure of being together was too much of a risk. Life, work, people can be as much of a challenge as the pace of change and the business.

At The Marketing Society, we offer Spill — mental health support on demand for any team member and their families. Always there, always on, no barriers when people need help. Build the net before anyone falls accepting it will be needed.

3. Strengthen your personal habits.

What gives you energy? What lifts you and brings you life? Guy North, when he was Managing Director at Freeview Media told me how he scheduled fifteen minutes every single day after each meeting to listen to music and reset. He’s an introvert in a high-velocity role — so he built in what he needed for recovery.

I love the amazing Liz and Mollie’s Mood Pyramid

We need to make these things as non-negotiable as board meetings.

Another Superfast interviewee Dame Martha Lane Fox wrote beautifully about this recently in her Substack— that beyond human support, strength comes from less expected places: “poetry, music, walking in all weathers, reading a new novel, seeing a painting you love, visiting a place you’ve never been. These are the things that can inspire and motivate.”

And Ollie Tress, founder of Oliver Bonas, told me his company purpose was inspired by a line from Hans Christian Andersen:

“Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom… and a little flower.”

Those soft, sometimes fragile things make us stronger. We need them in our lives and in our days.

So perhaps the rocket fuel we need isn’t grinding yourself hollow. It certainly can’t be about expecting things to be easy because they aren’t.

My friend Drew Povey puts it well: the heavier the weight you lift, the stronger you become. Every difficult experience builds your fortitude for what’s ahead.

We often forget when we focus on the heroic astronaut that rockets work because of engineers. Leaders aren’t just pilots. They’re the ones building the ship and tending the crew — the architect of strength and the keeper of it.

High performance isn’t always heroic sacrifice but sometimes tending deliberately and with discipline to what keeps you human and that is where strength emerges.

Build yourself a life, a team, a ship engineered to handle the pressure - with habits that keep you human, add a little flower and surround yourself with people strong enough to make the journey together and enjoy it.

Because after all, in space, no-one can hear you scream.

Sophie

Espresso Takeaway Thoughts

The weight you’re carrying right now is strengthening you.
Can you see the hardest moments as prompts for better engineering rather than just endurance?

Who are the engineers in your organisation? The unglamorous builders of strength and culture. Are you one of them?

What’s your version of the little flower? The sunshine and the music.
What daily practice keeps you human — and is it as non-negotiable as your next board meeting?

Watch Slow The F**K Down with The Drum & Emma Harris - The Velocity Vortex.