Presence Under Pressure Workshop

You're exhausted, and it's not from the work

You're leading. Making decisions. Showing up for your team. But something's wrong.

• You're in the meeting, but your mind is three moves ahead.
• You know the right decision, but you're running scenarios.
• You tell yourself you're protecting the team, but really you're protecting your image.
• You're listening, but you're also managing—how you're perceived, whether you're safe, what you need to correct.

Rest doesn't renew you because you never fully stop defending.

You're not tired from leading. You're tired from defending.

This isn't a weakness. It's how your nervous system works.

When pressure rises, your limbic system activates defence before you consciously know what's happening. It's trying to keep you safe.

But what kept you safe once now keeps you stuck.

You've become so skilled at holding it together that you've forgotten what you're holding together for.

The exhaustion isn't from the decisions you're making. It's the constant effort to manage how you're perceived, control what people see, and defend against being exposed as inadequate.

You're not broken. You're just defending when you don't need to.

The Eight Leadership Conditions

This one-day workshop teaches you to recognise when defence has taken over—and how to return to presence.

Presence. Being here and available, rather than mentally elsewhere, when pressure rises. When defence relaxes, you're simply here.

Clarity. Seeing what is actually happening, without distortion from fear, urgency, or self-interest. When the noise drops, you see clearly.

Service. Orienting decisions beyond ego toward what genuinely serves the work and the people involved. When the distinction becomes visible, service becomes clean.

Conversation. Relating attentively and truthfully, so understanding can emerge rather than be forced. When that managing stops, conversation opens.

Discernment. Choosing well in complex situations where rules and certainty no longer apply. When you're not defending against being wrong, discernment sharpens.

Measure. Acting in proportion—neither too much nor too little—given what the moment truly requires. When that "something" is seen, proportion returns.

Integration. Being the same person across roles, contexts, and pressures, without internal contradiction. When there's nothing to protect, there's no one to perform.

Renewal. Restoring energy and perspective so leadership can continue without erosion. When defence drops, rest actually rests you.

This isn't theory. It's neuroscience translated into practice. Limbic system regulation through philosophical inquiry.

What happens if nothing changes?

The defence doesn't go away on its own. It gets more sophisticated.

• You'll keep exhausting yourself trying to hold it together.
• Keep missing the moments that matter.
• Keep performing versions of yourself that don't quite fit anywhere.

Your team will sense it—the distance, the performance, the fact that you're not fully here. They won't trust you less because you're inadequate. They'll trust you less because you're hiding.

The decisions will keep being harder than they need to be because you're solving for perception, not reality.

And one day you'll realise: the thing you've been defending against isn't out there. It's the cost of the defence itself.

What becomes possible when you stop defending?

• You're in the meeting, and you're actually there. Present. Available. Someone needs you to see them, and you do.
• You know the right decision, and you make it. Not because you've eliminated uncertainty, but because you're no longer defending against being wrong.
• You're the same person everywhere. No work self, no home self. Just you—integrated, honest, available.

Rest actually rests you.

Your team feels the difference. Not because you're suddenly perfect, but because you're no longer performing. They trust you because you're real.

Leadership stops being exhausting. Not because the work got easier, but because you're no longer working against yourself.

Presence Under Pressure Workshop

Tuesday, 3rd March 2026
London Bridge
£295 per person

One day. Eight conditions. The tools to recognise when defence has taken over and how to return to presence.

Led by Andrew Sillitoe—integrative practical philosopher, ICF-certified coach, former Team GB head coach, and author of four books on leadership and living well.

Small group. Deep work. Real conversations that move the needle.

This isn't about learning new frameworks. It's about recognising the pattern that's been running you—and building the capacity to interrupt it.

Places are limited.

Questions? Email andrew@andrewsillitoe.com