Challenge How You Think About Performance

Many leaders are pushing for higher performance using the same tools that worked in the past. Focus harder. Work longer. Optimize incrementally. Stealing Fire by Steven Kotler & Jamie Wheal invites leaders to consider a very different path.

Stealing Fire explores how top performers across business, sport, and the military access peak performance by deliberately creating altered states of consciousness often referred to as flow. Rather than relying on effort alone, these individuals design conditions that unlock creativity, clarity, and sustained high performance.

The book highlights practical triggers that make flow more likely including clear goals, immediate feedback, meaningful challenge, and deep focus. When these conditions are present, performance improves dramatically without relying on burnout or constant pressure.

For leaders, the relevance is clear. High performing organizations are not built on nonstop intensity. They are built by leaders who understand how to design environments where people can do their best thinking and most impactful work.

At OPTIV, this perspective complements structured operating systems like Metronomics.

Discipline and rhythm create stability.

Flow unlocks innovation and energy.

Together, they allow leaders and teams to perform at a higher level while staying sustainable.

Stealing Fire reminds us that the future of performance is not about pushing harder. It is about working smarter with the brain and human system we already have.