By Anna Ladipo
June 17, 2026
There is a particular kind of leadership that only reveals itself under pressure the kind that shows up at 2 AM, when the migration drill is running, the offshore team is flagging an issue, a senior executive is waiting for an update, and your team is exhausted but still showing up.
That was my reality in 2023, when I led the overnight command center for the Bank of Montreal’s acquisition of Bank of the West at the time, the largest bank acquisition in North American history. I led a cross-functional team of QA analysts, business analysts, developers, product owners, and senior executives through a series of migration drills and ultimately through the live cutover of commercial lines of business data working nights, across time zones, with offshore teams in the mix.
It was one of the most demanding leadership experiences of my career. And it taught me more about what project leadership requires than any course, certification, or textbook ever could. The project went live successfully on Labor Day weekend 2023. Here are five lessons from those nights and how you can apply them in your own work.
1. Leadership is not about having all the answers. It is about holding the space.
At 2 AM, no one expects you to know everything. What the team needs is someone calm, present, and clear someone who can take the noise and create enough structure for everyone to do their best work. My job was not to be the smartest person in the room. It was to make sure the right people were talking to each other, that decisions were being made at the right level, and that the team had what they needed to keep moving forward.
Clarity is a form of leadership. So is calm. In a high-stakes environment, how you show up as a leader sets the emotional temperature of the entire team.
Best practice: In high-pressure moments, resist the urge to have all the answers. Ask: Who needs to be in this conversation? What decision needs to be made right now? What does the team need from me in this moment? Your presence and composure are as valuable as your expertise.
2. Process discipline is what separates a drill from a disaster.
We ran multiple migration drills before going live. Each was an opportunity to stress-test the process, identify gaps, and build team confidence. But drills only work if you treat them like the real thing full participation, real escalation paths, actual documentation, and no shortcuts because “it’s just practice.”
The discipline we invested in those drills is the reason the live migration went smoothly. When the moment came, the team already knew what to do. The process had become muscle memory.
Best practice: Do not wait for the real event to find out what breaks. Build rehearsal into your project plan, treat every practice run with full discipline, and debrief after each drill to capture what you learned.
3. Cross-functional teams need trust, not just a common goal.
My team was genuinely cross-functional developers, business analysts, senior executives, and offshore teams all working at different levels of abstraction with different communication styles. We had a central reporting protocol for escalating issues, but knowing when something is a real escalation versus noise only becomes clear when people trust each other enough to speak up honestly and quickly.
One of the most effective things I did early was set up a group chat with the core team not for formal updates, but for real conversation. That simple act shifted what could have been an isolating, high-pressure overnight experience into one where people leaned on each other’s strengths. Carrying everyone along, building genuine relationships, and creating space for people to be heard that is what turned a diverse group into a cohesive, high-performing team.
Best practice: Create both formal escalation paths and informal team channels. Invest in relationship-building early. Connection under pressure is as important as protocol.
4. Taking care of people is a project management responsibility.
Months of drills, overnight shifts, international travel, and offshore coordination take a toll. As a leader, I had to pay attention not just to the project plan, but to the individuals executing it. Who was showing signs of fatigue? Who needed a win? Who needed a moment of recognition to stay engaged? When do you push and when do you protect?
These are not soft questions. They are strategic. A fatigued team makes mistakes. A disengaged team misses signals. An unrecognized team loses motivation at the worst possible moment. Sustainable team performance is a leadership decision made consistently over time.
Best practice: Schedule genuine human check-ins alongside your project status updates. Acknowledge effort publicly. Rotate the heaviest responsibilities where possible. The wellbeing of your team is not separate from project success — it is central to it.
5. Perseverance is a discipline, not a personality trait.
I had never led nights before or managed a command center of that scale. I had to travel between countries during the program, managing stakeholders at every level in an environment where the stakes were as high as they get in financial services. There were moments of genuine doubt and exhaustion where I had to consciously choose to stay disciplined and keep going.
What sustained me was not willpower alone. It was preparation, process, and the team around me. Perseverance is built through consistent habits: the discipline to prepare thoroughly, the emotional intelligence to read the room, the compassion to care for your people, and the passion to stay connected to why the work matters.
Best practice: When pressure rises, reconnect to the mission. Break the challenge into the next decision, the next hour, the next milestone. Perseverance is what happens when your preparation is solid, your team trusts you, and your commitment to the outcome is stronger than your discomfort in the moment.
Your Command Centre Checklist: 5 Principles for Leading Under Pressure
Whether you are managing a high-stakes migration, a complex change initiative, or any project that demands sustained leadership under pressure, use this checklist as your guide:
| Leadership Principle | Apply it Today | |
|---|---|---|
| ☐ | Hold the space | Stay calm and present. Ask: who needs to be in this conversation and what decision needs to be made right now? |
| ☐ | Rehearse like it’s real | Build structured drills into your plan. Debrief after each one and apply what you learn. |
| ☐ | Build trust, not just process | Create formal escalation paths and informal team channels. Invest in relationships before the pressure hits. |
| ☐ | Check on your people | Schedule genuine human check-ins. Acknowledge effort. Rotate heavy responsibilities. Protect your team’s energy. |
| ☐ | Reconnect to the mission | When perseverance is tested, break it down to the next decision. Remind the team why the work matters. |
A Final Reflection
The Bank of Montreal acquisition went live successfully on Labor Day weekend 2023. But the real outcome was not just a successful migration it was a team that showed up night after night, under real pressure, and delivered. That does not happen by accident. It happens when leadership is intentional, disciplined, emotionally grounded, and deeply committed to both the mission and the people executing it.
As you think about the projects and challenges ahead of you, ask yourself: Am I holding the space my team needs? Am I building the conditions for sustainable performance? Am I leading in a way I would want to be led?
Those questions are where great project leadership begins.
Anna Ladipo
Anna Ladipo is an Associate Professor and Academic Director of a Project Management Certificate Program at a leading research university in Texas where I teach graduate-level courses in project management, operations management, and leadership.
With over 20 years of experience leading enterprise transformation programs at Fortune 500 companies across banking, insurance, and financial services, I bring real-world executive expertise into the classroom and beyond. My work sits at the intersection of industry, academia, entrepreneurship, and professional development equipping leaders at every stage with the tools to deliver results.
As the founder of NGSIT Inc. and its subsidiary Luxstopp, I have delivered project management and leadership training to corporate clients across North America while supporting entrepreneurs and small business owners in building and scaling their online presence.
