The Great Coaches Newsletter

Anders Torstensson: Stressful Leaders, Stressful Organisations

Our first podcast guest of 2026 is Anders Torstensson, but this isn’t an episode just about him and his career — no, it’s also an episode about his team, Mjallby, and their triumph in winning the Swedish top tier football competition last year. 

For those of you who are unaware, Mjallby is a town of 14,000 people. Their team’s budget is only 12% of that of the richest club in their league, Malmo, and their stadium holds only 6000 people. Many of the team’s players live in apartments together, and carpool to training with each other. 

In 2017, Mjallby was in the fourth flight of Swedish football. Now, thanks to their victory, they’ve qualified to take part in the Champions League qualifiers. 

At their helm, you’ll find Anders. A former school principal and military officer, he has been involved with the team on-and-off since being a player there in the 1980s. In 2023 he became the team’s coach on a full-time, professional basis, and has since led them to a championship in what many believe is one of the greatest underdog stories in European football. 

There were so many brilliant highlights during this episode for me. Some of the key ones include:

• Anders’ focus on being calm, because the right decisions won’t be made under stress (something he learned in the military). This calmness extends to not screaming on the pitch, and sometimes taking a day to think and consider before delivering feedback.

• How his diagnosis of Leukaemia did not prevent him from doing his job, and how it instead taught him to focus on the process of looking for solutions to the problems before him. As he says, “it’s just you that can stress yourself. They can put pressure on me, but no one can stress me.” 

• How a background in the military and as a school principal has helped him to develop his leadership skills, especially regarding working with people’s inner and outer motivations.  

This was a very inspiring and interesting interview to record, and I can’t wait to hear your feedback on it. 

Listen Now: Apple | Spotify

The key questions raised from Anders’ interview:

• What can I do better to work with people’s inner and outer motivations?

• How can I use my voice better in order to convey a sense of calm?

Find all of our past interviews with some of sport’s most successful coaches and leaders on our website.

A Look At Stress

In each episode of our newsletter, we look at a different lesson that you can take and use within your own leadership.

In this week’s podcast episode, Anders Torstensson spoke on the topic of stress and why he places a significant focus on staying calm and level-headed, especially when making decisions.

We speak a lot with our guests about how leaders can manage their own stress, but how about managing the stress of your team members or athletes?

In this clip from our past interview with Great Coach Ben Darwin, he shares the impact that uncertainty can have on confidence and stress levels. In an environment where expectations and plans are constantly changing, stress levels can skyrocket.

How can you help to remove stress from the people you lead? One easy way is to be clear and upfront about established, unchanging expectations. Another is to ensure that your team are aware of plans (and of the potential changes that may be made to them). It’s also a good idea to speak to the people in your team, and to ask them what areas of their work or environment are causing them stress or uncertainty.

We combine videos of the Great Coaches that we have interviewed with our experience as corporate and sporting leaders in order to bring insight, energy, and ideas to your teams.

On Chris King and Changing Shift

If you’re a fan of Ted Lasso and looking for something new to watch, then this 10-part documentary series from The Coaches Site may be exactly what you’re looking for. 

The series follows the story of Chris King (considered something of a real-life Lasso), one of Canada’s most successful women’s basketball coaches now leading the Lloydminster Lancers in the Alberta Elite Hockey League. 

So, how did a successful basketball coach end up in the world of Hockey? His story is a brilliant one — and one that may hold special appeal to those of you who have been considering (or talking yourself out of) a ‘shift change’ of your own. 

Elevated Leadership

If you’re looking to improve your own leadership skills, get in touch with us at elevatedleadership.com.au 

Our team of executive coaches — including The Great Coaches host, Paul Barnett — bring a wealth of experience as international CEOs who have faced the challenge of stepping forward in uncertain moments.