Is It Sick To Say This Is Exciting?

Posted on April 13, 2020

Nobody wished for this virus to descend upon the world. The harm, death and cost it is wreaking is disgusting and sad. Listening to the news in better times often seems negative and depressing, but in retrospect, the news six months ago was nothing compared to the news today.

Yet most of the CEOs of our clients are noticeably excited, even allowing a guilty smile at times. Is that wrong? Shouldn’t they have funeral-like countenances, even in the privacy of talking with their coach?

My answer is absolutely not.

This is the challenge of the decade. Leaders make the future. Leaders know that they have been given a massive responsibility to lead their people through these times. For leaders, it is energizing that everyone in the organization recognizes what the challenge is and is ready to go into battle, fighting to win.  As one who serves leaders (servant leadership), it is exciting for me to wake up every morning, usually before my alarm clock rings, to ask myself, “What can I do today to deliver the maximum help to my community of business leaders?” I accept the challenge! I am determined to rise to the occasion. In an odd sort of way this is fun. There, I’ve said it.

I talked to a client in Hayward, CA who innovated a new set of products in response to COVID-19. He said, “I can’t believe how fast our team upgraded our software, developed new product and adapted our systems. We have never moved this fast before!” He and I traded e-mails WAY after close of business. He is excited. And while he had to do layoffs and furloughs (super stressful and not fun) and the risks to his business are much higher now than two months ago, he’s choosing not to focus on the negative cues in his environment. He’s able to do that because he’s so focused on VERY clear priorities and making the future brighter than it could have been.

On March 10 I met in person (one of my last in-person meetings!) with one of our clients in San Francisco who leads a pharmacy. As we talked, it became clear that he would change his stance from leaning back from the crisis to walking into the fire and embracing the nasty realities. Within a few days, he rallied his team and introduced all the best practices that wouldn’t become common knowledge for another 10-14 days. He told his peers nationwide about what he did, and many thought he was crazy. Yet within a week, all of them followed suit and he went from “crazy” to “oracle.” He didn’t say it, but I could see that he was proud of what he’d done. Even if he helped his skeptical peers move just a few days faster, it was an enormous gift.

We have a client in Connecticut who is leading in a different way than he ever has before, with daily videos. Being a center of attention and inspiration was never his style, but he knew it was the right thing to do so he walked into the fire and did it. He’s building a personal competency at messaging that will last him his lifetime. I love the way he expressed to his entire team how he stays recharged to lead passionately. He says, “Every day when I awake, I ask myself what will inspire me today?” He cited the fight he sees in his son who is recovering from a serious accident, or a success of someone at work, or the focus on protecting the elderly members of his family.

In Southern California, I’m getting to know one leader’s ten-year old son better than ever before. I first met this leader when that ten-year-old was just a bulge in her belly. But he cruises by our video calls now and then because he is home and she is mothering and educating him while leading her business. And true to her personality, she is leading her business (and her life) ferociously. It’s very hard for her right now, balancing it all. She triggered massive growth ten years ago for the company she leads with three other partners by entering and creating a dominant position in the hospitality industry. With that sector being hit very hard right now, she’s determined to dramatically expand their services in the health care industry. She has partners who are handling finances and forecasting, so she can work to her strengths around bringing more opportunity to her firm.

Another client in Southern California said, “It’s quite interesting to see how our high potential leaders are reacting under this kind of pressure. Most are charging forward, energized and making a difference with positive attitudes and passion. But a few are frozen, afraid, or doomsday-ish, seemingly overtaken by the times. This is quite instructive for me in formulating who should be in the next generation of leadership here.”

Our clients inspire us. I have so many more examples of our client’s leaders who are walking into the fire and making their company better by the end of every day.

And there it is. The secret: Choosing what to allow your mind to wrap itself around each day.

Do this, and recommend that your leadership team do it as well:

1. Read the news, look at your reports, understand your context.  Yes, this is depressing and unfun, but essential.  I do it towards the end of the day, but everyone is different.
2. Given the state of affairs, I think about where I should focus the following day. Sometimes it’s already on my calendar. Sometimes I get the answer that night, other times it pops into my head as I awaken, like it did this morning, with the writing of this article.
3. Focus on that and try to move the needle: to make things even a tiny bit better than they were.
4. Take time to be inspired by the wins you or your team delivered. That charges our batteries. Smile. Send compliments and gratitude out. Be proud.
5. Learn from mistakes, then quickly move on. It’s hard to be right as often as usual in such unpredictable circumstances, so give yourself a break. Yet there will be times when each of us messes up. When it wasn’t the circumstances, it was just our failure. Don’t dwell on it because that won’t help your team win. Let it go and focus on the next opportunity to help.
6. Allocate time every day (even just ten minutes) to “live in the future” and consider what your company’s situation might be like in a week, or a month, or in a year.

As Bob Johansen, author of Leaders Make the Future said, “Being a futurist isn’t about predicting the future. We just use our predictions to provoke thought that ultimately helps us make better decisions today.” Ask yourself this, “If the future for us in a month might look like X, what would make us better prepared/positioned for that future?” It doesn’t take long right now to get some great ideas.

Leaders make the future.  And it’s exciting.