Leadership in Times of Chaos

Sometimes it seems like everything is on fire in 2020. This is a picture taken by my wife from our back porch a few nights ago. Like a lot that has happened this year, the fire on the mountain behind our house is out of control. The firefighters still do not have it contained. I was coaching an executive this week and he shared how he had spent a lot of time with an employee who was struggling with terrible anxiety. Harvard Business Review had an excellent article last month entitled “Leading in Times of Trauma.“

A simple but important aspect of managers demonstrating humanity is just being present physically and emotionally.” The article describes that when a close relative died, one person was most comforted by a couple who arrive at his home and simply wept with him. Our horses were going crazy as the fire on the mountain grew. They seemed to calm, though, just by our going out and being with them. Just being present can dampen flames of anxiety in others.