“Why don’t you just reschedule it?” my wife asked.
“Because our speaker is in Texas, our sponsor is headquartered in South Dakota and our attendees are spread around the country. Nobody cares that we’re having a weather issue in the Northeast,” I replied.
It was the morning of Jan. 27 — the day of the “historic” blizzard that turned out to be anything but, but for some reason the folks running my office building still decided to close due to the “inclement weather.” I was infuriated, but that wasn’t going to solve my problem. I had to produce a Webinar and needed a quiet and secure place to do it. With my office out of the picture, I turned my gaze upon my wife (who was off from work) and our two wild offspring sitting next to her in bed. I had one option left.
“Listen, I’ve got no choice but to do the event downstairs, which means you’ve got to keep the maniacs up here with you in the bedroom. I’m not worried about you keeping them quiet, just make sure they don’t escape,” I said.
“I’ll do my best,” she replied.
“No. I’m not taking about that,” I implored. “You simply can’t let them get out. Barricade the door from the inside with the laundry basket, use whatever you can find. Bring up food and snacks. Rent a movie, give them the iPad. Whatever it takes. I’ll give you the all-clear when I’m finished.”
“Ok, ok,” she said.
And so we went ahead with the Webinar, producing a smooth event with nary a participant aware of the dangers lurking above my head.
Now, the above situation was obviously a case where any type of postponement or cancellation was out of the question. I mean, even if I had wanted to move it, our speaker’s calendar books up months in advance, not to mention we had over 100 folks who’d carved out time in their busy schedules to join us. Screwing around with a sponsored and popular event when you are running a business is simply out of the question.
I am sure that over the last five years, I’ve become even less of a fan for postponements and cancellations, but I’ve always been inherently averse to such things. If I want to do something, I’m going to do it. If the weather is bad, damn the weather, let’s go. If you’re feeling under the weather, damn how you’re feeling, let’s go. If I said I’d be there, I’m sure as heck going to show up … on time. I HATE letting things slide, trying again next time, throwing in the towel. Why kick the can down the road when there are plenty waiting for you already?
And so it goes with managing any crises. I try to handle each without compromising my ability to get done what’s got to be done, to keep the trains running on time, to keep my recurring appointments and standing meetings on track. I try to compartmentalize my crisis so as not to let it bleed into other areas, thus enlarging the problem and my stress.
And I think there is something to this tactic when trying to be a good manager, a good leader. You will face (almost constantly) both personal and professional crises, and if you allow them into other areas of your life, you’ll be a mess. Try to keep the personal ones from interfering with your work duties, try to keep the departmental-associated work ones from spilling into other departments. Keep your meetings, keep your routines and, wherever possible, absorb the blows without venting to everyone about it all.
Whether you like it or not, as many have said and written, everyone is watching the leader. If you wear your heart on your sleeve, they’ll be looking at it instead of whatever their supposed to be doing. And then, instead of getting a break after putting out one fire, you’ll simply have to focus on the new one your self-indulgence just ignited.
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