Have you noticed there are some people that just seem to exude calm?
And there are other people who seem to exude chaos?
There’s an old, intended-to-be-amusing rhyme that goes:
“When in danger or in doubt,
Run in circles! Scream and shout!”
Not very funny, really, because that’s obviously the epitome of unhelpful – and the epitome of what leaders should not do.
There’s a lot going on these days, in the U.S. and around the world. And it’s easy to get caught up in the anxiety. We’re all feeling it, to one degree or another (and yes, I believe even those who were (and perhaps still are) in favor of the current administration are feeling it).
Nonetheless, and no matter what’s happening, we have options. As leaders, whether we’re leading a change initiative at work, simply trying to get our teams through the day-to-day, working within our communities to protest what’s happening, or being with our families, we have options.
We can be a thermometer, and react to whatever happens, reflecting it back to those around us.
Or we can be a thermostat and regulate the temperature, acting as the calm within the storm – as difficult as that sometimes is. We can be a voice of reason – not of Pollyanna denial or fluffy rainbows-and-puppies toxic positivity, but of reason.
What can we control? What can we influence? And can we find a way to let go of the things entirely outside of our control?
What new perspectives can we find on the situation at hand? And can those new perspectives show us potential solutions?
As much as possible, in a world of thermometers … be a thermostat.
Everyone needs to vent sometimes, and that’s okay.
But pick your spaces for that. Choose where to be a thermostat, and regulate the reactivity for yourself and those around you – and where to be a thermometer and throw your hands up and admit that sometimes it’s all just too much.
The thermostat-or-thermometer concept is usually attributed to Martin Luther King Jr., from his Letter from Birmingham Jail. That link goes directly to a PDF rendition. Worth reading, especially in these times.