Latest / The Strategize, Adapt, and Overcome Podcast by Brad Young / Leading in a Crisis: How to Be the Steady Hand When the World Is Falling Apart

Transcript

Leading in a Crisis: How to Be the Steady Hand When the World Is Falling Apart · The Strategize, Adapt, and Overcome Podcast by Brad Young

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Good morning, and welcome back to strategize, adapt and overcome.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: I am brad young, and I am genuinely glad you
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: are here with me today. Let me start with a question,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: and I want you to be honest with yourself because
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: nobody hears your answer. But you think back to the
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: last time everything went sideways all at once, when the
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: plan collapsed. The news was bad, the room was full
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: of frightened people, and everyone turned and looked at one
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: person to tell them what to do. Now, ask yourself
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: something in that moment. Were you the one they turned to?
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: And if you were, did you hold steady or did
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: you crack right along with everybody else? Sit with that
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: for second, because the difference between the person who steadies
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: the room and the person who feeds the panic is
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: the entire subject of today. Last time we talked about
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: becoming a leader worth following, about leading from who you
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: are instead of what you demand. We learned to serve first,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: to lead by example, to earn a loyalty that no
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: title could ever buy. Today, we take that leader and
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: we throw them into the fire, because anyone can look
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: like a leader. When the caesarre calm, the real one
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: is revealed. In the storm. Sun Su understood this deeply.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: He wrote that in the heat of battle, when everything
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: is confusion and noise, the skilled commander remains ordered within
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: the disorder and calm within the chaos. He knew that
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: a general who loses his composure loses his army because
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: fear travels downhill faster than anything else. That is the
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: mind we are building today, the mind that stays still
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: when the whole world is shaking. So let us get
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: into it. Here's the first truth I need you to
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: sit with in a crisis. Your calm is the most
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: valuable thing you own. When chaos hits, people do not
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: first look for the smartest plan or the perfect answer.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: They look for a steady face. They are scanning the
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: room for one person who is not falling apart, because
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: that one calm person tells their fright nervous system the
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: survival is still possible. Your composure is not a personality
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: trait in that moment, It is a resource. It is oxygen.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: And when you stay calm, you are quite literally handing
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: calm to everyone around you. Think about the pilot. When
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: the plane hits violent turbulence. The passengers are gripping their
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: arm rests, hearts pounding, imagining the worst, and then a
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: steady voice comes over the speaker, unhurried, almost bored, and
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: simply says, folks, a little rough air, nothing to worry about.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: We will be through it shortly. Nothing about the turbulence changed.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: The only thing that changed was that one calm voice,
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: and suddenly the whole cabin breeds again. That is what
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: a leader is in a crisis, not the one who
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: removes the storm, but the one whose steadiness makes the
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: storm survivable. Which one are you when the turbulence hits,
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: the steady voice that calms the cabin, or another passenger
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: adding your fear to the pile. Let me bring this
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: out of the sky and into a real life, because
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: this is where it truly matters. I want to tell
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: you a story. I'm going to change some of the
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: details to protect the people in it. But this happened,
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: and it has stayed with me for years now. I
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: once watched two managers face the exact same disaster in
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: the same week, A major thing collapse, the kind of
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: collapse that threatens jobs and keeps people awake at night.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: Same crisis, same pressure, to very different people. We will
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: call the first one the spark, and the spark did
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: what panicked people in charge always do. He caught the
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: fear and amplified it. He raised his voice, He fired
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: off frantic messages at all hours. He blamed people out
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: loud in front of everyone. He changed direction three times
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: in a single day, chasing every worst case that popped
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: into his head. He thought, all that frantic energy looked
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: like urgency, like he was taking it seriously. But his
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: people did not see urgency. They saw their leader on
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: fire and fire spreads within. His whole team was as
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: scattered and terrified as he was, and the crisis got
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: worse because now nobody could think straight enough to actually
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: solve it. Now, let me tell you about the second one.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: We will call her the anchor, and the Anchor faced
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: the identical storm. She was scared too, make no mistake,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: because only a fool feels nothing in a real crisis.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: But she did not hand her fear to her people.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: She got quiet. She slowed down when everything screamed at
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: her to speed up. She gathered the facts before she
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: reacted to the fear. She spoke in a low, steady voice,
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: and she told her team the truth, calmly. This is hard.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Here's what we know, here's the first thing we are
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: going to do, and we're going to get through it together.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: She did not pretend the storm was not real. She
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: simply refused to let it own her. And here's what happened.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Her steadiness spread the same way the sparks panic spread,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: but in the opposite direction, caught her calm. They stopped
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: spinning and started thinking. They rallied around that steady voice,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: and together they worked the problem instead of drowning in it.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: They came out the other side bruised, but intact and
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: closer than before because they had watched their leader hold
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: the line when it counted. Most same crisis the same week,
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: one caught fire and burned as people with him. One
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: dropped anchor and held the whole team steady in the current.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: That is the difference a leader makes in a storm,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: and it is one of the most important differences there is.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: So ask yourself, honestly, which one are you becoming the
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: spark spreading your panic or the anchor spreading your calm. Now,
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: I want to break this down into something you can
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: actually use, because being the steady hand in a crisis
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: is not some rare gift. A few lucky people are
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: born with. It is a way of thinking, and any
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: of us can build it. The first thing you have
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: to understand is that you must master yourself before you
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: can steady anyone else. They not give calm you do
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: not have. If the storm owns you, you have nothing
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: left to offer the people looking to you. This is
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: where all the inner work from this whole series comes home.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: The stoics train for exactly this moment. They practice staying
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: composed in small difficulties, precisely so that when the great
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: difficulty arrived, calm was already a habit and not a hope.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: That the philosopher epictete is taught that we do not
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: control the events that hit us, only our response to them,
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: and that the space between the event and our response
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: is where all our power lives. In a crisis, that
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: space is everything. The leader who can pause in that gap, breathe,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: and choose a steady response instead of a panicked reaction
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: becomes the fixed point that everyone else can hold on
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: to master the storm inside you. First, then, and only
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: then can you steady the storm around you. The second
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: thing you have to understand is that in a crisis,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: clarity beats cleverness. When everything is falling apart, do not
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: need a brilliant, complicated plan, They need one clear next step.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: Panic thrives on confusion, on too many options, and too
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: much noise. So the steady leader cuts through all of
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: it and gives people something simple to hold on to.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: Here's the one thing we are doing right now. Sun
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: Sue understood that in the chaos of battle, the commander's
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: job was to bring order, to simplify it, to give
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: clear direction when everything else was noise. He knew that
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: a simple plan executed with calm confidence beats a perfect
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: plan that nobody can follow because everyone is too frightened
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: to think. So do not try to solve the whole
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: crisis in one heroic stroke. Find the single most important
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: next action, name it clearly, and move. Clarity is a
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: gift you give frightened people. It hands them back their
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: ability to act. The third thing you have to understand
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: is that a crisis reveals character, it does not create it.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: Who you are in the storm is simply who you
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: have been quietly becoming in all the calm days before it.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: This is the humbling truth, and it is also the
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: hopeful one. It is humbling because you cannot fake steadiness
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: in the moment it counts. If you have not built
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: calm into your character, the crisis will expose that instantly.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: But it is hopeful because it means the steady hand
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: is not something you were born with. It is something
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: you build day after ordinary day, and how you handle
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: the small frustrations and the minor setbacks. The stoics kept
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: the hardest things in view during the easiest times, not
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: to be gloomy, but so that no storm could ever
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: catch them as a stranger. Every time you practice calm
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: on a small thing, you are quietly preparing to be
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: the anchor on the day it truly matters. The crisis
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: does not make the leader, it reveals the one who
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: was being built all along. So let me give you
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: something practical to carry out of here today, because I
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: never want to just fill your head with ideas and
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: send you off with nothing to actually do with them.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: Here's your framework for this week. Three moves. Run them
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: and watch yourself becomes steadier when the pressure comes. The
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: first move is to practice your paws on the small storms.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: You do not learn to be calm in the hurricane.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: You learn it in the drizzle. So this week, every
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: time something small goes wrong, the frustrating message, the plan
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: that falls through, the minor emergency, catch yourself in that
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: first hot second and deliberately pause before you react, breathe,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: slow down on purpose. That pause is the exact muscle
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: you will need in the real crisis, and the only
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: way to have it then is to build it now
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: on the small storms nobody else even notices. The second
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: move is to find the one clear next step the
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: next time you face the situation that feels overwhelming. Resists
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: the urge to solve everything at once, because that is
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: what feeds the panic. Instead, ask one simple question, what
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: is the single most important thing to do right now
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: the next step? Name it, say it out loud if
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: people are looking to you, and take it. Then find
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: the step after that. You steady a chaotic situation not
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: by seeing the whole path, but by clearly lighting the
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: very next stone. The third move is to become the
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: calm you would want to follow this week. In any
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: moment of pressure, big or small, ask yourself who you
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: would want leading you right now, and then simply be
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: that person. Lower your voice instead of raising it, slow
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: your pace instead of rushing it. Tell the truth steadily
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: instead of spinning or hiding. Because whether you hold a
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: title or not, the people around you are always catching
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: something from you, either your fear or your calm. Decide
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: on purpose to be the one who gives them calm.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Practice your paws on the small storms. Find the one
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: clear next step. Become the calm you would want to follow.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: That is how you become the steady hand when the
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: world is falling apart. Now, I want to say something
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: important before we close, because I never want this to
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: be twisted into something that is not be in the
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: steady hand does not mean pretending everything is fine when
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: it is not. It does not mean lying to your
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: people are hiding the hard truth behind a fake smile.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: That is not calm. That is denial, and people can
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: feel the difference. The steady leader tells the truth. This
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: is serious, this is hard, and here is how we
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: move forward anyway. The stoics never denied reality. They looked
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: at dead in the eye and stayed composed in the
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: face of it. Real steadiness is not the absence of
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: fear or the denial of danger. It is the presence
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: of courage in full view of both. So do not
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: fake it, feel the weight of the storm honestly, and
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: then choose in front of everyone to meet it with
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: a calm and steady heart. Let me leave you with
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: this before we go. The world will always bring storms.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: That is not a possibility, it is a promise. And
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: in every storm, the frightened people will turn and look
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: for one steady face to tell them it can be survived.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: Most people, when that moment comes, add their own fear
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: to the pile, because they never did the quiet work
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: of building calm before the crisis arrived. So Sue knew
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: twenty five centuries ago that the commander who stays ordered
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: within the disorder holds his army together, while the one
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: who panics loses everything. The stoics knew that the storm
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: outside can only own you if you have not first
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: learned to master the storm within. You do not become
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: the anchor in the moment the ship starts taking water.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: You become the anchor in all the ordinary days before,
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: in every small pause, every clear next step, every choice,
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: to meet a little trouble with a steady heart. And
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: then when the real crisis finally comes, and it will,
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: you do not have to summon a calm you never build.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: You simply become what you have quietly been all along,
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: the steady voice in the shaking cabin, the fixed point
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: in the spinning room, the one person whose composure tells
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: everyone else that we are going to make it through
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: this together. So this week, practice your paws on the
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: small storms, find the one clear next step when things
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: feel overwhelming, and decide on purpose to become the calm
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: you would want to follow. Because when the world is
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: falling apart, it does not need one more frightened voice.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: It needs an anchor. And starting today, that anchor is you.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for spending this time with me today.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: If this episode reached something in you, do me a
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: favor and share it with someone who is standing in
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: a storm right now, someone who needs to hear that
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: steadiness can be built and that they can become the
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: anchor their people are looking for. And make sure you
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: follow the show, because you are not going to want
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: to miss what comes next. Our next episode, we take
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: this steady hand and we turn it toward the long war,
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: the seasons of pressure that do not pass in a
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: day or a week. We're going to talk about endurance,
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: about how to lead and how to live when the
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: storm does not break and you have to hold the
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: line far longer than you ever thought you could, Because
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: being the anchor in a moment is one thing. Being
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: the anchor through a long, grinding season is where the
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: truest strength is forged. Until then, master your storm, steady
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: the room, and keep moving forward.