Latest / The Kathie Owen Perspective Podcast / 273. You’re Too Close to See What’s Happening
Transcript
- 0:00Kathie (2): I want you to think about the last time something went wrong at work, at home.
- 0:06Kathie (2): It really doesn't matter.
- 0:08Kathie (2): Something unexpected, something stressful.
- 0:13Kathie (2): Did you stay calm or did you react?
- 0:18Kathie (2): Because most people think they have a decision making problem, but what they actually have is a human reaction problem.
- 0:29Kathie (2): I saw this so clearly.
- 0:30Kathie (2): One night at 2:00 AM on a family trip, we were all staying in hotel rooms next to each other.
- 0:37Kathie (2): Big family trip, kids, grandkids, the whole shebang, and all of a sudden I wake up to banging on the door, like real banging.
- 0:50Kathie (2): And someone yelling, call nine one one.
- 0:52Kathie (2): Call nine one one.
- 0:53Kathie (2): There had been a fall in the bathroom and within seconds, the entire room shifted.
- 1:02Kathie (2): One person is panicking, another person is saying, this is really bad.
- 1:06Kathie (2): This is really bad.
- 1:08Kathie (2): Someone else is already imagining the worst possible outcome.
- 1:12Kathie (2): One person is so overwhelmed, they're physically sick in the bathroom.
- 1:18Kathie (2): And then there's one person on the phone calmly calling nine one one.
- 1:27Kathie (2): Now, most people would look at that situation and just see chaos, but that's not what I see.
- 1:35Kathie (2): What I see is patterns.
- 1:38Kathie (2): Welcome to the Kathie Owen perspective.
- 1:41Kathie (2): My name is Kathie Owen, and this is the work I found myself doing for most of my life.
- 1:47Kathie (2): Long before I had a name for it.
- 1:50Kathie (2): I started in fitness and wellness, working with people one-on-one, helping them regulate stress, their bodies, their habits, and over time I started noticing something deeper.
- 2:04Kathie (2): It wasn't just about workouts or routines, it was about how people respond under pressure.
- 2:11Kathie (2): And now I take that same lens into workplaces, leadership teams, and organizations, because the same patterns show up everywhere.
- 2:24Kathie (2): In that hotel room I wasn't just watching an emergency, I was watching human behavior in real time.
- 2:34Kathie (2): Urgency, fear, overwhelm, and calm action.
- 2:41Kathie (2): And if you're being honest, you've been every single one of those.
- 2:45Kathie (2): I have, I've been the one who needs the answer, right?
- 2:49Kathie (2): Freaking now I've been the one who assumes the worst.
- 2:53Kathie (2): I've been so overwhelmed.
- 2:55Kathie (2): I just want to freaking shut down sometimes.
- 3:00Kathie (2): I've been all three in five minutes.
- 3:05Kathie (2): But here's the part most people miss.
- 3:08Kathie (2): There's a difference between being in the situation and being able to see the situation.
- 3:17Kathie (2): And this is where my work really comes from.
- 3:20Kathie (2): I've always been an observer.
- 3:22Kathie (2): Even as a kid, I was watching people, facial expressions, tone, energy shifts.
- 3:30Kathie (2): I needed to understand what was happening before it escalated.
- 3:35Kathie (2): Later in fitness and wellness, I was trained for real situations.
- 3:40Kathie (2): If something goes wrong, you don't panic, you observe, you assess, and then you act.
- 3:48Kathie (2): So in that hotel room that night, I was not just reacting like everyone else, I was watching the entire system.
- 3:59Kathie (2): Most people in moments like that are inside the maze.
- 4:02Kathie (2): They're trying to figure it out while they're in it.
- 4:06Kathie (2): But hold on, the observer sees the maze from above of, and this doesn't just happen in emergencies.
- 4:15Kathie (2): It happens at work.
- 4:17Kathie (2): It happens in meetings.
- 4:18Kathie (2): It happens in relationships, and it happens in families.
- 4:23Kathie (2): It happens anywhere there's pressure.
- 4:27Kathie (2): In workplaces.
- 4:28Kathie (2): This shows up all the time.
- 4:30Kathie (2): Someone pushes for answers too quickly.
- 4:32Kathie (2): Someone shuts down and stops engaging.
- 4:35Kathie (2): Someone assumes the worst and spreads that energy and sometimes no one is actually stepping back to see what's happening.
- 4:46Kathie (2): And when that happens, those patterns start to shape everything.
- 4:52Kathie (2): Decisions, culture, outcomes.
- 4:56Kathie (2): I've seen it way too many times to count.
- 5:00Kathie (2): The problem isn't that we react.
- 5:03Kathie (2): The problem is when no one notices the reaction.
- 5:09Kathie (2): This is why the observer matters, because when someone can step back and see the whole picture, everything changes.
- 5:17Kathie (2): You stop reacting, you start responding, and your decisions get clearer.
- 5:22Kathie (2): The strongest people I've worked with aren't perfect.
- 5:26Kathie (2): They still feel everything.
- 5:28Kathie (2): They still react sometimes, myself included, but they've learned how to notice it, and that's the work I do.
- 5:38Kathie (2): I come into organizations, leadership teams, and environments where there's pressure and I help people see what's actually happening so they can move forward with clarity instead of reaction.
- 5:52Kathie (2): I also speak on this.
- 5:55Kathie (2): This is part of my calm down Rhonda framework and I go deeper into it in my book, human Patterns Under Pressure.
- 6:04Kathie (2): I wrote a full blog post on this with more details and breakdowns, and you can find that in the show notes and description below.
- 6:14Kathie (2): Thank you for being here today, and just remember, you don't have to be perfect under pressure.
- 6:20Kathie (2): You just have to be aware.
- 6:22Kathie (2): All right.
- 6:23Kathie (2): I trust that you found today's episode helpful, and if you know someone who can benefit from it, please share it with them.
- 6:29Kathie (2): And until next time, I will see you next time.