I read the headline and just like that, the gloves were off.
Loaded with opinion and armed with a keyboard, watch out world. My hot take is on its way.
No matter what. No excuses. I write an email every week.
It forces me to pay attention. Version one of this email was a rant.
Cheeky. Funny. Irreverent. Probably just as annoying as anything you’d scroll past on Twitter.
And then I got hold of myself. Wrote a letter to the editor instead. A good exercise to rein it in.
I’ve never done this before. ChatGPT told me I had about a 5% chance of getting it published. Doesn’t matter. Worthy cause and all of that.
Well… two days later, there it was. My name in print.
I felt like Rocky Balboa right after he beat Ivan Drago. Opinion validated.
The topic at hand: CEO ousted for a communications gaffe during a crisis. The keyboard warriors up in arms. The politicians jump on the bandwagon. CEO resigns.
Just days before, I facilitated a media training session with an executive board in the agriculture industry, where one member pointed out that any public statement or interview he gives starts on an uneven playing field.
His expertise is farming, not public speaking. But he represents the industry. And the best he can do is all he can do.
When someone on your team loses their life on the job, it’s soul crushing. And as a leader, you’re going to do the best you can do given the situation.
I coach people to do these things well. And I can tell you from experience, being on the hot seat is anything but easy. Add a crisis and the death of members of your team, you’re lucky to choke the words out.
90% of us would have done no better.
Yet the world was in uproar. The gall of delivering the message in just one of our country’s two languages. He lacked empathy.
Really?
Have you ever had to give a speech after two of your employees died due to no fault of your leadership, your company?
What happened to the permission to be human and flawed?
Where is the empathy for the person who has to show up to this task?
Credit goes to the man in the arena. As for the rest of our opinions, maybe it’s time to rein them in.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles…The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming…”
Theodore Roosevelt.
New to One Thing Thursdays?
Each week, I share something I’m learning, living, or working out in real time. It’s part storytelling, part reflection. I hope there’s something in it for you too.
Get it straight to your inbox every Thursday! Subscribe to our newsletter