The Power of Cool: How Transformative Leaders Shape the Future

I recently had a conversation with a client in which we talked about some of the habits people could adopt in their quest to become better leaders. One habit that he brought up had to do less with a specific action or behavior and more to do with demeanor, which is perhaps the reason it’s so often overlooked in leadership training. According to him, what too many leaders fail to understand is the importance of remaining calm and cool—and not running around like their hair is on fire—when the going gets tough.

I couldn’t agree more. The truth is that leaders, whether they have a formal title or not, are role models, whether they realize it or not. The only question is whether they role-model the behaviors and culture they desire in the organization, or the opposite. As discussed in a previous article , for leaders, there is absolutely no way around this basic truth; people will act the way you act, regardless of what you say, whether you want them to or not.

People are always watching and emulating their leaders. They attribute their leader's successes to their demeanor, body language, spoken words, and behavior, even if that leader’s success was achieved in spite of all that. Likewise, a leader who lacks character and exhibits behavior that is out of integrity consequently “infects” their followers with the assumption that a lack of integrity is either acceptable or encouraged. This is one reason why granting people leadership positions merely as a result of their technical expertise, while ignoring or glossing over their character flaws, is generally a bad idea; it usually ends up causing a lot more widespread and insidious damage to the organization down the road than initially seems obvious at the time.

So, this is why it’s important for leaders to keep their cool. Leaders who intentionally or unintentionally embody panic and despair during tough times send a signal to the organization that the future is something to be feared. This in turn shapes people's attitudes and behaviors because we always only ever live into the future we expect. As leaders, we are all basically walking billboards for the future that we are out to guide others toward creating.

Regardless of how great or unpleasant our past has been, what shapes our thoughts, attitudes, and behavior in the present is the future that we project that past into. For instance, you may be having a very stressful day at work, but because it’s the last day before a nice vacation, you aren’t fazed by anything; the thought of that future that awaits you helps you become more resilient and calm. On the flipside, it could be the last day of a fabulous vacation, but since you know you have to return to a stressful work situation the next day, even though you’re sitting on the beach and sipping an umbrella drink, you may be having a miserable time.

People are always trying to figure out what the future holds and whether they should be excited or worried about it. Since they don't have a crystal ball, they look for signs in all sorts of places. And one of the places that they have historically looked to for the strongest signs has been the behavior and demeanor of their leaders. This is why I believe it is our responsibility as leaders to embody and express the vision of a brighter future that those around us can rally behind, even and especially when that future seems out of reach. Of course, as with most things in leadership, that is easier said than done.

I remember an experience years ago when I was working in a turnaround situation that taught me how subtle our influence as leaders can be. Some days I would go out on the manufacturing floor and ask people how things were going and they would answer with the utmost enthusiasm. On other days, however, they seem overcome with a feeling of despair. The strange thing was that these mood changes would happen even when there was no substantive difference between one day and the next; they seemed sudden and arbitrary.

Well, it took me a while, but I eventually realized what was going on. I realized that whenever I asked people how things were going, they were simply mirroring my own attitude back to me. I was the one who was bringing the optimism or the despair into the conversation, and as the leader, people assumed I knew something they didn’t and so they subtly aligned with the vision of the future I was embodying. Once I had learned my lesson, I got a whole lot better at watching my body language and demeanor and the turnaround situation went on to be a great success.

I'm happy to say that a couple of weeks ago I received a message from a gentleman who worked in the same plant over 12 years ago. I was excited to hear from him after so many years and even happier to see that he is now in a leadership role. What was most gratifying, however, was that he asked if I could share any tips or techniques or recommend any books to "stay calm and cool" as I did back when we were trying to turn our plant from the worst to the best in the company. In crisis situations when everybody was running around and panicking, I always tried to remain calm and diffuse the situation so we could focus on what needed to be done, and that clearly had an impact on him. So, of course, after catching up, I was happy to share those resources with him.

To be clear, being a calm leader doesn't mean pretending that problems don't exist. On the contrary, you can and must acknowledge reality and you can do that while being calm and projecting an attitude and mindset of hope and optimism. Living in denial doesn’t work because you must be firmly grounded in the present reality if you want to have any hope of transforming it. And, in fact, calm and cool leadership is really only valuable in the face of problems or other reasons that might rightly justify panic. In the turnaround situation I mentioned above, there were plenty of problems–some of which literally seemed insurmountable—in the way of us achieving our goal. In a situation like that, there really was no excuse, justification, or logic for me to keep my cool—and that’s exactly why I had to do it.

While keeping a cool head generally makes it easier to solve your problems, it goes deeper than that for leaders. It’s not about projecting a false sense of confidence or gaslighting people to prevent panic while the ship slowly goes down. Being a calm and cool leader means remembering at all times that the way you express and carry yourself in every moment paints a picture of the future that others live into and turn into reality.

If there are topics you find to be of special value to you, or if you’d just like to get in touch and chat about what’s going on with you, simply reply to this newsletter or send me an email at [email protected] .?If you’re experiencing challenges that you would like my perspective on, or you’d like to explore how we can partner with you to support you in your transformative journey, please click here to schedule a call with me.?I’d love to hear from you.

Further Reading

If you’d like to learn more about topics covered in this week’s newsletter article, check out the related resources I’ve included below.

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