Week 22.20 Prepare For Re-Entry

Two years ago, COVID placed the world on hold. No one knew how long it would be before we would return to some kind of everyday life. For many, it's been a two-year pause, as if the world were frozen, and now we return to where we left off. And while many in-person interactions were put on hold, the time still passed. We aged. We evolved. We developed new skills, adopted new hobbies, and read new books. We changed.?

Many of our relationships adapted to the new rules. I was fortunate to have parents nearby and used the time to see them more often. With others, I adapted an analog relationship to a virtual one. Some new connections were built in a virtual world and migrated into the physical one. For associations that were in a difficult place, the separation did not lend itself to resolving disagreements. It made them easy to avoid and feel like they had been resolved when they had not. And now, we are discovering that the issues still must be addressed to move forward.?

This time does not heal old wounds. Because of the unnatural abruptness of the break, we don't have the context for understanding. We could not "stay in the room" and work to resolve differences. To move towards reconciliation, it will be necessary to recognize that the issues that existed may still exist because two years have passed. This can be tricky if one party feels enough time has passed and the other unresolved. Whether you are ready to move on or waiting to find a resolution, as a leader, you need to take the initiative.

We can hope that the passing of time creates perspective. This will be especially true as people come back to work or back into your life. Be sure to recognize that conflicts you may have let go of may still be held by the other person. The opportunity provided by the break creates an opening. By starting the conversation, you make an offer, recognize the issue, and signal that you would like to make peace with it. This is ripe with potential for growing essential relationships.?

Even after you make the first move to seek resolution, it is essential to be compassionate and recognize the other person is likely to not be where you are. You must listen to where they are and meet them there. Start by holding their space, feel what they feel, and understand why they feel that way. After two years, you may have grown closer, or you may have grown apart. Sometimes relationships are structural, and you need to make them work. Other times they are essential to you, and you want them to work. In either case, by taking the responsibility for resolution, you can enrich your life by bringing the people who matter back into it.

The time apart created by the pandemic has created an unusual situation. For some people, the time will create the ability for complex issues to become less tender and open the potential for resolution. For others, the time will cause the problems to ossify, and while it may seem like the issue is put to rest, it remains unresolved. Leaders open a dialog and bring up issues that were unsettled. They take the time to understand, listen, and find a resolution. In life and leadership, these can be the pivotal moments that define us and the lives of those we lead and love. This liminal space of re-entry is a critical time to strengthen weak relationships that will make our lives richer in the years to come.

5 Principles of Purposeful Leadership by Hubert Joly in HBR

People today expect a different kind of leader. While each company needs to define its own leadership point of view, here’s the philosophy we deployed at Best Buy as part of our surprising turnaround and resurgence. It’s based on five attributes — five “Be’s” — of what I believe characterizes leaders who are able to unleash the kind of human magic you see at work at some of the most high-performing companies. This philosophy underpins the leadership principles that I believe are at The Heart of Business today. Be clear about your purpose. Be clear about your role. Be clear about whom you serve. Be driven by values. Be authentic. Be yourself, your true self, your whole self, the best version of yourself. Be vulnerable. Be authentic. Being vulnerable and authentic does not mean offloading everything to your colleagues. For leaders, it means sharing emotions and struggles when appropriate and helpful to others. Check out the full article at 5 Principles of Purposeful Leadership or Hubert's book The Heart of Business.

A New Definition of Making America Great Again

In this episode of In Reality, Kathleen Belew, University of Chicago historian and author of ‘Bring The War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America’, joins co-hosts Eric Schurenberg and Joan Donovan. In a fascinating conversation, Belew outlines how social media and the tactics of disinformation energized the white power movement that reached a watershed moment in the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6th. Belew explains that white power movements have no intention of “making America great again” and instead agitate for the overthrow of democracy. To really make America great, she concludes, Americans need a better understanding of our government and our imperfect history. We can then address questions of what has made America great in the past and what remains to be done to make it great again.?A new definition of making America great again - In Reality podcast (in-reality.fm)

Quote of the Week: This is the type of the moment where you find yourself at a moral crossroad. You can chose to turn pain into purpose and vibrate higher in love or you can turn a corner and meet these people in depths of hell and go tit for tat. I am paralyzed at that crossroad right now and the only thing holding me up is a phrase my grandmother wrote to me in a letter “we fall down, but we get up”.?Simone Crawley, Founder & CEO at Crawley Cultural Consulting Link to her post