This newsletter is new, and while I figure out some practical details, I’m going to try to use this first week to test out a certain framework for structuring my work. If you read yesterday’s post, you’ll know that something that comes out on Monday will be built around Maiku. If you don’t know what that is, please read what I wrote yesterday.
Tuesdays are going to be about transformation, and posts that come out on Tuesdays will probably have a little bit more of a business focus, in terms of how transformation is critical for sustained leadership and positive culture. But transformation is critical for personal growth too, so time will tell how boundaries get drawn.
I’m new to this…I don’t even know whether to call it a newsletter or a blog for crying out loud.
So anyway for this Tuesday’s piece I want to revisit something I wrote for an internal blog at the office and posted on LinkedIn as well. Mainly because I think it makes a few points worth thinking about. So here it is:
Nicole, your hair is so long
On Friday, March 6th, I headed out of the office for the weekend, grabbed my “on the road” supplies since I was traveling to the CA Fire Prevention Institute annual conference on Sunday, and said goodbye to my office neighbors. We were talking about the mysterious coronavirus (what the heck?), was I nervous about traveling (kind of, but I already was someone who traveled with hand sanitizer and Lysol wipes), and what else was up for the weekend. As I was about to leave, I hesitated…and grabbed my Surface to take with me “just in case.” But believe me, at the time my mindset was “just in case” in the same way it is when I grab it “just in case it snows tonight.”
So fast forward to today, September 28th. With the exception of one colleague who I saw in the Walmart parking lot a couple of weeks ago when I ran out to grab some envelopes (lesson learned: I am not incognito with a mask on), I haven’t seen my office neighbors or anyone I work with in 3D in almost seven months.
Mind blowing, right?
We talk about the COVID pandemic as an unprecedented time. But rarely do we talk about the details of what exactly that means. I found myself reflecting a lot about it yesterday, and I think it started when I ran out to Shaw’s in the morning to grab some fixings for some game day staples. I’ve always loved going to Shaw’s on football Sunday, because almost everyone shopping or working is in Pats gear, wagons are full of predictable but fun football watching foods…it’s always so festive. But when I went yesterday, it was different. People are still suited up but are wearing masks in addition to old Brady (sigh) jerseys. The atmosphere is subdued. No sense of community. Bursts of annoyance (“this aisle is one way…in the other direction,” “pull up your mask,” etc.). And, as was always the case, too few cashiers. I’m sure you know the drill.
The change we’ve experienced (are experiencing and will continue to experience) has been gradual and cumulative, over a long period of time…and what I realized this weekend is that I (and I bet many others do too) haven’t really taken a step back and assessed this pandemic and it’s impacts holistically. I have noticed and adapted and moved on, occasionally losing sight of the big picture.
As I thought about it more, two recent-ish experiences collided with my Shaw’s experience to bring me to today’s realization: Adaptability to circumstances is critical to happiness and success. Adaptability plus reflection is leadership.
But first, about those other two things:
1. “Nicole your hair is so long.” I’ve been trying to grow my hair for over a year, at the urging of my hairdresser Jessika. On so many Teams calls, I get comments about how long it is. But I bet if you saw me in the office every day between March and now, you wouldn’t notice let alone comment about my hair. The daily growth is unnoticeable, thus camouflaging the cumulative growth. For me those comments triggered an awareness that change is happening constantly, and the more attuned I can be to the small change, the less jarring the big change is.
2. Enjoy the downhills at least as much as you let the up hills annoy you. While walking on some unfamiliar (to me) terrain, I heard “Let’s turn around now because the way back is almost all uphill.” Wait, what? I had no idea we were even going downhill. Lightbulb moment.
Bottom line: I have not been enjoying life’s downhills as much as I could, and I don’t notice and acknowledge small changes as much as I should.
Powerful stuff.
Since I left the office to go on a business trip in March, I have been rolling with it. I’ve often said “there’s nothing I can do about it, so no sense complaining.” I went from a temporary kitchen takeover with my monitor propped up on two 28-ounce cans of crushed tomatoes to adding a real monitor stand to adding a counter-height desk chair to realizing that the living space needed to be reclaimed and that the previously too small 8 x 8 “room” at the foot of the attic stairs is a perfectly suitable home office. I’ve grown accustomed to Teams and Zoom meetings and video chats and saying cheers to a computer screen. I don’t leave home without a mask, I don’t go out to eat, and when people come to the house we sit out back.
I know it’s different for everyone. But I also know everyone is adjusting and adapting constantly, in big and small ways. I think the biggest lesson from knowing that we’ve done it is that now we all know we can do it. Big change, you don’t scare me.
In February if we had been presented with the concept of being sent to work from home for some constantly changing number of months without notice or preparation, how many of us would have been able to get our heads around it? But here we are, almost seven months in…not without challenges, not without highs and lows, but still…here we are.
Which brings me back to my realization: Adaptability to circumstances is critical to happiness and success. Adaptability plus reflection is leadership.
When I resist change, I waste time and energy that I could be devoting to something that makes me satisfied or happy.
When I adapt to change, I build myself a comfortable, happier space in which to work and live and be.
When I adapt to change and learn from what is going on, I can be a better employee, a better colleague, a better friend, and a better person. And that, to me, is leadership. Leadership isn’t about position or title. Leadership is about how you do things.
We all can be leaders, and we all need to be, now more than ever.
Hang in there, and have a great week.