You’ve probably said and heard this 100 times over the past few weeks: “Be safe. Keep your family safe.” I’ve said it too.
I understand. When life seems crazy, we default to protection.
Eventually, though, we have to move beyond personal survival if we want to play our part in this crisis. Survival looks inward. Ultimately, that’s a dead-end street, the result of a brain hijack. At some point, we’re wired to look out if we really want to thrive.
That’s why it’s important to be clear on what you’re solving for in your Crisis Plan. For yourself. For your family. For your organization.
- How could the pressure of this moment draw the best out of you and your team?
- How will you change for the better as a result of this experience?
- What opportunities will emerge for you to become more who you were created to be as an individual and as an organization?
Solve for those things. Be explicit about it. Make it your chosen narrative. Resist the urge to permanently turn inward.
My late father carried a handwritten copy of a poem in his wallet for decades. It’s worth thinking about now, when we’re tempted to stay in self-protection mode.
Hazard
All growth is trouble.
If comfort is your need,Better to sleep
Curled round yourself forever,
Shelled with indifference,
Like an unsown seed.
All love is trouble.
Once you give your heart
To anything, to anyone at all,
You are made vulnerable
In every part.
To be at peace in love,
At peace and free,
Is the hope of fools.
If fool you be,
Curl snugly round yourself
Like a smooth stone
That cannot bleed
Or put forth leaves
Or know
What the great have known.
