Moving Forward

Wow, what a week.  A tough one at that.  Lots of sadness both personally and professionally.  When your profession is one that requires you to be in front of people a lot, you just have to reach down to your toes and pull it up to pull it off.  There was a big initiative rolled out with a client this week that required just that, and Friday afternoon when it was done, there were smiles and gladness and joy.  Hooray and good news!

Of course, traffic affords the opportunity to reflect on how it all went down and how it applies outside of the current circumstance.  I thought about how I've seen several recent occasions where people have let external forces get the best of them and they didn't reach inside and make it work.  Politically, professionally, personally, meltdowns have been the norm, not the exception.  The world is definitely a tough place right now, and the external forces are probably as strong as they've ever been.  However, that also means that opposing foes, employers, and friends on the fence are as sensitive as they've ever been as well.  We ought not be giving them a reason to "weed their garden" (thanks Judith!) of us because we can't handle our emotional intelligence.

As much as participants of the emotional intelligence classes joke about listing 10 states, flavors of yogurt, or vegetables they hate, they come back to the fact that it gives them enough time to disengage.  Then they have that split second to rethink before the lips part and forever utter that which could be the term, career, or friendship ending words.  This week I've craved a magic wand to wave over the world and give people just enough time for them to fast forward 1 hour and see what it looks like after they've crashed into the iceberg and the lifeboats are hitting the water.

I'm by no means immune to the influence of emotion.  Learning to tame it and use it for good is necessary for anyone in an influential position.  It takes practice, failure, practice, failure...you see where I'm going.  Yet right now doesn't give us enough space for a big fall down.  We really have to think ahead and keep the errors slight.  Once we do, we'll find ourselves strategically placed at the head of the pack of runners when things pick up again and excellent leaders are sought after.