The world feels rocky and unpredictable these days—the constant eyebrow-raising headlines can feel unsettling. At the same time, there are still tiny, bright moments: fall family activities (bring on the apple cider donuts), new sports seasons (college football is basically Christmas for my husband), and milestones I can hardly believe—like my son getting his driving permit at the end of October. Am I really old enough to have a teenager behind the wheel?
There isn’t a perfect fix for everything happening in the world (and yes, a lot of it is heavy), but I’m trying to soak in the small, sweet moments. As Mr. Rogers reminded us: look for the helpers. And as Stephen Covey teaches: focus on what you can control—what you think, do, and say.
So here are two thoughts for your week—steadying in rocky waters, and helpful for creating a ripple effect.
LEADERSHIP: Steering Culture in Rocky Waters
Every year, I see flurries of speaking requests in the spring and fall—it’s when conferences and organizations start planning their annual events. Lately, the question I hear most is: We are looking for a speaker who can address, How do we bring our team together when everything feels so rocky and slightly polarizing?
Between economic pressures, legislative changes, and the general split in the world, it’s easy for teams to drift apart. Disagreement is one thing, but when collaboration breaks down, culture and productivity suffer.
My response: the organizations that navigate friction best treat culture like steering a ship—you set the course, adjust as needed, and above all, stay steady when the waters get choppy. We’ll dive into how to do just that.
Here’s a scenario I hear all too often:
A team has started to show signs of division. Some team members openly share strong political or social opinions during breaks and even in meetings. Others feel uncomfortable, and a few have started avoiding collaboration with certain colleagues. Productivity dips, and the leader notices cracks in the culture—side chatter, eye rolls, and a general tension that wasn’t there before.
How would you handle this as the leader? How do you protect culture and productivity without shutting down healthy behavior and dialogue?
I believe the best leaders recognize that you can feel two things at once—you might feel the weight of the economy and still choose to create a culture of connection. And they share that with their team: “We may not all agree on a lot of things (especially outside our four walls—yes, even our virtual walls count), but we can agree that we want to create a work environment worth having…a Good Ripple Effect, because we are our own community.”
In strong communities, people show up in ways that are helpful, they relate across differences, and they build norms that carry them through rocky waters. We can’t control everything, but we can always choose our reaction.
That’s the Good Ripple Effect in action: a team steering itself with intention, no matter how choppy the waters get.
If you’re experiencing this, here are three questions to ponder:
- What behaviors are we normalizing every day? (Do they align with the culture we want?)
- How are we helping our team connect across differences? (Not just tolerate, but connect.)
- What signals do our language and actions send about what really matters here?
LIFE: If You React Right, It’s More Likely to End Right.
Choosing our reactions happens outside of work too.
One of my favorite moments this week came from a leadership coaching client. He was training a new employee on a task that required an actual blowtorch (yes, you read that right). He told the new employee: “If you react right in the moment, it’s more likely to end right. If you don’t, it won’t.”
In his world, things go wrong. It’s not if, it’s when. A tool breaks, equipment fails, maybe even a fire starts. You can imagine similar “fires” in an office setting too. The difference between chaos and resolution comes down to your reaction. Panic never puts out a fire. A steady hand and a clear head do.
And it hit me—how often is that true in everyday life? With our kids, our spouse, or just when the day doesn’t go as planned. I’ve been practicing this at home: shutting my laptop when the workday ends, choosing not to sneak emails over the weekend or late at night (okay, except for the occasional sideline email at my son’s soccer game), and choosing to keep calm when things go awry.
So this is my letter to myself (and maybe to you too): don’t overreact, don’t let a small fire turn into a full-blown blaze. Because if we react right, it’s more likely to end right. And if we do need to vent or be cranky, maybe we set a timer—and when it goes off, we remind ourselves, “Okay, back to the regularly scheduled programming of being present.”
If this note resonated with you, I’d love to hear it—hit reply and share a moment when you “reacted right” and saw the ripple effect play out.
And if your team is navigating rocky waters this fall, let’s connect. Helping leaders steer culture through turbulence is exactly the work I love most.
Want Lisa’s weekly blogs delivered to you via email? Sign up here!