Calm Before the Storm
How to navigate the waters
The past week seemed to move in 4x speed, didn’t it? Like watching a video on 2x or listening to a podcast on 2x and then when it ends, everything else seems super slow. What a ride.
Some people clearly panicked and others just were steady on the course. We see this everyday to be honest. Some will run around like chickens with their heads cut off and there are always those ones that are calm, steady, and leading. How?
Well, here’s my take on that. Calm in crisis depends on two things. Preparation and Practice. Let’s take a quick look at both of those.
Preparation. Knowing or trying to know what to do in certain situations you may be faced with. Use your previous experience and other’s experiences to help you formulate contingencies for things that may go wrong. When I was a FLight Engineer, we had emergency scenarios that were based on previous emergencies or even mishaps. We had a saying ‘every emergency procedure is written in blood’. Think things through and play ‘what if’ this or that happened and then make a reaction plan.
This goes for anything, from financial investment to being prepared for storms. Lights go out? Where’s flashlights? Can you find them in the dark? If I have $500 to invest, what will I do if in 3 days my stock suddenly drops? Will I bail or stay?
You get the point.
Practice. Make you plan then execute it over and over. This is the keystone in staying calm in a crisis. Let’s go back to my days as a Flight Engineer. Lots and lots of things I was responsible for reacting to, sometimes in seconds. But let’s take one…engine fires.
We practiced the emergency procedures for engine fires 1000s of times. Over and over. In the simulator, in the airplane (simulated during an instructed, dedicated flight) and even sitting in the ready room chairs. “Engine Fire Warning on #3!” “E-handle, HRD bottle, Emergency Shut Down CheckList” I could get back into a P-3 today after 14 years since my last flight and could do it with my eyes closed.
The point is practice like you play and you’ll play like you practice. You will find that there is a calm and comfort with routine and a mechanical reaction to things. You’ve practiced it over and over and have a quiet confidence. That leads to calm.
So, it’s easy to make yourself into a calm, measured leader in a crisis. Anyone can do it but not everyone will. It takes thought, practice, and preparation. It takes work and dedication to the process and a trust in your process and yourself when the time comes to exercise it.
Leaders do this and you have to ask yourself, in a time of crisis, will you be the one that others look to as the calm, prepared leader?
Or will you be that headless chicken?
Lead from the front!
Semper Fortis
Chief Chuck
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