As a guiding light, most organizations name their core values and weave them into new employee orientation and professional development training sessions. Many workplaces even make them criteria for performance evaluation to ensure that everyone stays true to workplace culture. Usually, they find their way onto a poster or get painted on a wall for all to see. The real question is whether they exist as nouns or verbs.

My teammates are unaware of, and probably unconcerned with, the amount of time I’ve devoted to preparation. They simply expect me to show up and make my contribution. We have a four-hour event and my section is three minutes and twenty-four seconds in duration – less than 2% of the product. Because it’s a concert showcasing student and faculty performances, each of us shares accountability for being at the top of our game in the moments on stage. Rehearsing and cleaning up mistakes is largely done alone, so the interdependence is invisible – yet very much real.

Harvard University research (The Mindful Body, Langer 2023) teaches us that there are three levels of thinking. Level 1 is characterized by ignorance. Viewpoints and decisions sit upon a platform of nothing. Level 2 is characterized by judgement. We rush to conclusions that best corroborate our bias. These folks are frequently wrong and rarely in doubt. Level 3 is characterized by curiosity. This requires the ability to consider other perspectives. It comes with the question, “What would need to be true to make this make sense?”

When leaders struggle with leadership, it’s often due to a breakdown of the basic coping skills most of us learned when we were kids. Children and adolescents are typically forgiven for temper tantrums and not handling pressure effectively. When you are a grownup, it looks more like a defect in basic executive functioning ability. Let’s consider how this might play out in the workplace.

Teams shouldn’t be caught off guard when it comes time to innovate, yet many find themselves unprepared. At the moment in the team’s lifespan when creativity, exploration, and discovery are most valued, the foundation of mission and trust needs to be strongest. Mission, values, and vision for the future get defined much earlier on the clock. Psychological safety builds on top of that platform, also at an earlier hour. Good luck with your growth stage if those anchors aren’t in place.

More and more, I see my friends and colleagues managing multiple priorities simultaneously. I have a coworker with one conference call on an earbud while participating on another meeting on a Zoom screen. She toggles back and forth, depending on which conversation becomes the most urgent or requires her most focused engagement. The science suggests that at no time is she actually giving full attention to either meeting.

“Well, that’s not going to fix itself.” This was the mason’s reply when he saw the plaster damage to the interior ceiling from the tuckpointing problem on the exterior of our building. You can treat the symptom or the source. A little spackle would fix the cosmetics, but the problem was sure to return if we didn’t address its cause. A little fix now or a big fix later. Your choice.

It’s graduation season. Families and friends are celebrating preschoolers, grade schoolers, middle schoolers, high schoolers, and higher-ed schoolers as they cross the threshold of transition. Growth is measured and change is anticipated. Snapshots get taken and savored.

If you are really going to make me add a 90-minute commute to my workday, I’ll have to work for an hour and a half less. Fine. As long as we’re not counting billable hours, I’ll exchange productivity for whatever benefits you decide result from water cooler conversation. Also fine. I’ll catch the bus, ride the elevator, park myself at my workstation, and wait for you to drop by my office with a creative idea that never would have happened if not face-to-face.

Knowing what to do is easy. Executing is hard. Insight activates different competencies than action. The analysis phase of problem solving is fun. Brainstorm alternatives. Weigh pros and cons. Eventually, though, you have to act on an option. Here’s where things get dicey. Taking action means being responsible for the consequences of that decision. Most often, this stage requires a tolerance for change.

For most of us, learning happens every day. Most often, lessons arise from experiences rather than formal teacher-student alliances. Focused attention to the environment always illuminates or validates. When we build a connection with our surroundings, new pathways to growth open up. The same is true for formal pedagogy. It is the connection between student and teacher that becomes the ecosystem for exploration and discovery.

During turbulence, the flight attendant’s role is to portray calm. Even if they are freaking out, their job is to stay poised under stress. Airline passengers watch them carefully because, if they appear concerned, it’s time to pull down the O2 masks. With great power comes great responsibility (Voltaire 1784/Spiderman 2002). Whether asserted 240 or 22 years ago, the message is the same: If you are in a position of leadership, grow up.