Don’t Make a Drama Out of a Crisis #67

After all, all art is experience. Hello and welcome to The Company Doctor, where today we're talking all about how not to make a drama out of a crisis. We're all going to face major setbacks in our lives, but it's how we react and respond to these crises that really sets us apart and establishes us as inspiring leaders. Join me and Gary as we discuss drama detectors, emotional intelligence, and the watermelon effect in Don't Make a Drama Out of a Crisis.

Hey, George.

Hey, Gary. How's it going?

I am so excited about this episode because— how's it going? I'll answer your question. It's going really, really good. Great.

But how excited are you?

If I was any better, I'd be twins. I'm very excited because today we're talking about don't make a drama out of a crisis.

Yes. And we've been talking about this one for a while and it seems like there's some demand for it and I'm excited about it.

Well, normally it works that if you're trying to solve a business problem for yourself, You normally give us a title, but this one has come from someone else.

Yeah, well, that's it. It's usually just what the things which I want answers to, I then turn into the episodes that we do. But this is a different tack. And yeah, I'm thrilled to know the secrets of not turning a drama into a crisis.

And can I ask you, can I start by asking you a question?

Mm-hmm.

Am I allowed to do that?

Please.

Have you ever been around someone who's making a drama out of a crisis? I thought I'd ask you that. Have you ever been around someone like that?

Um, do you mean professionally or personally or both?

Both, all of the above.

Yes, I have, I have, absolutely both.

And how does it make you feel?

Quite stressed out and annoyed.

Annoyed? Okay, it makes me nervous. They're stressed out for sure. You know when someone's like, you can tell they're genuinely panicking, they're like, right, there's a rabbit in the headlight thing going on. And generally they, these people normally have a kind of a clipboard and a walkie-talkie. Give someone a clipboard and a walkie-talkie, watch what happens.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I think, I also think there are some people that quite enjoy it. You know, there's a personality trait.

Like the drama.

They like the drama, yeah. And you know, if there's not a crisis and they're not creating some sort of drama, then they're bored.

Absolutely true. And we're going to talk about that actually today because I was thinking about the opposite of that where you don't want someone who's creating a drama. Can you imagine like an air steward on Air Stewardess? Yeah. And there's a bit of turbulence. They're going to run around, we're going to crash. That's it.

Well, their job is basically, yeah, this is, this is, um, It was not aimed at them because they're experts in not making a drama out of a crisis.

They could teach us something, right? We should get them on. Yeah, so I just thought I'd kind of kick that off because that feeling of uncomfortableness, and then you said you were annoyed, tell me more about that.

Well, that's more just, I think, referencing the people that I said who I think probably quite enjoy it, the ones who thrive on the drama. And when there is a crisis, the last thing you want, you know, you want that, you want a de-escalation as opposed to an escalation. You want people around you who are gonna, you know, be a steady hand at the tiller and, um, and, and not make a drama out of it. Because crises happen all the time, and if you make a drama out of every single one, you're going to be living in a constant drama.

And who wants that? Exactly.

Who wants that? Not this guy.

Not this guy. Okay, good. Well, so look, let's, let's kick off a bit. There's 3 topics, um, Shokara. The first one is called New Twists on Navigating Drama and Complexity During a Crisis. I thought I'd add the complexity bit because I think when you add complexity to a drama, it kind of explains why. At least I've got a reason for being running around with their hair on fire. Yeah. Which I can't do, by the way.

Nor can I. Maybe we both did once and that's why.

Maybe that's what happened. It could be what happened. But I, my first go-to when there's something going on, because I'm kind of wired this way, is I want to know, it's not always a problem, but generally there's a problem behind it. What's the problem you're trying to solve? What's the issue? And I've got a little phrase.

I was going to ask you a quick question just before you launch into the phrase. But what's, when we're talking about a crisis and we, you know, in this context, Is there an example you can quickly give of the sort of thing that you might be talking about?

Yeah, I just think it's either it could be project related. So in the workplace, something's gone wrong in a project that someone's working on or something's gone wrong in someone's functions in their day job. Something is either disappointing or gone very wrong or they're going to get blamed for it. Right. It's those sorts of things. Got you. Or it could be, you know, it could be in your personal life where something still very tragic happens. I think the process is the same. Some bits more severe, obviously. And that's where my phrase is coming from. I'll tell you my phrase. Hit me. Thanks for asking. Here's my phrase: will it affect you 5 years from now? That is why I'm asking. So when people say it's really my hair's on fire, and I go— I mean, if someone's just died, I'm not going to say, will it affect you 5 years from now? It'll be slightly insensitive. But for things that are not death-related or at that severity, My question to you is, will it affect you 5 years from now? And then people look at me and they're like, a bit weird. Why are you asking me that question? You're looking at me a little bit weird, Josh.

No, no, I'm sort of, I'm musing on it because I tend to agree with this and I like this phrase.

You know why I'm asking this question?

How important really is it, I guess, is what lies beneath it.

And also over time the problem reduces unless it's something serious like death, right? Yeah. Yeah, but I think over time, and we're going to talk about how we get into it a bit later, we'll reverse engineer things, but You have to kind of go out and come back again. Is it really that important? I'm not saying we should belittle the drama, but that's my starting point. And if the answer is no, it won't affect me 5 years from now, then I've got a different course of action than if it does.

Right. And this also very— this touches on what we were talking about, I think, a couple of episodes ago when it's— we were sort of saying it's just a job. So if we're talking about this from a professional perspective, you know, there are— I think there are very few things professionally which will can, you know, will still be affecting you in 5 years' time. So whatever the— yeah, definitely.

Yeah. Anyway, no, it's true. And kind of in tune with that, and this is not in my notes, I'm saying, sorry about this, but I always try to separate the logic from the emotion. That's kind of a thing I always do, because the reason that people run around with their hair on fire is that there's an emotional attachment to the problem, either intentionally or unintentionally. Yeah. And, and so your job, if you want to be a pro and not make a drama out of a crisis, then you've got to separate the logic from the emotion. Do you know what I mean?

Yeah. Being matter of fact as opposed to being— it's the head and the heart, isn't it?

Yeah, head and heart. You want to be fact-based. What is the truth? I need to know the truth. What's the root? Some people call it the root cause, which is a posh word for finding out the truth. I want to find out the truth, and therefore I need to understand. And that's the starting point of any drama. No, not drama, sorry. Anything you're trying to solve without the drama.

Yeah.

It's, yeah, let's find out the truth. I'm with you.

Yeah, yeah, that sounds good. And how do you go about doing that? Is that just all about keeping a level head and not letting your emotions get in the way?

Yeah, I think so actually. There's two things I've got good at and they may be fake. So there's a health warning before it. One is I am calm in a crisis. I try to be, even if I'm not calm, I'm calm in a crisis and people know me for that. And the other one is, it's kind of linked to me doing what I say. I remember the other one is, but just think about this calm in a crisis bit. So if people talk about, they use an analogy of the duck on water, you know, with the flapping legs and underneath it swimming on the water. It's a bit of a hackneyed term now, I think. But in principle, because of what you said at the beginning, if you're not calm in a crisis, you're making other people nervous. It's not making it better. Yeah. Does that make sense?

It does.

Yeah.

And you're also not making yourself look better either, because I think a lot of people will turn this into sort of like, oh, only I can see what a terrible thing this is, and therefore I am some sort of visionary. And I think a lot of people use it to try and progress themselves, but actually it's detrimental to everyone in the end.

Exactly. But in order to be sure and to be really confident, there's a thing I do always do. I call it clean my house. Ah, I don't go around with a broom. No, I'm going to go. I'm just going to go and clean my house. It's not like a diversion tactic.

It's going to clear my head and get the Hoover out and—

Yeah. You know what I mean by clean my house?

Is this sort of get your affairs in order? Get your ducks in a row.

Yeah, just find— it's part of finding the truth, right? So if, for example, you're in a project and there's a problem and it's getting escalated and everyone's getting really antsy about it, I want to know, I want to know the facts. I want to make sure I've got my own house in order first because, you know, it might be my fault, it might be someone else's fault. I'm not around blame, passing the blame someone, but whatever the drama is, I want to understand the facts. I want to clean my house. I want to know that if it's in my responsibility, do I know everything I need to know? Do I know the truth? Yeah, so that's the first thing I always do is clean my house. And then the other thing is, I think that where it normally goes wrong— so beyond being calm— is people don't know how to manage expectations because they panic. Like, if you're, if you're under pressure and someone wants to know, what have you done? Have you done it yet? When is it going to be done by? And, you know, blah blah blah. There's a pressure, there's a natural reaction to tell people good news or not tell the truth unintentionally. I'm going to talk a bit about it later, but managing expectations is really important. For example, if you've got a project and you're supposed to deliver it by Friday, but for some reason you can't, don't tell the person who's coming on Monday when it's generally not coming on Monday. It makes you have a better weekend. Yeah, but on Monday you're gonna have to tell them that, disappoint someone again. You're better off telling them it's not coming for 2 weeks, but I'm going to do my best to improve it. I'll tell them the truth. Than try to— if you think defusing people, giving them what they want to hear is the answer, absolutely is not. It makes your credibility rubbish.

That's it. I know those sorts of things catch up with you in the end, and sort of kicking into the long grass is no good. And I've seen that firsthand. So yeah, that resonates.

It resonates with you. And then connected to that. So my second thing that I would do— so first was I'm calm in a crisis, and second one is never be defensive. Right. It's the same as if you're in an interview, any situation, once you're defensive, you've lost it. Yeah. Do you agree?

Yeah, and I'm guilty of that big time.

So— No, I'm not.

I'm not being defensive.

How dare you? I'm not being defensive at all. But as soon as someone's defensive, they've lost it. Do you agree?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're on the back foot and that's it, game over.

Why are you being defensive? Just be calm. Part of being calm is not being defensive. It doesn't mean you shouldn't push back and argue your corner. But just don't be defensive. And that will help you manage expectations and be that person that's calm in a crisis. A lot of people talk about me as like, they kind of like me dealing with the crisis because I know that I'll be level-headed, logical, non-defensive.

And that you've sort of built your reputation for that, haven't you? Like, that's part of your personal brand.

Yeah, it's definitely part of my personal brand. And, you know, it's good for— it's been good for business because people call me when they're in trouble. Because for some reason, you know, go and sort it out because I'm having a crisis. Doesn't mean I can, but have a go. So I want to talk about some drama detectors. Hmm. What comes up when I say drama detector?

A sort of a new ITV sort of, uh, we detect drama. Yeah, the drama detectives.

Yeah, the drama starring George Clooney. I like it. Yeah, I kind of do mean that a bit. It's like identifying the drama before it escalates. There's a kind of a tipping point on the drama where it kind of escalates beyond the point where people don't know and they're digging in and, you know, they're on your case and micromanaging you.

Yeah.

And also, you've got to be able to handle diverse personalities because some people want detail, some people want to be kept in the loop. And we all know that if you don't keep someone in the loop, they just presume things are not working or you're not doing anything. Yeah. So a drama detector is to Identify drama before it escalates. That's kind of your job, especially in a project.

Yeah. I suppose it'll be different on a project-by-project basis, but are there warning signs? Is there anything to watch out for, or is it just play it by ear?

Well, I think it depends. If it's a project, then you should plan that in so that there's a kind of watermark, that if the watermark is breached, you know you need to do something about it before you can't. Rather than, you know, some people have a trigger that goes, right, if I miss my deadline for the Friday, then I'm going to escalate. It's too late then. You need to have gone, right, maybe by Wednesday it's looking like Friday's not happening and I've got a chance to do something about it. Yeah. So it's planning ahead. And in project world, they will call it mitigation. But the main thing is give yourself time for it not to become a drama. But sometimes you're in the middle of a drama and someone will say, the world fell in, I need you to go sort it, George, go make it happen. And then you have to deal with what's in front of you. So it's different. But would be my thoughts. So that's number one. It's like, I think you can control drama by knowing that there's a kind of escalation point. And if it's not given to you as a gift where it's too late, then you can stop it happening by being tuned into it and realizing different personalities and realizing that people want to know that you're calm and logical and you're keeping them up to date with what's happening. Yeah, that'd be my first number one.

We may talk about this, but if you haven't been handed a gift and it is too late What's a good way of conducting yourself? Is it just pure sort of honesty and as you say, communication with stakeholders and managing expectations? Is that what you can really do at that point?

Yeah, so really great question because it leads us so nicely into point 2, which is here's some tactics for communicating under pressure. And I think probably the most important thing linked to your question is the truth will set you free. I genuinely believe that you should have continual communication as part of your DNA and you should keep telling the truth. And you might be thinking, well, people do tell the truth, don't they? Do you think that? But they don't because— Oh, do they? They're doing your work.

Well, I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. I think they try to where I am, but it's hard to.

I try and explain why people might not, and it's not their fault. Because when there's a problem, levels of seniority want to get involved because they want to know what's happening and they want to try and fix it. So they kind of grab it. And basically people realize this. So if they tell the boss that there's something wrong, they know that they're going to get help that they don't want, and so therefore they don't always tell the truth. They're not lying, they're just keeping it back until they have to. So it's not like if it's red, amber, green, they won't tell anyone it's red, because if it's red— and I want to talk to you something about the, uh, there's a, there's a thing to think about, it's called the watermelon effect. Have you heard of that before?

Not until I saw your notes that you sent through.

Right, and did it mean anything to you?

I did not.

So let me explain, right? A watermelon is green on the outside and it's bright red in the middle. And that's exactly what goes on. Everyone tells everyone everything's green, it's all beautiful, everything's fine, but inside is bright bloody red. Exactly.

I like that. Is that— did you coin that phrase?

I partly coined that phrase. It's out there. It is out there, but I use it a lot and it kind of explains the problem. Don't live by the watermelon effect. It's not— that's not the truth. And if you're a manager on the receiving end, Create an environment that people feel safe to tell you the truth. It's your fault if they don't tell you the truth.

Yeah, no, I totally agree with that. And also, as you say, I mean, it's so important as a manager to be someone who isn't going to just come horning in and provide unwelcome, sort of panicked advice. And I've again seen that so many times.

And the way to make it so, therefore, you know, if you buy into that, you should be communicating on a regular basis, make it part of your DNA. But deal, and here's my tip, 'cause we said we'd give you some tactics. Deal in what I call meaningful specifics. Have you heard of that before? No. Meaningful specifics. So it's fact-based. Don't talk about hearsay, it might be this, I've heard about that. It's really not helpful to talk about anything that's not fact-based. So when you're communicating, deal in meaningful specifics. A good example is I was working on a project about a year ago and people kept complaining that it was late and blah, blah, blah. And I got involved and we improved some things and made it better. And then someone says, you're always late. And I said, okay, are we always late currently, or is this something from the past? I mean, were we late in the last 2 weeks at all? And they said no. So I said, okay, well then be specific with me. Are you worried that we used to be late or we're late at the moment? That's a meaningful specific. I want to deal in fact. I'm not being difficult, I just want to deal in facts. And now I can solve the problem because actually we fix that bit, there's another problem somewhere else. Okay, well, we'll go and fix that then. Yeah, yeah. 'But let's talk about facts, let's talk about hearsays or things I read about.' You know, that doesn't help anyone. I know I'm being a bit hard on it when I say that.

No, I think it's fair enough.

And therefore you have to, you know, I've used this phrase before, you have to earn the right to tell people their baby's ugly, but you should still do it anyway. And sometimes you push back, you can, you know, maybe your boss or someone else in a customer, or, you know, maybe you need to push back with them. As long as you do it on grounds of safety, that you've checked your facts, then you should be able to do it politely.

Yeah, yeah, that's a tricky thing to do. And potentially worthy of its own episode. But yes, I think you have to have the confidence to do that at times.

And I think the way to do that is with emotional intelligence. The problem with emotional intelligence is you kind of have it or you can improve it, but you either have it or you don't.

Yeah.

Some people don't have it. Well, it can be improved. People might disagree listening to this, but the problem is if you want to be successful managing a crisis without the drama, you've got to deal, look through the lens of the people you're working with, and therefore you've got to deal with politics. Now, politics isn't always a bad thing, but you've got to message things for each stakeholder and you've got to kind of pick them off. And if you leave it to chance or leave, you know, think, I don't want to have a confrontation, so I'm not going to talk to that person. I don't want to communicate with someone because I don't like them. Although I get it, you're, you're not going to solve the— you're not going to solve this. You're going to be in a drama before you know it.

Yeah, it's, um, but just, just very quickly, I've been in a similar situation in the past where something has been going wrong and the person that I'm— that I should be telling about it is either, you know, short-tempered or intimidating or whatever, or just someone who will react badly. So rather than do that, you end up sort of burying your head in the sand.

Exactly. So, you know, let's give people some how-tos, the office survival guide to Don't make a drama out of a crisis.

You ready for it?

Yeah. Yeah, good, Gary. Well, or some people might call it the Zen Master's Guide to Being Calm in a Crisis.

Nice. Are you the Zen Master?

Well, I think for anyone listening, your goal should be to be calm, the person that people call calm in a crisis. As soon as people say that about you, you've nailed it. Yeah. And you can get so much more done if you can be that Zen person. So here's the Zen Master's Guide to Being Calm in a Crisis. First one's this. Reverse engineer your problem, work out outside in. So go out as far as you can based on what you think, what's the worst thing that's going to happen, and then work your way back. Is it going to kill you or not? You know, so that's a 5-year thing, but work back from that. And it's interesting actually, because normally people conjure up more drama than will actually happen in real life. I'll give you an example. During 9/11, at the end of, you know, that horrible time, people decided that they didn't want to travel on planes because obviously it was a catastrophic situation. But the truth is, there was— by not traveling on planes, people increased their risk considerably by going on trains and cars because the death rate is much higher. The likelihood of having another terrorist attack, and it's been proven, was, you know, there's been things, but it's been slim. And so generally, when people are worrying about— and that's obviously an extreme example— but when people are worried about a crisis it's normally never as bad as they expect it to be.

So is it best to just think of the, the absolute worst situation and then, as you say—

yeah, don't— I mean, don't sit there and be in denial, but go out as far as you can and think, how bad could it be? And then work back from that. That's not— then you're, you're going to be calm because you're going to know that it's never going to be as bad as— and it's never that bad even if you do that. If you do that exercise, you'll realize it's not that bad. What do you think?

Yeah, it's a good one.

And then with that in mind, you can mitigate it then, because you can say, okay, I'm prepared for this, because if any of those scenarios happens, what would I do? How would I handle it? What people would I need access to? What action would I take? What communication would I give? You can do all of that.

Yeah.

And then you're a Zen master, baby.

Is it good to have like sort of scenario situations, you know, have all of that laid out? So if this happens, then this might happen to sort of plan it. That in that sort of granularity?

If it's a big enough situation, it's worth doing scenarios. Absolutely. That's one way of calling it. I like that. Scenario planning. Let's do scenario planning. But yeah, definitely do that. But if it's not, if it's a small problem, obviously, but still go out as far as you can. How bad can it be? And work your way back and you'll be surprised. It's not that bad. You know, will it affect you 5 years from now? No. That's all I can tell you. If it will, then you need to do something significant. If it won't, you'll be all right. Yeah. You're not going to die from it. So, but don't leave it, but obviously you do something. The second thing is, this is going to sound a little bit rude, which is what I do sometimes. Get out the way. Get yourself out of the way. People get themselves in the way. Put your walkie-talkie away, your hard hat, and your clipboard. Don't make a drama of a crisis and don't run around like your hair's on fire and like, you know, rabbit in the headlights. Get yourself out of the way and give people space to solve the problem. Because what happens is by doing that, you're like, have you done it yet? You're micromanaging people. And you're like, give me a minute, let me go sort it. Can you get out of my way so I can go sort it out? And sometimes we're part of the problem. So build an extended team of people that can help and almost give the people that can solve the problem a bit of breathing space. That's the best thing you can do. Don't keep checking up on them. Tell them, I trust you, you can solve the problem. I'm going to protect you from everyone who's going to ask and I'll be the central point. You go and sort it, tell me what's happening. Get yourself out of the way.

I was going to ask how you, how you sort of convey the fact that you're, you're there and you're helping without putting pressure on and breathing down people's necks. But I think you've just nailed it there by saying, yeah, you know, I'll protect you from external factors and I'll be the, uh, the sort of a go-between and the sort of the focal point. But you guys, I trust you to— I think that's it. I think it's conveying your trust of them.

Because otherwise it's counterintuitive. I know people listening thinking, well, doesn't make any sense. 'Cause if you are the boss and then someone's breathing down your neck, you are gonna want to keep checking what's happening. But you, what you should say upwardly is, I've got the, given the guys a task, we've got a time horizon of where we're gonna fix it, where we're gonna work on these things. I'm gonna be the middleman so that you can leave them to get on with it. That goes down well when you do that upwardly. And then for your team, you do the same. You say, look, I do need updates and you know, in the next 2 hours we're gonna have a follow-up meeting, but I'm gonna leave you to get on with it 'cause I trust you to do it. And then you'll get a better result than if you go, have you done it yet? Well, give me a minute, I'm starting. Uh, next, the next Zen Master guide is do what you say and say what you'll do. Do what you say, say what you do. Because the most important thing, and it's all part of managing expectations, is if I say to you I'm going to come back to you later, you better come back to me. Now your credibility is high because normally people don't. How many times have you had someone to say they call you back and they don't? Pretty much most of the time, right? So it's really important to do what you say and make it realistic so that if it is coming next Tuesday, I will speak to you on Tuesday and give you an update or send out an update. And then I think the other thing is, in order to be— to do what you say and be able to deliver things and people trust you, you've got to be confident. You've got to look like you're in charge. I'll give you an example. When I was younger, I was working, but I went on the Duke of Edinburgh Award. Out in the mine. It was -12 in the Lake District. Made the mistake of leaving my boots outside the tent so I couldn't put them on in the morning. And what they did is they said, who wants to be the leader in this group? And I put my hand up like an idiot. Yeah, I'll do it. Yeah, I like being the boss. And so basically, as the leader, I had to look like I knew what I was doing. I had no idea. Can't read a map, had no clue. But no one realized that I was an idiot and didn't know what I was doing. And then when we got to where the X was on the spot, someone else— there's another message there saying, okay, now you're at X, you've got to go to Y. And everyone was like, you know, they were quite young, and some people, you know, there was a bit of tears and people were really worried. It was dark and cold. But, you know, at that point, it's important to stand up as a leader and go, don't worry about this, we've got this. And look like you're in charge, even though underneath it I was like, oh my God, I don't know what we're gonna do, we're gonna die.

Yeah, because if you, if you totally lost your mind at that point, then it would have been chaos.

Yeah, so you've got to look like you're in charge. So that's another area I think it's really important. If you don't do that, you lose the room, you know, even if you're not. You might think, well, why should I have to? You don't, but then you've immediately made a drama out of a crisis.

And I suppose this works for every— I mean, it works, it's not like it's a trick, but I mean, this is something which everyone should really follow, not necessarily just the people who are the more senior people, you know, even the people who are working on the project from a sort of on-the-ground positions, if they start panicking as well, then that sends out the wrong message as well. So everyone should collectively—

It's a leadership trait, right? As a leader, you should always— I'm not saying you should be arrogant because I'm not trying to say you should fake your leadership, but it's not help— I'll use the plane example. If the air stewardess or air steward said to you, there's some turbulence, I don't really know what it means, and they look a bit worried. Yeah. You're going to be worried. Yeah, yeah. This is the thing, back to the question at the beginning, it's like, if you're around someone who doesn't look like they're making a drama, you're going to get nervous. So the antidote to being nervous is to be confident, even when you don't really know what's going on, and then use the group to, you know, it doesn't mean you have to have all the answers, use the group to find out some of the answers. That's fine, that's good leadership.

Yeah, no, I like that. And I think, you know, thinking of some of the project managers where I work, They're incredibly good at this.

And hearing this sort of insight— Good project manager would be.

Yeah, it makes me realise, you know, just, you know, they're probably internally totally losing their shit, but actually outwardly are incredibly calm and so good at managing everybody. So if you're listening, which they're probably not, hats off.

Hats off. Big up the project managers of the world who are calm in a crisis. Absolutely. And so that's a perfect intro into I've got 5 tips. 5? Or kind of rules. Okay. Yeah, I know I was going to do 3 and I thought what I normally do is get 3, turn them— well, get 5, turn them into 3. I'm doing the other way around. I've got 5, I'm going to turn them into 3. Is that the other way around? I'm going to do that anyway.

Sure.

So they actually— they're 5 rules. They're not even tips, they're rules for crisis management skills. What do you think? Love it. You up for it?

Yeah.

Okay, here they go. But when it turns into a 3, they've got a letter, so they're the same. You know how you like to do that. Yes. But the first 2 are not. So the first one's this: anticipate. Now be honest about the facts. The facts are the most important things. If you, if you can make friends with the facts, then you're dealing in the truth. Therefore you can anticipate. When you're not, when you're in the watermelon, my friend, then you've got shaky foundations. So you've got— you can only anticipate if you're honest about the facts. Number 2, communicate. Now you've got to think about this. Communicate doesn't mean blah blah communication. Communicate means translating context for people. So that it makes sense to them. So what's the, through the lens of the employee, what's through the lens of a customer, what's through the lens of a stakeholder and what you should, and this is your goal. If you are good at communication, you should better break your own news, right? You are, you are a man in the, in the papers, right? Sure. Your news breaking news alert, it comes from you, not from someone else.

Yeah.

Then you're too late. Break your own news, George.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, no, I like that. Yeah, well, it's in like, don't— you're sort of saying don't delegate the news passing to someone else.

Yeah, but if the news breaking happens somewhere else, like there's a news alert from someone else, you've blown it.

I see.

You should be breaking the news. Be ahead of the news breaker.

Be ahead of the story, as we say in the biz.

Yeah, as you say, as we say in the papers. Yeah, you know, it's never been— okay, and here's my—

does that make sense?

Yeah, yeah.

You—

what do you call it when there's a news alert on TV in the news? What's it called? Breaking news. Yeah, yeah, you used to break your own news. That's my point. Don't let someone else— but when else— when else someone else has broken the news, you've blown it. Okay, here's my 3— my 5 turned into 3. There's 3 L's. So this is 3 L's for, um, crisis management skills. L number 1, listen. Listen to understand. L number 2, learn. Learn from the past and definitely learn from others. Yep. Learn, learn, learn. And L number 3 is lead. Take the reins, be in control, stand up and be counted. Don't be a shrinking violet. You've got to be at the front when there's a drama, and then you will be super cool. You'll be calm in a crisis. You'll be the Zen master.

Love it.

And therefore you will never make a drama out of a crisis.

Love that, Gary. Yeah, no, that's fantastic. And I think, you know, as we said just a minute ago, This can, you know, it sort of stands for everyone to be like this. I think it's not just leaders, it's not just middle management, it's not just senior people. I think everyone can learn from these tips and these rules.

Be calm. Fake it till you make it. Just be calm. Go into, if you don't feel calm, go into another room and scream. But while you're in front of people, you're the leader. Be the adult. Be calm. Don't make a drama. Don't get your clipboard out. You're going to be fine.

You hate a clipboard.

Well, I've just seen people that get the clipboard and the walkie-talkie and they like running around with their hard nail boots and stuff, you know, don't do that.

Well, fantastic. Thank you very much, Gary. I think we haven't had a t-shirt for a while, but I think the watermelon effect, I can imagine the design. So I'm going to go away and start sort of working out.

Yeah, green on the outside, red, bright red in the middle.

Yeah, I love that.

The truth will set you free, my friend.

Thank you very much, Gary. Thank you all for listening and we will see you next time.

See you soon.

Thank you as always for listening. We hope you enjoyed this episode and feel better prepared to calmly confront whatever crises life throws at you. If you're thirsty for more Company Doctor content, head to thecompanydoctor.com to peruse more than 60 episodes on varied topics with a host of special guests. See you next time!