Greg Stevenson stayed calm when an angry colleague threw a chair at him over a disagreement about a number. The chair smashed the wall, the room went silent, and Stevenson didn't flinch. He argues that composure isn't something you find in the moment, it's something you decide on beforehand.
A man once threw a chair across the room at me because I would not move on a number. He was more senior than me, angrier than me, and he wanted me to feel it. The chair hit the wall, the whole room went still and looked at me for my reaction. I did not raise my voice, I did not move. I waited until it was quiet and then I said calmly, when you are ready, we'll continue. Here is what he did not understand. The person who loses control in the room is the person who has just handed away their power. The number never changed. What changed is that everyone in that room saw who could hold steady when it mattered. Composure is not something you find in the moment. It is decided long before you walk in. What have you already decided about how you will hold?
