It occurred to me earlier this week that COVID-19, and the restrictions on social interaction and travel associated with it, are here to stay, perhaps forever.
What seemed almost like a novelty in March and April – working from home in sweat pants, realizing I gained the “COVID 15” when I stepped on the scale, and fighting my fellow community members for that last pack of toilet paper at Costco – has turned into a summer of misery.
Vacations are not happening. We are told we will not be returning to the office until at least January 2021. And maybe worst of all, there will be no college football this Fall.
Stuck at home, I was talking to my friend, Buss Brauer, about the state of our nation, lamenting that I had never seen anything in my life quite like this. Even 9/11, though terrible for our country, quickly became a unifier, was memorialized, and almost immediately moved into a recovery phase.
COVID-19 is nearly a mirror opposite. Tensions have risen to historic highs as people have chosen sides regarding politics and racial equality (or inequality). No one, from the President to the school superintendent appear to know how to combat the spread of the virus. Our country, our collective communities, are in a seemingly perpetual state of chaos.
I told Buss I was tired of being stuck at home, worn down by the uncertainty of the future, struggling with how to operate in my “new normal.”
“Sounds like you are tired of being blind. Cause that is nearly verbatim how I felt when I lost my sight. I had no idea how I would operate in the future. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to survive. I was trapped at home, unable to go anywhere by myself.
“They say one of the only certainties in life is that the sun will come up tomorrow. Well for me, it didn’t. I couldn’t see whether it did or not. I haven’t seen the sun rise in 30 years.”
Buss got me thinking… What is worse, COVID or blindness? In talking with so many people, one of the greatest commonalities is the agreement that COVID has been among the worst disasters our nation, and world, have ever seen. Fighting an enemy we cannot see, know little about, and that has changed our lives forever.
Blindness: An unseen enemy that took Buss’ ability to see, creating a disaster in his life, of which so little was known about that doctors couldn’t even explain why it was happening. Life changed forever.
Given the similarities, I asked him which he thought was worse and how, or if, anything could be done about either.
“It really depends on whether you are managing through the crises or leading yourself and peers around one,” Buss said.
He explained each was terrible in its own right. If one thinks about life altering scenarios, we’d all expect losing the ability to see as being on the list. So also would be a pandemic floating around the world killing hundreds of thousands of people.
The key to handling the situation is learning to lead yourself around the crises, rather than managing through it.
Many talented and gifted people pride themselves on being professional “crises managers.” They are able to tackle problems head on and make the best of bad situations. These people make difficult decisions, thrive in the midst of chaos, and are often rewarded for using their managerial skills to mitigate disaster.
All that management, however, takes a great deal of effort. And one has to remember the disaster is only mitigated, not avoided.
Leading around a crisis means a person sees around the corner and avoids the problems associated with it altogether.
“I will give you an example… When I lost my sight, I feel into a bit of Depression, but quickly pulled myself out of it by becoming an expert manager. I coordinated schedules of my family and friends so they could be there to serve as a guide for me.
“I spent countless hours learning Braille, walking with a white cane, and taking college courses that would prepare me for work as a person who is blind. I became an expert manager of people and tools, and expected to be able to use them to live the best life I could, while acknowledging that best life would never be quite as good as it once was.
“Finally, I realized things didn’t have to be that way. I didn’t need to do what everyone else expected me to do. I didn’t have to manage my life with the same tools and procedures other people that are blind use. Rather, I could look around the crises and be a leader of my own life.
“Oddly, I had to become blind in order to learn to see around corners. I embraced screen-readers instead of Braille, recognizing technology was growing stronger and more capable of creating a digital world. I traded in my crop of friends and family for a loyal guide dog whose only scheduling concerns were eating and periodically finding a patch of grass to do his personal business.
“I placed more focus on immediately increasing my professional skills in real-time rather than attempting to learn abilities that may or may not be useful to be via books and lectures.
“Essentially, I looked to the future and rather than managing the disaster of losing my sight, I embraced the change and became a leader in my new world. Quickly, my professional skills took me to new career heights. My technology skills allowed us to become paperless before going green was even a thing.
“In the end, it turned out I came out better and stronger, with a more fulfilling life, by leading around my blindness. I saw would-be problems before they happened, made avoidance adjustments, and looked back at people managing as best as they could with their feet stuck in the mud while my dog and I were clean and safe on the other side of the swamp.”
I remembered Buss calling blindness “the greatest opportunity” of his life, and I began to wonder if COVID could be the greatest of mine.
People are falling ill, sometimes acutely, sometimes permanently. Many have lost their lives. That reality makes calling the deadly virus an “opportunity” difficult.
Buss lamented the same holds true for blindness. People have fallen into deep states of Depression resulting directly from their loss of sight. It has ended marriages, destroyed relationships with children, and in some cases caused people to voluntarily forfeit their time in this world.
Leading yourself around the chaos, and consequently creating an opportunity, does not come at the cost or sacrifice of others. It comes at their benefit, as your path becomes their path. Your leadership gives them hope and guidance. Avoiding disaster while building new roads founds a greater society where more people can excel once they have managed their way out of their crises.
What is worse, COVID or blindness? The answer is neither. Both represent great opportunity if the decision is made to lead your life around the challenges each present. What’s worse? Assuming a managerial position as you try to make the best of a bad situation.
COVID, blindness, perpetual darkness or never showing your whole face in public again… None of it has to be the disaster we think it is as long as we are willing to see like a blind executive, look around the corner, and lead ourselves to new places that would have never been discovered had it not been for the opportunity that presented itself as disaster.
There is no fee for your team’s first live webinar and there is no better, practical or more fun leadership diversity, equity, and inclusion training than “Find the Door,” which is delivered by an executive who is blind and his guide dog. Ask any question, learn how a blind person’s travel skills can help accelerate your career, and find out how you too can “Find the Door” to a corporate culture where DEI is fun, profitable, and embraced by all.
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Awesome read!