5 Things to Do As a Leader When the News Becomes Unbearable
might as well start calling this the leading through chaos series because...
If you are a people leader who deeply cares about people and is trying to lead with integrity, this post is for you.
Today, there was some disturbing news— journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort, cofounder of BLM in Minnesota Trahern Crews and lobbyist Jamael Lydell Lundy—were arrested by federal agents this morning. Work that’s supposed to be protected by the First Amendment, but day by day it feels like that protection means less and less.
I’ll speak for myself: seeing the news triggered something in me deeper than normal. As a Black woman who’s seen what happens when people like me tell the truth, watching four people get arrested for doing their jobs—for truth-telling—hit different.
So I need you all to just sit with that for a minute. Take a deep breath and really let that in. Imagine how your Black, brown, and first-gen employees feel right now.
And as a reminder, you are responsible for stewarding their environment for about 70% of their time. You have an incredible responsibility right now and a lot of power to either add to their dysregulation or provide a space where maybe they can catch their breath for a second.
🗣️ There is no work that’s more important than the wellbeing of people.
You can’t solve all the big problems. But here’s what integrity looks like right now:
Don't perform empathy—provide actual relief by giving them time off. In these times there’s already so much people are carrying that having to ask for rest feels like another thing they have to initiate. So do it for them. Say something like, “I see what's happening. And I want you to know—you don't have to perform your way through this. Take the time you need.”
Strip everything down to essential work only. You know how the workplace can be—half the time we’re working on things that never come to fruition. Talk to your team about focusing exclusively on the essential stuff that has to get done. If necessary, sit down with each of them in a 1:1 and go over their priorities and their calendars. I used to do this with my team, and they would say, “But so-and-so said I have to be in the task force.” And I would go personally talk to that person or their leader and say, “Back off for a minute. That’s not a priority for us.”
If they’re participating in the national strike, protect them. Cover their work. Don’t ask questions. Don’t make them explain themselves. Shield them from retaliation—from your peers, from above, from anyone. This is what protection actually looks like.
Handle everything privately. Don’t ask them if they’re okay in a public forum. Don’t perform care in all-hands meetings. All of this needs to be handled one-on-one, with discretion and dignity.
Get aligned with the leaders who are horizontal to you. You all need to huddle and agree as a united front to protect your people right now. Get on the same page. Tell Jon in marketing to chill out for a second. Tell the VP of operations that your team is unavailable for their special project or push the meeting back a week. Stand together.
You might get pushback. You might face consequences. But you can either be a leader who chooses to protect the system or one that decides to protect their people.
Sending you so much love wherever you are,
m
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Follow The Leader is created for the people leaders who care about serving people. If these insights resonate with you and you're interested in bringing our expertise into your organization for speaking, workshops, or facilitation, reach out to maya@ourbestwork.co.
Thank you for sharing this. I took one of your suggestions and spoke to my team individually and basically said "the world is heavy right now. take the time/space if you need to; we'll figure out the workload". They were surprised by my words but so appreciative. A week later, my org sent internal comms with a similar message. To borrow some of your words again: I wasn't crazy, I was just early.
This and the power outage in Nashville had made this week very tough. These are the things people need to think about when leading others.