If you were in Chicago yesterday, you might have found yourself (un)pleasantly surprised by a sudden pop-up snowstorm—a snow squall, they call it. It’s a different kind of storm than the hyped-up snow events weather forecasts warn us about for days: the ones that prompt delayed school starts, adjusted commutes, grocery shelves emptied of toilet paper and milk, and long debates about whether to close offices.
This storm, however, had no such warning—no alerts on our phones, no preemptive conversations about what to move or cancel. In fact, it was only when my 35-minute commute turned into a 90-minute commute that I realized I was indeed in the middle of a storm.
With all this extra idle time on my commute, I couldn’t help but contrast a snow squall with a forecasted storm and how much this relates to leadership. A good leader is regularly planning and preparing, looking at the forecast, making the best decisions possible with the data, and ultimately creating a vision that balances risk and reality. Yet, a good leader also reacts well to the unexpected. Occasionally, they simply find themselves in a storm, and they are forced to let go of the plans up until this point. Sticking to these plans is unrealistic or potentially even detrimental.
To be sure, though, all of this planning isn’t for naught. The discipline and emotional muscles developed in planning build a strong foundation. And in the midst of the unexpected, the need for new skills emerges.
Storms can emerge from a sudden budget shortfall, untimely resignations from a top team member, a rejected grant proposal, volatile financial markets that limit giving and investments… (and let’s not forget the pandemic that halted operations as we all knew it).
And in these moments, a wise leader has to reassess—and quickly. Conversations can’t be too long, and the “perfect plan” is a futile goal. Instead, plans have to be intentionally shifted to weather the storm. And a strong leader has to emerge to make a tough decision, where a good decision or clear answer is hard to discern.
So… although Chicagoans yesterday hadn’t prepared for this storm, I remain grateful for the timely lesson it offered, to prepare in the small moments for the bigger ones to come.
