Happy New Year one and all! I do hope you enjoyed the Winter Break (or Summer Break for those south of the equator!) North America is largely under a very cold series of weather systems as I write, and a friend posted this brilliant piece from one of Canada’s funniest comedians, Rick Mercer. (Mercer has a weekly ½ hour show here that always includes a piece known as Rick’s Rant, this is this week’s rant) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EQdXyKiFY4&feature=share

What struck me as I watched and chuckled was the idea of hysteria and drama about the weather. Snow flurries as catastrophic crisis?! And I think we are living in a time when many of us move from one apparently “catastrophic” crisis after another. So for example, as I write the Canadian dollar is trading at .93 cents US, the lowest it’s been in some three years. You’d think, listening to the tone of the news reporters this morning that this interesting at best piece of economic news was to be regarded as a harbinger of doom and disaster! My concern here is that there are any number of real and important dangers that befall us individually and collectively; physical and mental illnesses, natural and human caused disasters, criminal and political rape and murder, and heart breaks and deaths of loved ones that are so sad, that you’re not sure you can go on. Those are real dramas, those are times of great sadness and pain. And to treat a snow storm, or a currency fluctuation with the same tone and import seems to me to be disrespectful to the times of great sadness that occur in the real world.

And as leaders, I think we need to be able to discern the difference between a minor blip, and small frustration and a major problem, a major catastrophic event. And we need then to model behaviour appropriate to the situation. Skills we all know, but perhaps practice less often than we might, include, patience, empathy (remembering that there is a difference between someone delayed at an airport and a plane skidding off a runway with a loved one aboard),  and a quiet calmness both inside and out, will go a long way to help your team and organization weather frustrations, problems and catastrophes that much more effectively.

May this week find time for each of us to discern distinction between the proverbial mole hills and mountains in our lives.