Hey Stress, Let's Talk

My 22-year-old is starting his first real full-time job in Silicon Valley and buying a car. Recently, he told me about a friend who graduated, had a job lined up to start September 1st, and got laid off before he even started. My son's takeaway was: I'm not counting on a paycheck until it's actually in my bank account.

There's an old Yiddish proverb: Man plans and G-d laughs. Leaders plan a lot. We have agendas, strategies, calendars, goals, people depending on us and then somebody gets bad news. Really bad news. Maybe it's you. Maybe it's your spouse, your child, your parent. Maybe it’s someone on your team Suddenly, the plan isn't the plan anymore.

You get a diagnosis. Someone you love gets sick. You're put on a performance improvement plan at work. A relationship ends. Something happens that you didn't choose, didn't plan for, and suddenly the path you thought you were on looks very different.