Are You a Turkey Day Chicken or a Conscious Leader?
Are people REALLY altering their Thanksgiving plans due to politics?
Regardless of the answer, Episode 101 of The Energy Detox translates lessons from the 2024 election into 9 apolitical questions you can use to avoid the "peaceful silence" that may be damaging your reputation, your team, and your organization.
9 Election-Inspired questions to help you become a more Conscious leader
Are you or your team embracing “peaceful silence”? ['Peaceful silence' sweeps America as divided family and friends refuse to discuss Trump]
What bad advice are you (unwittingly) listening to? [Cardinal Dolan: Harris received ‘bad advice’ to skip Catholic charity dinner]
What existing resources can you better leverage? [Trump’s Victory Signals Significant Shifts In Media Persuasion]
What potential allies might you be overlooking? [Trump Won't Care that RFK Jr. Compared Him to Hitler, Ex-Aide Says]
How is your old playbook holding you back? [Trump’s ground game relies on untraditional strategies to draw out battleground voters]
What stale communication channels are you over-using? [How Trump's election win was driven by targeted communications]
When was the last time you REALLY looked in the mirror? [Bill Maher has a blunt message for Democrats in wake of election disaster: ‘Losers look in the mirror’]
What sins are your wins hiding? [Republicans won big in the Senate. A warning lurks in the purple states.]
What polling data—or leadership feedback—is leading you astray? [Polls underestimated Trump support for third election in a row]
Additional references
“Western Pa. experts offer tips on navigating lingering election-related tensions over holidays” (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 11/24/2024)
The Thanksgiving Opinion page of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review contained multiple references to election-related holiday conversations, including this energy-themed letter to the editor: “Thankful for Pa.'s energy bounty”
RELATED Epsiodes
"Leaders are Chickens" (The Energy Detox, Episode 67)
In what ways are you acting like a chicken? Find out in this 2022 episode of The Energy Detox.
“100 Episodes, 20 Years, and 2 Energy (and Election) Detox Tools” (The Energy Detox, Episode 100)
This “Election Detoxification Day” episode lays out two tools that can help you better manage the toxicity faced by oil & gas leaders (...or pretty much anyone subjected to the last several months of election-related toxicity).
Transcript
(AI training in progress; please excuse any errors)
Have you come across any of those stories over the last couple of weeks about people who are altering their Thanksgiving plans because of the election? In particular, people who are disinviting people to their house because of who those people voted for, or people who are choosing not to go to a family gathering because they might have to engage with somebody who has different political beliefs than they do?
00:22
Well, if you haven't come across those stories, let me assure you that they are real. There are real stories appearing in legitimate news media, including right here in Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on Sunday had an article that interviewed various experts, therapists and counselors and social workers who were offering their advice on how to navigate the tensions of this post election era as we head into the holidays. And in fact, in the most recent opinion page here in the Pittsburgh Tribune review, there's multiple pieces, opinion pieces and even a cartoon here I'll hold up to the camera that says what "I thought.we agreed not to talk politics. "
01:02
And again, you've got, clearly, a donkey and an elephant there with the poor Turkey in the middle, who is suffering the consequences. All that being said, Why are we bringing that up here on the energy detox? Well, for a couple different reasons, the most important of which is that, as my time as an executive coach, has revealed, there is no shortage of tough conversations, difficult conversations, awkward conversations, political conversations that leaders are not always that well equipped to handle. And so today, we're going to take the charged conversations about the election, we're going to tie them into some practical tips and tricks that you can use as a leader in the energy industry to have those tough conversations and not avoid those tough conversations. And if nothing else, we'll use this as a model of how you can pivot, how you can de escalate, how you can redirect when faced with potentially difficult conversations or people who don't see eye to eye to you, you know that is a skill that some people have, or some people can develop, but either way, it's often not utilized effectively.
02:14
Now as a coach, again, I get to help people come up with game plans on how to attack these difficult conversations, and again, I hope today we can share some of those. In fact, we're going to share nine of those, because I've got nine of them listed here on this card here.
02:28
So without further ado, let's start with item number one, and that is the question. And again, here on the Energy Detox, we love our questions. So all nine of these tips are phrased in terms of a question, and that first one is, Are you or your team embracing peaceful silence? Because, again, one of those many articles about the holiday consternation that some people are feeling and the fear brought up this idea of peaceful silence, and that is very simply, trying to avoid politics, or whatever topic, but in particular, politics trying to avoid it at all costs. And as you know, again, I don't need to tell you how impractical and unsustainable that approach is, especially if you are a leader in an organization, the silent treatment, not having those tough conversations is clearly not a very effective approach in the short term. Sure, might help you get through the day or the week, but it's going to catch up to you eventually. So again, ask yourself, if nothing else, stop listening or watching, which you've probably done already, but if you still are with me, well at least ask yourself this one question today, are you or your team embracing peaceful silence?
03:41
Because what's amazing is that sometimes in our industry filled with plenty of tough individuals who pride themselves on being blunt and tough and speaking their mind, it's amazing how many people unconsciously are embracing peaceful silence and not having the tough conversations that really need to be had. So that is item number one.
04:02
Item number two on the list. What bad advice are you listening to now? Again, in the post mortem of this election, there's a lot of conversation about the advice that Vice President Kamala Harris got throughout this campaign. And again, you could argue it's it's subjective, if not unknowable, whether that advice was truly good or bad or neutral. But when it comes to stuff like the selection of Tim walls as VP versus maybe some other candidates, and perhaps her decision to not attend the Al Smith dinner in New York, or her decision to not go on Joe Rogan, again, a lot of those things are being brought up as examples of, hey, maybe she wasn't getting good advice, or maybe she was surrounding herself with people who, again, didn't have the best judgment, which again pivoting away from the political question on the table. The question for you is, well, what bad advice are you getting? And in particular, are you unconsciously. Listening to the advice of people within your organization, who you might see as a mentor, who you might see as a as a beacon of intellect and wisdom, but who, again, might be steering you in a wrong direction. And we're not just talking internal people here. Think about consultants, advisors. You know, again, I say this as somebody who transitioned into the world of management consulting five or so years ago, and I can tell you full well that there are a lot of people out there who are happy to accept payment to give you advice, regardless of whether that advice is valuable.
05:31
And when it comes to a political campaign that again spent on the order of what $1.5 billion I think it's pretty safe to assume that there were plenty of advisors out there who, again, were giving advice, whether it was good or bad or indifferent, but they were collecting a paycheck all the same. So again, a good time, a great time, perhaps, to ask yourself whether you are being subject to bad advice. Moving on.
05:56
Number three, what existing resources can you better leverage? So while it's one thing to say, hey, you know, you can go out and find additional resources to leverage and perhaps pay for, or, you know, maybe take advantage of internal resources that you know might cost you a little bit of time and energy, but don't cost you any money. Well, ask yourself, what other resources are out there that you can better leverage. And you know, again, this is consistent with this idea of Kamala Harris spending $1.5 billion which is apparently $20 million more than she had to spend. But you think about the maybe non traditional resources that Donald Trump was able to leverage the hundreds of millions of dollars in earned media that is, the media covering things that he said or did because they were somewhat obligated to do it, but he didn't have to pay for that coverage. Or, of course, him going on shows like Joe Rogan to get into the ears and the eyes, if you will, of millions of people without having to spend a dime. So that same question, again, pivoting away from politics and to you, is, hey, what existing resources are out there that you can go ahead and take advantage of and perhaps not have to invest that much time, energy or money. Moving on.
07:06
Number four, what potential allies might you be overlooking? Now, again, in the world of corporate politics, there are certainly allies and foes and all of that. Again, I don't need to tell you that, but the question is, well, what potential allies are, again, maybe not necessarily in your camp right now. That could be, that should be, because when you look at the presidential election, you look at the impact that people like RFK JR and Tulsi Gabbard had on Donald Trump's campaign, it's easy to say, Well, clearly those people weren't fully aligned. Still aren't fully aligned with everything that Trump promotes and Trump stands for, but they were still willing to jump in one because you know what? There were some common goals that they had with with Donald Trump, and it was an option, and they had the ability, if you will, to produce some sort of win win situation. So again, a very simple question for you. Think about the people in your organization, people. Think about the people outside of your organization who might not seem like allies, but could be could help you move forward. Could help you win, so to speak, and again, in terms of RFK JR and Tulsi and many others, also help them emerge victorious, at least in some small way moving on.
08:23
Number five, how is your old playbook holding you back now? Again, if there's one cliche in the world of business and management, it's that we shouldn't just keep doing things the way we had been doing them. We need to look for new ways of doing things right. You know, whatever version of that cliche you want to use, and well, tell you what. Ask yourself that cliche right now, what playbook Do you have that you're following that, you know what? Maybe stale, maybe isn't applicable anymore, and from a political standpoint, you know, there's lots of articles saying, hey, the Republicans, in many ways, tossed out the old Republican campaign playbook. They didn't just go after the what do they call them, the high propensity voters that are undecided, that are in the middle. They didn't just go after those people because they knew they were going to go to the polls, and perhaps they had an option to sway them one way or another. No, they didn't do that. And why? Well, because they recognized that old playbook going after them. Well, that took a lot of time and energy, a lot of door knocking, a lot of points of contact, if you're familiar with the nine points of contact from a sales standpoint, right? A lot of time, lot of energy. So what did the Republicans do? They went with a different playbook. They went with the low propensity voters, the people who are not inclined to go out and vote, but if they did go and vote, they would definitely be voting for the Republicans, so again, they used a different playbook. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris's campaign, in many respects, was a flawless campaign. I don't know how many times I've heard that over the last couple of weeks since the election, people saying, well, I don't know how she could have lost her her campaign was flawless. She did all of the things she was supposed to do, albeit in a condensed amount of time. In but again, that underscores this question that you could be asking yourself, which is, what existing playbook Are you following that maybe, maybe should be cast aside.
10:11
Moving on number six, what stale communication channels are you over using So again, when it came to reaching potential voters. Clearly and again, I think this applies to both sides, but clearly the traditional media does not have the impact that it used to have. Many people are now getting their news from social media, from scrolling through things, and again, the side that is able to recognize that and not really worry about the messaging on the CNNs of the world, but instead worry about the messaging on podcasts and what people are seeing in social media posts. Well, that's the side that is more likely to emerge victorious. And again, I am not a communications expert. I'm not an expert when it comes to politics. But again, I've read enough articles that are really digesting the different communication strategies that the comma camp and the Trump camp deployed. So again, all that being said, what are we doing here? We're pivoting back to you. So what existing communication channels and approaches are you using in your organization and with your people that you know? What maybe could be shaken up, maybe again, instead of the normal means of teams and email and text, maybe give that old, traditional phone call a try once in a while, shake things up a little bit to reach your audience in a little bit more effective manner. Moving on.
11:33
Number seven, when was the last time you really looked in the mirror? And I ask that today, because if there's one theme over the last couple of weeks that has come up, especially on the Democrat side, is, hey, we just lost, we really need to look in the mirror. We need to really see what went wrong. And for those individuals who are not willing to do that, or who are afraid to do that, and who are more inclined to try and point fingers at why their side lost? Well, in many cases, they're getting laughed at. You know, you can look at, you know, Bill Maher, right, if you've catched any of his videos monologs The last couple of weeks. Again, he keeps attacking the people who are afraid to look at themselves and say, hey, you know, where might I have gone wrong? And so the question for you is, well, when was the last time you did that? When was the last time you asked yourself, hey, you know, what am I doing wrong? Or, hey, you know, what am I doing right? That I can continue? What are my strengths? What are my weaknesses? Again, another headline that was out there said that Biden's campaign in the lead up to this hand off, if you will, to Kamala. Well, they really didn't do a good job of outlining her strengths and weaknesses, so that when kamala's campaign kicked off, she had to spend $12 million doing polling to try to figure out what her strengths and weaknesses are. Again, that's not something that you should have to wait until you're under the gun to do. That's something you could do all the time in many different ways. And again, in other episodes of the energy detox, we certainly talk about different ways to hunt down your strengths and weaknesses. And well, in the interest of time, we'll refer you to those other episodes so that we can continue on with the last two questions.
13:19
Question number eight, which is, what sins are your wins hiding? So kind of a flip. When you lose, you look in the mirror, figure out again, where did you go wrong? Well, again, even when it seems like you and your team are winning, what might you be missing? How might your wins be hiding certain sins, a very important question, but one that is often missed if you want to keep on winning.
13:39
And question number nine is what polling data is leading you astray again when it comes to this election and many recent elections, clearly, the polls were not exactly pointing to who was going to win certain races. What's going on in your organization? How is polling data, or figurative polling data, potentially misleading you, whether it's employment engagement surveys or other means of getting feedback, are you really getting honest feedback? Because I will tell you from my experience as an executive coach who has many, many 360 degree conversations with people, in person, over the phone, live human conversations, the insights and the data that I get from that are not always consistent with some of those surveys, which can be massaged and again, paint a picture that is not entirely accurate. So again, ask yourself, how are your figurative polls potentially misleading you?
14:33
And with that, I want to give thanks for you for providing feedback to me on the energy detox and helping to you know, cast the future direction of this podcast. So with that, thank you. Hope you have a very happy Thanksgiving. And again, I welcome your feedback on this and all episodes of The Energy Detox.