During the past seven weeks as we’ve mostly been sequestered to stay-at-home due to the Covid19 pandemic, my conversations have organically focused on one big question.
Where are the opportunities?
As I’ve worked with business owners and other executives who are part of larger leadership teams, it was understandable that everybody – including me – needed time to process what was happening. For the first 2 weeks, most of us were stunned. The second we had to close up shop, we jumped into action to figure out what we needed to do. For those who didn’t have to close up shop, we jumped to figure out how to leverage our business for as much success as possible.
I’m blessed. And thankful.
While my clients were disrupted, they have all found ways to thrive during this time. Not so surprising really because one of the things I’ve found fascinating in the past 11 years of coaching executives and leaders is that high achievers are the ones most prone to seek the assistance of a coach.
Putting the pressure on the truth reveals the validity of it. Putting pressure on leadership reveals the truth about it. It’s our opportunity to shine. Or not.

Questions provide the path toward satisfying our curiosity. Our curiosity determines our understanding. And without understanding, there is no compassion.
Judgment is easy. Understanding and compassion are hard.
This current pandemic is providing all of the opportunity to elevate our leadership, if only in our own lives. It’s really allowing us extraordinary opportunities to serve others in powerful ways. The question is, will we see the opportunities and take advantage of them?
Let’s talk about just a few things we can all do with the opportunities.
One, look through the wide-angle lens.
Much of the time we rather enjoy zooming in. We enjoy zooming in on the weaknesses, problems, and wrong-ness of others. Bringing them into clearer focus while simultaneously blocking out weaknesses, problems, and wrong-ness in our own lives. The frailties of others can make us feel stronger about ourselves.
Resist that. Instead, opt for zooming out to take a wider view. You’ll have to willingly give up whatever temporary positive feelings you get by thinking worse about others. In its place, you’ll get something that has more lastly value – understanding. And if you put in the work, you’ll gain something even more valuable than that, compassion.
Looking through the wide-angle lens affords you the first major positive of making a wiser decision. That decision is making up your mind to see things more clearly. That alone makes it worthwhile, but that’s just the beginning.
Are you afraid somebody might change your mind?
Are you fearful that your opinion may change?
What are you afraid of? Why wouldn’t you put the wide-angle lens on the camera of your own vision?
There’s more information in a wide-angle shot than a zoomed-in shot. More information gives us a broader view with improved data so we can see how to best frame a viewpoint or an opinion.
Narrow views, represented by zooming in, rob of us vital information that might help us see more clearly. Besides, how will you know where to zoom in if you don’t first zoom out?
Two, embrace curiosity.
Without curiosity, you can’t get to understanding. And without understanding, you’re never going to achieve compassion. So there’s your motivation.
How do we embrace curiosity? Focus on the other person, not yourself. Let yourself wonder WHY. Why do they think what they do? Why do they feel the way they feel?
These actions are all habits that many of us just haven’t embraced. Or we’ve neglected them for too long.
All children have these. Look around at the kids in your life.