The early work of Werner Erhard has had a big influence on my coaching, and on my own personal development. He had a phrase, “already always,” that can be a wonderful pointer right now.

Many leaders are already always doing. Or already always defending, or fighting, or achieving.

Meaning that everything that occurs for them is filtered through, “What do I do with or about this?” or “How do I defend against this?” The immediate assumption is that whatever is happening is something that requires action, or that it is bad and needs to be defended against.

Because we are “already always” this, it can be very hard to see. It can be hard even to talk about it.

I have a client who is struggling with his “already always” right now. His “already always” is doing, striving, winning. And right now, what is showing up for him is space—less to do, fewer employees to hire, less he can control. Instead of welcoming the rest, the renewal, the insight, that can come from space and rest, his tendency, his wiring, as he would say, is “not to waste this time.” His already always, like yours and mine, serves him, until it doesn’t.

What is your “already always?” How does it serve you? And how does it get in your way?

A client of mine recently shared how that insight changed how he was interacting with his team and his company.

Are there things on your team that are “issues that shall not be named?” Is there a team member whose abrasive style is the elephant in the room?

Because of COVID-19, people feel less safe than ever. They are wondering when they will be able to leave the house, wondering if their job is on the line, wondering if the coughing neighbor they saw on a walk has “it.”

So any topic that feels tough in “normal” times is going to feel especially tough right now.

How can you help your team to feel more safe? How can you come from a more open place?

Smile. Be self-effacing. Slow down. Connect. Do anything you can to help people understand that you care.

Many of us spent the first few days of this crisis making sure our people were physically safe. But they need to feel emotionally safe, too.

It can take some time for people to feel safe, especially if they haven’t before. But persist. Some of the best ideas show up because someone finally feels safe sharing them.

And if you need a safe conversation, reach out to me. You might be surprised what shows up.

First off, I haven’t been writing as much in long form lately. I have been writing some shorter pieces on LinkedIn, which you can see here.

But I did recently do a podcast interview with Toby Goodman on his CrisisCast 2020 Podcast where we had a far reaching conversation on the impacts of COVID-19, comparisons to 9/11, and the need we are all feeling right now to authentically connect to other human beings.

I hope you’ll give it a listen here!

A lot has changed and a lot continues to change.

If anyone had said a few months ago that we had the power to shut down entire industries, to have hundreds of millions of people stay home for the sake of a greater good, we all would have thought them crazy.

But here we are.

And this new world is new for business as well.

You can see the emails from people offering sales, instinctively cutting their prices or offering free sessions in an attempt to keep some small part of their revenue stream coming in the door.

I’m getting to the point where I ignore those—I find they range from annoying to inappropriate. And like most human action, they come from a habitual and deep place of fear.

But I’ve been curious at a deeper level. What is it that is going on here? How exactly is the world changing? What is it that is dying, and what is being born?

I have long believed that people who have done the most inner work make the best leaders. That the people who see the world most accurately and without bias are the ones most capable taking a stand and changing it.

In ordinary times, which seem to be based on doing the same thing over and over, faster and faster, often without any thought at all, my message tends to get lost.

But this time, in which many of us have had to slow down, is a huge opportunity to see at a deeper level. To wake up. To drop some of the more faster cheaper lenses that we have been seeing the world through. And to think about how to actually make the world better. To serve with compassion, to lead with vision, to take decisive action based on what we see.

Because there are things that were true a few weeks ago that are no longer true. That may never be true again.

And there are other things that might be more difficult to see that are emerging as newly true. Some of these things may ask grieving of us, and some of them may ask us to celebrate.

What is no longer true for you