Chaos, Control, Contract, & Connecting the Dots: Part 1

While reading Suzanne Collins’ latest addition to the Hunger Games saga, I couldn’t help drawing parallels to our own current state of affairs, what it means to be a leader, and the choices we all are going to make in the coming month. How chaos, control, and contract all weave their way in and out of our daily lives, and what that means for leadership and power. The quotes included in this three-part post are all taken from The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

Part One: Chaos

“Chaos. No control, no law, no government at all. Like being in the arena. Where do we go from there? What sort of agreement is necessary if we’re to live in peace? What sort of social contract is required for survival?”

“Fuck Lori [Lightfoot].” The words came clearly from the Police scanner. 

In the days following the death of George Floyd, there was an uprise in Chicago. Not only Chicago but the entire nation. The news flashed scenes from LA to Manhattan of protests erupting into chaos. Images of cars set ablaze, storefronts shattered, bricks being thrown, bloodied faces, police officers with riot gear and merchandise looted, all canvassed the world.

By the second day, nothing was off-limits. I remember setting out for a morning walk with Campbell, my son, and husband, Kris, a typical loop that spans four Westside Chicago neighborhoods, and the path was littered with piles of broken glass -- a FedEx, a CVS, a laundromat. Shards of glass hanging jaggedly from windows or crystallized into little greenish-blue beads on the ground. I remember passing sullen faces of people, like me, experiencing the closeness of it all for the first time.

With the buzz of unrest still in the air, I thought it would be best to download a police scanner to keep a beat on the neighborhoods closest to our family. As the sunset into the second day of protests, I listened as an incident took shape on the northeast side of Humboldt Park. 

Through the sometimes-muffled voices and police codes that were beyond my comprehension, I learned of a potential shooting. Police officers were deployed, and their presence seemed to have dispersed the involved parties. As things began to settle down, a male officer, clearly frustrated, began to question the dispatcher.

“What the fuck are we doing?” he started.

“I am not going to respond to you when you are swearing at me”, came the voice of the female dispatcher.

“Fuck this. Fuck Lori [Lightfoot].” the officer continued.

Here, in the middle of this pandemic, in the early days of the civil unrest that continues to this day, piled on top of incidents that have caused a general state of unrest for the past four years, was this illustration of chaos. Plain and simple. Civilians taking to the street, breaking laws, law enforcement at opposition to the authorities governing them, and silence and misinformation coming from Washington.

This was reality, not the start of the 10th annual hunger games, not a piece of fiction that was written to entertain, but real life in 2020.  

“People aren’t so bad, really,” she said. “It’s what the world does to them.” 

We have all been put in a position this year to make a choice between right and wrong, good and evil. We have been forced to filter through the media’s rendition of the truth and seek out what we stand for, and why we stand for it. Especially for those in more major metropolitan areas, there is no longer the luxury of being a spectator.

When I first started eGuide, I didn’t know exactly all of the services the business would provide but I did know “the why” behind it. To help people. This quickly became core value number one: Do something that helps someone. This sentiment now acts as a compass and a mirror for our business. A compass as it helps us navigate new and existing partnerships, identifying if the values and vision of the partners we are establishing align with our own. A mirror because it allows us to have an open dialogue about other values and allows us to reflect on how we are translating those into our work.

We can confidently state that we support the mission of the following organizations:

• Black Lives Matter: “to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes.”

• Human Rights Campaign: “to end discrimination against LGBTQ people and realize a world that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all”

• ACLU: “to preserve and protect the liberties and privileges guaranteed to each individual by the Bill of Rights.”

This allows us to more clearly make the distinction between good and evil, be aware of bias and privilege, and utilize our services for good. While it may be a daunting task for anyone in a leadership position, being able to know what you stand for and what you stand against could mean the difference between success and failure.

“Before need, before love, came trust”

eGuide has had the pleasure of working alongside many hospitality companies that have had the rug pulled out from under them this year with the Covid-19 Pandemic. The hard truth is that events are not going to be returning to what they were for quite a while. Some projections say 2022, some say even longer. This entire industry is going to be left to carve out another niche or collapse under the pressure. For the first time, in a long time, executives of these businesses are being forced to make some very hard decisions. Decisions that affect the livelihood of their employees.

How do you tell your employee of over 20 years that you have to put them on furlough or let them go? What happens when you have to contemplate shuttering your business?

Trust, above all else, is the thing that keeps humans together. Leaders in any capacity, whether it be in government, business, parenting, or partnership are given the opportunity to earn the trust of those they lead or co-lead with. 

I’ve been able to witness an inspiring leader instill hope within their team during this tumultuous year. This person has been transparent and honest with the struggles the organization has faced, they are using their platform as a leader to inspire action both within their own community, and also taking an active role in mentorship and guiding others. They are using their voice and position to speak out publicly and have been open and candid about the raw emotions this year has brought. All the while, they have navigated new ways to secure funds, new avenues to do good, and we are honored to call them a partner. For anonymity, I won’t mention their name, but this person is a role-model, a superhero, and someone I would love to be when I grow up.

For any organization that may be struggling, know that it is possible to navigate through uncertain times. With the type of leadership illustrated above, you are able to instill the trust needed for people to follow. To allow an employee to say, “I know my leader has my back and I am going to push that much harder to get to where we are going”.

As leaders, we are responsible for lives by way of livelihood. No matter if you are a team of 2 or 2,000 the trust, the choices, and the decisions we make directly impact those that fall under our care. 

“If the people who were supposed to protect you played so fast and loose with your life . . . then how did you survive? Not by trusting them, that was for sure. And if you couldn’t trust them, who could you trust? All bets were off.”

 This isn’t the last time we will experience chaos this year. The election is next month. Covid-19 cases are not at the levels the nation needs them to be, and moments of civil unrest continue to cascade. All-the-while, small businesses are reaching the end of the funding available to them to remain open, and the unemployment rate is estimated to continue to rise.

 I often think back to the tragedy of 9/11. Although I was younger and was subjected to a filtered view of the complete truth, I remember America coming together with a sense of nationalism and pride. Although we did not have the most eloquent president during this tragedy, I will forever remember George W. Bush’s  iconic address to the nation staged in front of the aftermath of the fallen twin towers. Although many didn’t support the policies and agenda of the president, in the weeks following I remember everyone decorating their homes and lawns with American flags, and wearing supportive rubber bracelets. There was comradery and compassion. The lines between blue and red ran purple, and for once we saw our sameness more than our differences.

With both the pandemic and the wrongful deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Stephon Clark, Tamir Rice (to name a few), and the most recent shooting of Jacob Blake, there is no guiding voice. We tune in to get reassurance, to hear something to give us hope, and are given the blame, finger-pointing, and justification. We are fed misinformation through social media and broadcast media alike and have lost trust in the information we are given. If you are like me, you try to seek the truth from the source, you download a police scanner and in your first listen are given the insight to just how chaotic the world can be.

If we are not careful the chaos can become all-consuming.