Lead In 30 Podcast

How We Must Adjust to Lead Through This Era of Deep Division

• Russ Hill

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It’s never happened in our lifetime. The recent assassination of a major political figure highlights something troubling about our current environment - the increasing inability to peacefully coexist with those who hold different views. While one person bears responsibility for violent actions, we all contribute to the climate around us, especially as leaders.

What can we do to create healthier workplaces where people don't feel isolated, dismissed, or bitter toward those with different perspectives? In this special episode, I offer four practical principles that can help any leader foster environments where disagreement doesn't lead to division.

First, we must allow genuine space for different opinions. Too often, we minimize or dismiss alternative viewpoints in the name of efficiency, leaving team members feeling their expertise isn't valued. Second, we need to accept that we aren't always the decision makers. Learning to thrive despite disagreeing with leadership decisions is an essential skill that builds resilience.

Third, consider reducing the size of your world. Constantly consuming global news and social media often leaves us angry about circumstances we cannot influence while neglecting the spheres where we can make a difference. Focus more intentionally on your immediate environment—your family, neighborhood, workplace, and clients. Finally, break screen-dominated routines by incorporating outdoor time, movement, and alternatives to endless video meetings.

These principles won't solve all societal problems, but they offer practical ways for leaders to create healthier environments where people feel valued, connected, and able to thrive despite differences. What steps will you take to model these behaviors with your team today?

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About the podcast:
The Lead In 30 Podcast with Russ Hill is for leaders of teams who want to grow and accelerate their results. In each episode, Russ Hill shares what he's learned consulting executives. Subscribe to get two new episodes every week. To connect with Russ message him on LinkedIn!



Speaker 1:

The reality is, it's never happened in our lifetime, at least if you're under the age of 60. And even if you're older than that, you weren't old enough at the time, back in the 1960s, to remember the last time that, in the United States of America, political violence took the life of a national figure. There's been no successful assassination, and while this episode and this podcast isn't about politics and we're not going to dive into the right or the left, you do have to wonder in a moment like this, if there's something that we as leaders inside of organizations, people who lead teams some of us hundreds, some of us thousands or tens of thousands of people Not feel so isolated, not feel so much bitterness, not feel so much animosity towards those they disagree with. My opinion is we can do some things, we can be better, we can lead more effectively and show the way, and so in this episode of the Lead in 30 podcast, as you can tell if you listen normally, we're taking just a little bit of a different approach, and so I hope you won't mind, I hope you'll give me some space to offer a few thoughts of mine as an American, as someone who cares deeply about freedom of speech, someone who deeply respects your ability to disagree with me, to have opinions, to have perspectives, to try your best to positively influence the world around you. And so I'm not going to advocate just like always in all 387 episodes before this one, I'm not going to advocate a political position or do anything like that. I'm just going to offer four ideas, four suggestions on how we, how you as a leader of other people, can potentially help yourself and help them. Never get to a place where we would harm someone who disagrees with us. It sounds ridiculous and I realize and I fully believe that one person, one person, is responsible for what happened in Orem, utah recently, but we all contribute to the environment and the world around us. And so in this episode, I'm going to offer four ideas, four thoughts around how we might be able to help in the current environment.

Speaker 1:

Welcome into the Lead in 30 podcast. This one is a special episode. Environment. Welcome into the Lead in 30 podcast. This one is a special episode. Every once in a while, we mix it up and we throw out the normal open, the normal music bed, all of those sorts of things, and just talk about the reality of what we're up against, what we're facing and how we can upgrade ourselves in the environment we find ourselves in. Isn't it interesting how the environment, the circumstances around us are not static. They change dramatically. I actually think that's one of the most exciting and compelling reasons to choose to decide to lead others is that you get to work on yourself nonstop, and for those of us that are addicted to steep growth curves, that's attractive, that's interesting, that's compelling rather than intimidating although it's intimidating at times, but not overwhelming, hopefully.

Speaker 1:

My name's Russ Hill. For those of you who might be new to the podcast listening for the first time. I make my living coaching, consulting senior executive teams at some of the world's biggest companies. I'm part of the team at Lone Rock Leadership. We've got a training company as well as an executive consulting company. You can find out more about us at LoneRockio.

Speaker 1:

Okay, four things that I think we can do in today's environment, which, by the way, has existed, for it's not like it started yesterday. It's existed for years. I personally believe it's not going to get better, that it's going to get more intense and more difficult, but I hope I'm wrong. I hope I'm wrong, but in in, in the circumstances we find ourselves in, how do we help, especially, especially younger generations that maybe were profoundly affected by the lockdowns and the isolation of COVID, the pandemic and um, and and the environment, especially the uh, the digital environment, the virtual environment that they find themselves living in. How do we help them not feel so isolated, not feel so disconnected, not potentially feel hopeless, not potentially feeling overwhelmed by the environment they find themselves in and trying to be successful and make a good life for themselves in a very complex and a very challenging world? So here are four thoughts that have occurred to me that have been on my mind over these last few weeks. Number one. Number one we've got to allow space for other people's opinions, and I know you hear that and I'm talking about you all. I'm not talking about out in the political world, I'm not, I I I'll talk more about that in a moment, but this isn't, this isn't an episode about that. I don't there.

Speaker 1:

There are a million political podcasts that you can listen to and that can reinforce your worldview. If that's what you seek, um, or that can analyze it's. It's hard to find anything that's not biased these days. Right, everybody's got an agenda and they're that's part of our issue, um, they're doing everything in their power to um, to tear down those who disagree with them and to build themselves up to. They've got a lot of self-interest. So you can find all those podcasts, and a lot of them are at the top of the charts. Um, in whatever podcast app you you use I'll say more in a moment, but I'm not. I'm not certain that um, listening to a lot of those I I occasionally dip in and listen to one or two. I I tend to seek out the voices that are the least riled up, the voices that critically evaluate what's going on, even if they lean a certain way, have a political bent to them. I'm not interested in people that are trying to rile me up or that are trying to convince me that those that see the world differently than I do are evil or need to be destroyed or need to be silenced or whatever it might be. You might feel differently. That's just my perspective. I've been there, I've done that 've I've gotten riled up, I've listened to those episodes, I've paid for subscriptions to some of those folks and I just found myself in a less healthy place. Um, I found myself less focused on thriving and succeeding in in the world that I'm in and just ticked off at the world around me. It was. It was actually darker than I wanted it to be, and uh, and and. So I needed to clear myself. That actually happened for me during the pandemic Um, I listened, I was listening to, I'd go to bed at night listening to episodes of certain podcasts, certain political events, and I was angry angry all the time in the isolation of COVID, and that wasn't good for me as a dad, as a husband, as a business owner, as as as as just as a human being. So so, number one allow space for other people's opinions. I think we need to do a better job of that in the workplace, and I think how we show up as leaders has a pretty big impact on the people that we lead, the people on our teams, and some of you are executives that oversee tens of thousands of people. Others of you have thousands underneath you, some of you have hundreds, some of you have a team of four or five, some of you don't have any direct reports, but you're leading um in in the, the, the, the on the team, even though you don't have the position power, you've got the, you, you've got um, influence and um, and so when we, when we have meetings and this sounds so elementary, you all, it sounds so basic, it might even sound trivial to you, but I think it's. I think that we're contributing to maybe some of the hostility around us when we just so adamantly shut down or disagree or undermine or get into the dms and into text messaging and into private channels and Slack or Teams or whatever else, and we just really rip apart someone who disagrees with us or another department and it becomes an us versus them. And we're not using you know, I mean 99% of us who are listening to this podcast or you know, in our circles we're not using violent rhetoric and we're not. We don't have maybe hostile feelings towards the people in our organizations, but we just we don't provide enough space. We minimize other people's perspectives, their data, what they think, their opinions, and and we, we, we tend to just project our own. I'm guilty of this. I think many of us are. Some of you are the exception, but many of us because we're driven and we we've got so limited time, right, we, so we're looking at it. We're like we got to get moving, and so the way to get moving is to shorten the conversation and to not debate it as long and to, for me just to kind of interrupt you. And as soon as you start speaking, and just well, the decision's made. Here's where we're going, and yet that leaves you in a place of feeling, um, belittled, in a place of feeling demeaned, in a place of feeling isolated, in a place of feeling like you don't have influence, and that contributes to you being frustrated and feeling like my gosh. I've worked so hard, I went to college, I got this degree, I've got this experience in my career. I'm not stupid. I've got experience and a wisdom and I've got data backing me up in my perspective, and yet you shut me down, you know, in our meetings, and so you just get to this place. You've been there before, haven't you? Man? I have holy cow, have I been there? And and I've worked for leaders like this. That's just the way that they lead. They're not interested in your perspective, and it's not that they're bad people, it's just that they, they, um, they just overreach. And when I've worked for leaders like that, I've tried to minimize the amount of time I'm associated with them. I've left organizations because of it, and so how do you allow space for other people's opinions? You listen, you just listen, and you realize that, in order to get movement on teams, it takes a little bit of time and it's not going to be as fast and it's not going to be as efficient and it's not going to be. Yeah, it's just not going to be as efficient or fast as you want it to be. And that doesn't mean you have to slow down the organization or the team or the progress of the project in order to hear every single voice and to have debate on every little thing, but it's just. It's just an approach. So I want to hear your perspective. Can you share with me what your view is? And and there's no perfect way to do this and we're constantly working on it each one of us and some of us are way better at it some of you lean too much into this way. All you do is leave space for other people's opinions and it causes challenges on your team or the team that you lead or the team that you're on, because all you do is just listen, and that's not effective either. So there's just a happy medium, a sweet spot to be here. I think that in our current environment, though, generally speaking, we can. We can move more towards the listening part of the spectrum and a little bit further away from the directive side of it, if that makes sense. There's so much anger, there's so much bitterness, there's so much resentment, there's so much frustration. That comes when decisions are made in organizations, and part of what we're dealing with in society right now is decisions are made in society, in government, and the reality is there are periods of your life where the Supreme Court is not going to be governed. It's not going to have a majority of people who have your political view. That's going to exist for decades of your life, and then there's going to be a period of time where the Supreme Court does have your worldview and yet for 50 percent of other people in, I now realize that there are people all over the world listening to this podcast. Just use different terms that apply to the government and the environment that you're in, um, if you're in, if you're in a democracy or or of a republic, if you're not, wow, I. I hope someday you get to experience that. But so I'm just I. This is I'm speaking primarily to a us audience, but obviously there's tons of application to those of you internationally who listen each week and to various episodes. But part of our challenge is. We want everyone in Congress, we want the Supreme Court, we want the leadership team of our hospital, of our insurance company, of our restaurant. We want them to agree with us, we want them to have our worldview, and that's not going to happen. There will be periods of time when your boss, when the senior executive team of the organization, when the Supreme Court, when the city council, when the whomever has your view, they see the world pretty much the same way you do. And then there are going to be periods of your life, of your career, when they don't. And that's okay, and you've got to realize that's how it goes, and and so, and that you're not the decision maker and so things aren't going to. The Supreme Court of the United States is going to make decisions during periods of my life that I adamantly disagree with. That's the way that it's designed to be, and they're going to make decisions that I agree with. The same thing's going to happen for a presidential administration, the same thing's going to happen for a city council. The same thing's going to happen for our business unit leadership. So I'm not the decision maker, I don't get to make all the decisions. I'm in a very big world with a lot of different organizations and a lot of decisions that are continually being made, and I get to make all the decisions. I'm in a very big world with a lot of different organizations and a lot of decisions that are continually being made, and I get to make some of the decisions and there are a whole lot that I don't get to make. So I'm not going to get to make the decision on mask mandates or shutdowns, or on building permits, or on priorities or key results that we're going to choose for the organizations, or product release timelines or whatever. The world cannot exist with you, with me, as the sole decision maker, and so I need to get comfortable with the fact that there are some decisions in my life that I'm the decision maker on, and that there are more that I'm not, and I need to be okay with that and to realize that, okay, yeah, there's some that I and I I've been around long enough. Most of you have too. Hopefully, we've come to the point to where we realize now that we can actually thrive not survive, but thrive in a world, in an organization where decisions are being made that we disagree with. It's actually okay, and the world's going to keep spinning and it's going to be all right and you can still make a good amount of money. You can still have the lifestyle that you want, and you can still. There's so many things that you can control, but there are a ton you can't. And so when we model that kind of behavior lack of resentment, lack of emotion around the fact that we're not always a decision maker and we help others see that I think we help society at large and I think we help our organizations have a healthier culture. Actually, I don't think it, I know it. Number three reduce the size of your world. Oh my gosh. If you've listened to this podcast on a regular basis, you know that I'm a huge advocate of this. Again, it goes back to the best example I can use for you or give you. It goes back to the pandemic and when the pandemic was happening and I was watching the effect of shutdowns and lockdowns and mandates and all of these things on my family. I've got four kids and and they were at various stages of life I had one that was in Australia at the time were based in Arizona. I had a high school student that wasn't going to have a graduation. I had another one that was a freshman, that that was, you know, taking online classes and crumbling, shrinking, melting in front of us, and I was angry. And all you know, in 2019, I traveled on 165 flights. In 2020, I think I flew I need to look that up I think it was like 20. And and so it profoundly affected every aspect of my life, and I know the exact same thing's true for you, and so I got angry. Right, I'm really mad, frustrated, bugged, and I'm. Then I'm, I'm consuming content with people who have agendas and people who are riling me up, who are angry, and so I just there came a point when I realized this isn't working for me and I'm not in a good place, and so what? One of the things that helped me and I'm going to get to another item, number four is connected to this item number three. Number three reduce the size of your world. What I did was I've I've reduced, I literally reduced the size of the world, and so I stopped consuming as much media, I stopped scrolling some of the feeds, I unfollowed some people, I unsubscribed a certain podcast, even though these people had my worldview, and what I became more consumed with was the world within a few miles of me, not the global world. And so how can I help my kids? How can I? Um positively affect my, my income and my career? And how can I help our organization? How can I help our clients? How can I that? That became my world, and, oh my gosh, did I feel better? Instead of trying to solve the world's problems, I was just trying to solve mine. Instead of focusing on things outside of my control, I was focused on things that were within my sphere of influence. Instead of getting angry, I got active. I've started focusing on things that I could do, and so I think this is a huge issue in society. I think our world is too connected, and I know that sounds weird. There's so many advantages, so many positive things that come from being connected, but there are some real negative things that come from it too, and so there are apps that are no longer on my phone. There are, um. There are social media accounts that you could look at. You could look up my social media account, and years ago, you would see I posted incredibly often on some of the platforms. I was very active. Now you'll see I haven't posted in years. It's intentional. I'm not scrolling those feeds anymore either, because and I'm not. I'm not saying everyone should follow my lead, I'm just telling you it really worked well for me, reducing the size of my world and becoming more concerned about, within a few miles of me and the organization that I work at, the people that I, um, that I, that I, that are my colleagues, the clients that we have, the potential clients that we have, the people in my neighborhood, my neighbors, my friends, that my kids that's what I'm, the teams that I want to follow, you know, in athletics and cheer and whatever else. And while I stay informed around the rest of the about what's going on in the rest of the world, I don't spend nearly as much time consuming content around it and I have much less emotion, uh, around it, because I realize even the people that I disagree with have agendas and are really interested in self-preservation and in their own success, and they're not as pure and as well I don't know as I might want them to be. And so I have political leanings, I have a lot of beliefs, but I'm less interested in you seeing the world the way I do anymore and I'm less concerned about government agencies or elected officials having my worldview, because I've been successful, I've made good money and I've been happy and I've had a family that's thrived. When people I agree with and people I disagree with are in power, it actually hasn't affected my life that much. And when it has, when they've made decisions that have profoundly affected our family, when they've made decisions that have profoundly affected our family, we adjust, we thrive, we figure it out and so you reduce the size of your world. You might consider that If you're really angry, if you're frustrated. I think that's one of the issues, especially with our young people. I think they're too connected to people they don't know and in their feeds come things that rile them up, that convince, that plant ideas in their minds and if you see a certain kind of message over and over and over and over and over again, it can affect you profoundly. Number four this is, as we near the end of our list actually this is the end of our list get outside of your routine. I think this is so critical. You and I debated calling it get outside your routine and or get outside like literally get outside. You know that the governor of utah, who I have so much respect for the way that he handled what's happened in the last few weeks and I'm not saying I'm not, don't read into anything that I'm saying, it's just that, um, one of the things that he said in a news conference that I listened to and actually sent a clip to our family group chat, our text thread, because I thought my kids and my now in-laws, daughter-in-law and son-in-law, I thought they would benefit from listening to this 90 second clip from a politician who sounded unlike most people on both political sides in modern times and I wanted them to hear it. But one of the things he said was to touch grass. Right, you've heard that statement. It's especially popular with, or normal, or used frequently with younger folks. I think we need to do that more. I think it profoundly affects one of the reasons that I'm so committed to working out and going to the gym and that sort of thing isn't anything else than it's. I understand it profoundly affects one of the reasons that I'm so committed to working out and going to the gym and that sort of thing isn't anything else than it's. I understand it's not touching grass literally, but in a way it is. It's getting outside of my home office or the travel routine that I have or whatever it might be, and it's being physically active and it's being in motion and it's sweating and it's it's all of that. And I think that when we get too caught up in our own routine, day after day after day after day after day, and especially when that involves being indoors I I'm sorry, I know it sounds so basic, but I actually think that there's a lot of um, that there's a lot of truth in the impact of this In your home office or your basement theater or your bedroom or your video game console or your couch and TV or whatever that routine is, or wherever it is that you can sit and veg and consume and play and be connected. I think that when we spend too many hours doing that, by the way, I think the exact same thing is true of you, those of you who are spending hour after hour after hour after hour in zoom meetings or team meetings. That's affecting you. That's affecting your, your, your ability to deliver results. It's affecting your mental health. It's affecting your emotional health. I think you've you've got to block out time on your calendar to deliver results. It's affecting your mental health. It's affecting your emotional health. I I think you've you've got to block out time on your calendar. I think those of you that lead teams. You've got to. You've got to find ways to have your team not do that as much. It's not healthy and and so, yeah, you might have three or four zoom meetings or team meetings or whatever a day, but but block out on my calendar. Today there's sections of my day blocked out to, where no one can schedule a virtual meeting with me. I'm working on projects, I'm going to, I'm working out of the home office. Today, as I'm recording this, I'll sit on my back porch for a little while with my laptop and get lots done. I'll go to the gym for a period of time instead of taking a lunch, so to speak, or you know that sort of thing. I'll go to the gym for a period of time instead of taking a lunch, so to speak, or you know that sort of thing. I'm going to go work out, I'm going to, and and there are there are appointments on my calendar that are virtual meetings that I'm going to dial into. I'm not going to actually be connected via video camera, because that is that negatively affects your health. Like, why do we have to see each other on every meeting? Why do we have to be locked into staring at a screen over and over and over again. Why don't you, as the leader, have on some of these meetings, say you know what, on this one every other week, we're just going to dial in, we're not going to connect via camera and let people walk around, let them sit on their back porch, let them sip a cup of coffee while they're in the call. Let them, you know, do whatever they do, or you know, drink their their um, what do you call that's their stanley, their water or whatever, sitting in their wherever um, let them whatever it needs to be, that that get outside of your routine, touch grass, get moving. So the four things that I think and I know these sound fairly elementary, fairly basic, but I think there are things that we can model, that we can do as leaders that will affect our mental, emotional health and that can profoundly affect those around us and maybe, in some small way, help contribute to a healthier environment that our team, that the people in our organization live in. Number one, allow space for other people's opinions. They've had different experiences in life. They hold different beliefs. Yours aren't right, theirs aren't right. Right, it's just, it's based on what you know, and so your worldview isn't right. It's based on what you know and so your worldview isn't right. There are flaws in it and theirs isn't either. You're just doing the best you can assume positive intent and other people. They're just trying to survive and thrive. There are exceptions. There are people out there that are way off the you know that are, that are not great and and and we're not gonna, I'm not gonna concern myself with that, so allow space for other opinions. Number two realize you aren't the decision maker. There are more decisions you don't get to make in the world, in life, in the organization, than decisions you do get to make. That just accept it, come to that, come to terms with it. It's okay. Number three reduce the size of your world. Number four get outside your routine, touch grass. That's what's on my mind in this episode of the Lead in 30 podcast.