Dear Courageous Leaders,
I am watching something unfold in real time across executive teams right now.
The urgency is real.
The opportunity is real.
The pressure is real.
AI is accelerating timelines. Funding realities are tightening. Policy shifts ripple into programs overnight. Boards want movement. Staff are fatigued. Communities still need what they need.
Leaders in mission driven organizations are being asked to do more, faster, with deep responsibility to people.
And inside that urgency, I see something else happening.
Frames are narrowing.
Decisions are being made quickly to capitalize on emerging conditions. Leaders are aligned around the need for transformation. At the same time, they are grappling with another truth that is quieter but just as real:
The organization needs capacity to sustain the change.
And building that capacity will take time and intention.
Two truths are present.
We must move.
We must build.
When pressure rises, our ability to hold both can collapse. We slip into either or thinking. We rush to resolution to relieve tension. Disagreement can start to feel personal. A different view can feel like resistance instead of information.
I also see something more subtle.
Leaders begin labeling.
The team member who asks big picture questions and wants to connect dots becomes “not fully onboard.”
The colleague who moves quickly to structure, process, and risk becomes “resistant” or “slowing us down.”
Under pressure, complexity gets flattened into personality.
But often what looks like resistance is actually stewardship. What looks like hesitation is an attempt to widen the frame. When urgency narrows perspective, we can start misreading the very voices that would strengthen the decision.
Susan David calls the capacity to create space between experience and response “stepping out” in her work on emotional agility. In Emotional Agility, she writes that thoughts are events, not facts, and that we are more than our emotions. When we fuse with a thought or feeling, it authors our behavior. When we create distance, we reclaim agency.
Perspective is not about detachment. It is about widening the frame.
Stepping out means creating just enough space from a thought, feeling, or situation to see more clearly and choose more wisely. We make that space with gentle shifts in language, attention, and how we hold room for different views.
When speed narrows the frame, perspective restores judgment.
And this is not relativism.
Both-ness does not mean a fact and a counterclaim get equal status.
It does not mean there are two sides to harm or dehumanization.
We hold safety and dignity first.
Both-ness simply prevents one truth from going invisible in the presence of another. One truth may matter more in a given context. You can hold two truths and still choose a firm course of action. This is not compromise. It is maturity.
The work is to widen before we decide.
A Clarity Practice: Widen the View
This practice invites you to step through three distances. Notice how the same moment changes when you change vantage point.
Choose a recent leadership moment that felt heavy or reactive. A decision under pressure. A disagreement. A strategy conversation.
Label the moment in a few words.
Now move through three lenses.
Earth — Inside the Story
This is the hooked moment. The story is writing you. You are reacting rather than responding.
From here reflect on:
I am…
I am thinking…
I am about to…
Notice the language. Notice how certain it feels.
Moon — Observer Vantage
Create distance with noticing language.
From this distance:
I notice I feel…
I notice I am thinking…
From the outside I can see…
And others might be…
Language shifts from “I am” to “I notice.” This small move creates space.
Jupiter — Wider Context
Now widen further.
From this distance focus on the following:
In this context, I notice I feel…
In this context, it looks like…
One possibility is…
A working hypothesis is…
Here, perspective returns. Facts remain facts. But context expands. Systems and timelines enter the frame. Capacity becomes visible. Tradeoffs surface.
On Earth, the moment authors you.
On the Moon and Jupiter, you can hold the story and contribute to how it is told.
Leadership Translation
Before your next strategic decision, especially one moving quickly...
Pause.
Ask:
What truth am I seeing clearly?
What truth might be going invisible?
Where might I be labeling instead of listening?
From one angle, given what we know right now, it looks like…
What might it look like from the Moon? From Jupiter?
Perspective does not slow momentum. It strengthens it.
Teams that practice stepping out make more durable decisions. They make decisions that hold up under pressure. They expand psychological safety because disagreement is treated as data, not threat.
In an accelerating world, widening the frame may be one of the most important leadership capacities we cultivate.
If this reflection resonates, I would love to hear where you see pressure narrowing the frame in your own leadership. You can simply reply and share a sentence.
In our next edition, we will explore how values steady us when the path forward remains uncertain.
Clear eyes. Full hearts.
Paula
Inspired by Susan David, PhD, author of Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life and her work on defusion, perspective, and stepping out.
P.S. If you are navigating a decision and need to widen the view, I offer a complimentary Clarity and Alignment Consultation. It is simply a space to slow down, name what is here, and identify a values aligned next step.
If you would like to learn more about Ignite Personalized Leadership Coaching and how this work unfolds more deeply, click the button below. You do not have to carry it alone.
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