Interim Leadership and Giftedness: A Balancing Act with a Smile
Managing Chaos, Spotting Patterns, and Staying Sane in a Shifting Business World
Interim leadership is a curious beast. It requires a unique blend of rapid decision-making, adaptability, and, often, a sense of humor to keep things afloat. Especially when you’re gifted with an uncanny ability to spot patterns, the whole process can sometimes feel like a game of business chess—except the pieces are moving by themselves and the board keeps changing shape.
Imagine stepping into an interim role, not just to manage projects but to decode the unspoken dynamics and get everyone on the same page. It’s like being a translator for an organization that speaks in emojis and corporate jargon. Your gift allows you to pick up on the invisible threads that weave through the team, but it also means you’re hyper-aware of every little awkward moment in a meeting. And yes, sometimes, the best response is just to laugh at how absurd everything seems.
Trusting the process, trusting the people, and trusting that things will eventually fall into place—after a few “oops” moments—becomes the name of the game. As leaders, we’re here to guide, but let’s be real: it’s not all smooth sailing. The chaos is inevitable. The question is, how do we stay centered amidst the whirlwind?
Maybe the trick is realizing that when things go sideways, it’s just life’s way of showing us a different perspective. And if you’re lucky, it might even lead to a few chapters in a potential book titled “Interim Leadership: When Chaos Meets Clarity (and Coffee)”.
So, how about it? Shall we make it a trilogy?
Cheers,
Ron
I'd love to see a book on that 😁
When writing the book, please include a chapter about why interim is necessary. When humans create a business or enterprise, isn't their first official act to write the exit plan, the will, and funeral instructions? Perhaps the second act is to write the growth plan and succession plan. If the business intends to grow and live past the founder, what is the path for that? In my years of observing national organizations that hire interim CEOs or interim executive directors, the situation was one big set of decisions delayed and continuation of traits that caused dysfunction and the exit of the leader.