When a crisis hits — a business scandal, a public failure, a sudden collapse of trust — the first instinct is to react. That instinct is almost always wrong.
Five things that actually help:
- Don’t react immediately. Don’t comment, defend, or explain. Not yet. Silence is not defeat — it is space.
- Observe without judgment. Watch the situation unfold calmly before deciding how to respond.
- Find a trusted person. Share the facts with someone you trust — without defensiveness, without spin.
- Step away briefly. Travel. Rest. Do something completely different. Perspective requires distance.
- Recognize the hidden gift. Being criticized means you’ve accomplished something worth criticizing. Only invisible people are never challenged.
Based on the teachings of Michael Roach and Hồng Phương Lan.