Leading a team when everything feels heavy

Which these days, is often.

Photo by Kristina Tripkovic on Unsplash

Product people are constantly driving toward launches, navigating the relentless push to ship.

You’ve probably been there: mid-sprint, nearing launch, and then—something happens.

A bad election outcome.

A war breaking out.

Fires devastating LA.

We exist in a world and a news cycle that never lets up. Your team doesn’t operate in a vacuum. And, when it’s not global crises, it’s personal struggles—illness, loss, grief, etc.

The fact that your team manages to align and launch amidst it all can feel nothing short of miraculous.

But what happens when the weight of the world crashes into your inbox, floods your social feeds, and infiltrates your Slack channels—right when you’re up against a deadline? How do you lead through that?

You start by making space.

Simply acknowledging the weight of what’s happening, goes a long way.

Yesterday, my dear friend—now a prolific Substack writer—shared some profound wisdom. And, it got me thinking about how much we need more of this in the workplace. I want to highlight her advice here:

“As we collectively shift into problem-solving mode, I feel compelled to pause and acknowledge the weight of this event. A horrible thing has happened. If a victim of one of the fires wants to tell you every detail about the house they spent years—perhaps decades—building, let them. If someone wants to say nothing and simply sit in silence, that’s a perfectly valid response too. If they want to laugh, that’s a beautiful way forward. Anything goes really.

For those wondering what to say, consider: “While I may not know this grief specifically, I will help you carry it.”

Tragedy is made easier by knowing you don’t have to move forward alone.”

In deeply challenging times, people look to their leaders¹ for steadiness and above all else, humanity.

In improv, one of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned is that calling out discrepancies in a scene—something you know the audience is already noticing—can lead to stronger connection. For example, if you start a scene in a kitchen and suddenly you’re driving a car, a line like, “Weren’t we just in the kitchen?” lands because it acknowledges what the audience is thinking. It plays to their intelligence. And as a result, solidifies the connection between performer and audience. There’s a humanity in it.

The same principle applies in leadership. Calling out the discrepancies—or in this case, the tragedies—rather than pretending everything is business as usual creates a deeper connection with your team.

And, above all else, it makes you more human.

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Hi - I’m Jori and I’m a Product Coach.

If you’re looking for support - drop me a note, I’d love to connect. 🤝

I co-host Product Leadership Breakfast NYC, a monthly product breakfast series to bring together curated groups of PM leaders to connect over casual breakfast. If you live in NYC or find yourself passing through, join us! ☕

1. Which often falls on the PMs who are often driving projects towards launch. Influencing without authority, as always.