Ever feel like your team is living inside a 24-hour breaking news cycle? We’ve been there—where every email, rumor, or policy tweak turns into a fire drill and the loudest voice sets the tone. Today we unpack a simple shift that changes everything: stop breaking glass, and start to breathe and elevate. It’s not about dialing down ambition; it’s about dialing down drama so urgency becomes productive, not performative.

We talk through how media-style panic hijacks leadership judgment and why a smaller, saner information diet actually boosts performance. Then we get practical. Breathe means pause on purpose—step away, regulate, and buy time so your brain can think instead of react. Elevate means zoom out—expand the time horizon, define the real problem, and map options you can’t see when you’re nose-to-glass with the issue. With that reset, you can run two clocks: stabilize quickly on the surface while you work the root under the hood.

Along the way, we share how calm leaders set culture by how they react. Label levels of urgency so not everything becomes a five-alarm. Swap gossip loops for clear ownership and timelines. Use simple, steady language—what changed, what we know, what’s next—to lower heart rates and raise signal. If your org values constant alarms, it might cap your growth; the market increasingly rewards leaders who deliver under pressure without turning every update into a spectacle.

If you’re ready to build trust, retain talent, and make sharper calls when things go sideways, this conversation will be your toolkit. Share it with a colleague who keeps the figurative hammer within reach, and try the breathe and elevate practice on your next “emergency.” Subscribe, leave a quick review, and tell us: what helps you zoom out when the heat rises?

--
Visit the Lone Rock Leadership Website:
https://www.lonerock.io

Connect with me on LinkedIn or to send me a DM:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/russleads/

Tap here to check out my first book, Decide to Lead, on Amazon. Thank you so much to the thousands of you who have already purchased it for yourself or your company!

--
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!