Stay boring in a crisis

Why this rule exists

In a crisis, your team takes its emotional cue from you before it takes anything else, and a visibly panicked manager multiplies the panic in the room. Calm is contagious, but so is alarm, and you are the loudest signal people read. Being boring, steady voice, ordinary pace, clear small steps, doesn't mean you don't feel the pressure; it means you're not spending your team's composure to vent it. The dramatic manager feels more useful in the moment and is far less useful in fact. Steadiness is the job.