When things go sideways, everyone looks at the captain. Choose your face before you need it.

In a bad moment people do not listen first, they look. Whoever is nominally in charge sets the room’s temperature in about two seconds, before anyone has said a useful word. You cannot decide how to look while you are also absorbing the news. So it gets decided in advance, or it gets decided by adrenaline.

Think now about how you want to be when something falls apart, and keep it simple: steady voice, one question, then the next step. Practice it on small problems so it is available for a big one.