When the group chat catches fire, the leader isn’t the one with the best roast. It’s the one who suggests a call.
LEADERSHIP
WHAT THIS MEANS
Text strips out tone, so a disagreement in a group chat escalates on its own, with each person reading the worst version of the last message. Whoever wins the exchange usually makes it worse, because the goal has quietly shifted from resolving to scoring. Moving it somewhere with voices in it changes the physics.
When a thread starts heating up, resist the reply you have already drafted in your head. Suggest a call or a walk instead, and be willing to be the one who looks less clever. Most of what was unbearable in writing turns out to be manageable out loud.
A QUESTION TO SIT WITH
Which of your group chat arguments needed a phone call?
MORE IN LEADERSHIP & INFLUENCE
- Listen to how often you say “my team” versus “our team.” People hear the difference before you do.
- When the whole crew is hyped on a dumb idea, the bravest move is offering a better one that still sounds fun.
- Good leaders absorb the pressure from above so the team can focus below. Be the umbrella, not the drain.
Free, with nothing to buy inside it.