Sometimes the leader’s job is to slow the excited people down long enough to check the plan.

Enthusiasm is the hardest thing to argue with, because it looks like commitment and feels like momentum. Somebody has to be willing to hold everything still for two minutes and ask the dull questions about who, when and with what, which makes that person briefly unpopular. The pause is often the entire difference between an idea and a mess.

When the room is accelerating, ask for the one check that matters rather than a general delay. Who is bringing it, what happens if it rains, whether anyone asked permission. Then get out of the way and let them go.