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Fast Company
6 minutes ago
- Fast Company
No distractions, just action: Leading with clarity in uncertain times
When I was 14 years old, I was the squad leader on a 9th-grade camping trip. It rained the whole time, which meant we weren't just wet and cold; we were also pretty stressed. We cooked our meals over a fire, so I coped with the stress the best way I knew how: chopping wood. Correction: chopping a lot of wood. My dad had taught me and I enjoyed the tangible physicality of the act. I spent hours chopping log after log so the group could eat a warm meal. I felt proud to serve my squad in a meaningful way. But soon I developed blisters, which eventually got so bad that I couldn't hold the axe any longer. I went to the teachers' cabin for first aid, and when I returned, I wasn't sure what to do with myself. I'd fixated on chopping wood as my contribution; my way of showing strength and responsibility to my squad. Without that, who was I as squad leader? Unable to fall back on chopping wood, I had to find another way to lead. So I helped set up a tarp, cooked meals, and supported the team in quieter ways. And I taught them how to chop wood. Subscribe to the Daily newsletter. Fast Company's trending stories delivered to you every day Privacy Policy | Fast Company Newsletters Decades later, I still think about this trip frequently—this year more than most. During a year of great economic, political, and cultural upheaval, I find myself looking down at my palms often, the memory of those hard-earned blisters echoing in the tough calluses that formed there. They remind me of the invaluable lesson I learned that damp, chilly day after returning to camp: There is strength in doing hard things, and there is strength in being vulnerable and leaning on others. If you're a leader, you've likely earned your share of 'blisters and calluses' navigating recent years. It's clear we won't lead by having all the answers. Instead, we'll guide our teams by staying focused and relying on one another. Here's what's helping me navigate 2025: STAY FOCUSED ON THE WORK When political tensions rise or the headlines create whiplash, we return to what remains clear: our purpose. My company, 1% for the Planet, exists to ensure our planet and future generations thrive. That hasn't changed, and it's our responsibility to keep it front and center every day. Because we've taken the time to lock in our purpose, vision, and values—and because we built a strong strategic plan for 2025—we don't need to reassess. We need to stay the course. Our model and strategy are built to thrive in times like this. But what if yours aren't? What if you set up camp intending to cook over wood, but find the logs have been drenched by unexpected rain? Then it's time to reorient. Figuring out a way to fuel your team becomes the priority. Get creative, find some camp stoves, and keep everyone fed. One of the great gifts of purpose clarity is that it makes hard decisions easier. You don't have to second-guess. You just have to keep going. SPEAK OFTEN AND OPENLY WITH YOUR TEAM advertisement It is easier to keep a team focused and energized when they feel confident in the plan and how they contribute to it. However, a recent report by Axios HQ found that while 27% of leaders believe their employees are well-aligned with org-wide goals, only 9% of employees agree. Both numbers are low, but the staggering gulf between them speaks volumes about the common communication gaps between leaders and their teams. I suspect this gulf persists because closing it is challenging in a particular way: you have to be open with your team, even when the chips are down and especially when you have stumbled. How do I know this? Because I've learned this lesson the hard way in my decade-plus at the helm of 1% for the Planet. Last year, I made some missteps in leadership, which my team quickly identified in our quarterly survey. Thanks to past experience and great coaching, I knew I needed to address their feedback head-on. I directly addressed their concerns, taking responsibility for my mistakes, and then shared our learnings and changes in all-staff meetings. This transparent approach established a foundation of trust, resulting in greater strategic and operational clarity for our team. LEAN ON ONE ANOTHER As leaders, we continually walk a fine line between taking decisive action and delegating effectively. Our teams need both and my experience is that it's an ongoing, daily process of discerning what is called for. Something that's clear time and again is that we lead better—particularly in uncertain, dynamic environments—when we acknowledge that our singular perspective is inherently limiting, and proactively tap into the vantage points of others. MAKE BUSINESS DECISIONS WITH THE FUTURE IN MIND Uncertainty is the rule, not the exception. That's why it's so important to make decisions that can withstand cultural and political volatility, rather than just reacting to the moment. For companies deeply rooted in their values, making purpose-aligned decisions over trend-driven ones becomes intuitive. I'm inspired by 1% for the Planet members who integrate environmental responsibility into their core business, not as a trend, but as a strategic move to future-proof their operations. This demonstrates the courage leaders need today: to think long-term, stay focused, and adapt without losing their center. I'm a long way from having it all figured out (and I'm fairly certain none of us ever will). However, one of the unexpected gifts of leading through uncertainty is that it teaches us how to learn, grow, and become stronger. The challenges shape us. And if we're lucky, they leave us with the kind of calluses that remind us what we're capable of.
CNN
37 minutes ago
- CNN
‘Wine shuts down': Nobody wants that at a party
There's enough culinary stress as it is hosting a dinner party. Getting worked up about wine is unnecessary, some sommeliers say, but there's no denying that a perfect wine pairing can accentuate the taste and tone of your soirée. A misstep or two, and the night's notes could turn sour. But these easy steps will help ease wine anxiety and make the evening's tasting experience more enjoyable. Bobby Stuckey, a master sommelier and co-founder of Colorado's Frasca Hospitality Group, says the biggest mistake hosts make when serving wine is they don't taste it before pouring it for guests. 'You're hosting, you're busy making sure everyone's comfortable, and you just open a bottle of wine and pour it,' explains Stuckey. 'It doesn't matter if it's $1,000 bottle or a $20 bottle, there is a chance it has this cork taint. You just want to smell and taste the wine.' A wine with cork taint, commonly referred to as being 'corked,' often has a wet-cardboard or moldy aroma and could taste bitter or stale. The taint is caused when a chemical compound, 2,4,6-Trichloroanisole (TCA), interacts with bacteria or fungi in the wine bottle's cork. Carlin Karr, director of wine and beverage at Stuckey's restaurants — including Michelin-starred and James Beard Award-winning Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder — believes roughly 1 in 10 wine bottles are off in taste, or corked. 'Taste each bottle before your guests arrive,' says Karr. 'Make sure every bottle tastes perfect for your guests and that the wine is at the perfect temperature for your guests when they arrive.' Karr and Stuckey both agree that wines aren't being served at their optimal temperatures at dinner parties. They say white wines are being served too cold, while more full-bodied reds are being poured too warm. 'You want that white to be expressive,' says Stuckey. 'If it's too cold, if it's almost freezing, like, it's going to really tighten up. The wine shuts down. Let that come closer to the red wine temperature.' Conversely, they say, red wines should be served at a temperature closer to the temperature they're stored in a wine cellar. Karr says 60 degrees Fahrenheit is roughly the ideal temperature to drink most wines. Karr also describes red wine as having an 'arc of enjoyment.' When a bottle of red wine is opened, it begins its climb to peak taste as it's exposed to more oxygen. 'Wine is alive. You have to think of it like a living, breathing thing,' explains Karr. But, she says, it will reach its summit, and then quickly reach a downslope if it gets too warm and begins oxidizing from sitting out too long. 'One of the biggest errors that people make with wine at home is they over-decant red wine, or they decant wine way too early, especially with older red wines,' she says, referring to the moment when wine is poured from one container into another — typically from the bottle into a carafe. 'What ends up happening is that older red wine, or even like maybe a 10-year-old red wine, is sitting in this big decanter for hours. 'It actually gets too much air and so it kind of dies in the decanter, and by the time it goes into the glass when you're enjoying it with guests, it's kind of gone.' She says the ideal time to open a bottle of red wine is just as food is being plated in the kitchen. 'You want to have it right before you're putting the food on the table,' she says. 'If I'm cooking all the food, I task my husband with decanting the wine. And so while I'm serving up the food, he's doing that.' And, she adds, if hosts have larger-bowled Burgundy wine glasses, those work exactly like a decanter. The best way to make your wine-hosting duties easier, according to Stuckey and Karr, is to give your guests one glass for all the various wines you're serving. 'Don't overthink it,' says Stuckey. 'Give everyone one glass. If they're going white, red, back to white … just have one glass. 'Once there's wine in that glass, it's ready to be used to drink. We say that it's 'been prepared.' Don't make your life too complex by trying to have an extra glass for each wine.' Karr agrees. 'Let everyone just drink out of one glass. They'll be fine, and you don't need to rinse with water in between. Wine is the perfect rinse.' And her last hosting suggestion: drink more Champagne. 'Welcome everyone with Champagne,' she says. 'Give them a glass of bubbles. It is the perfect thing to excite the palate.'
Forbes
37 minutes ago
- Forbes
3 Ways To Make Your Day ‘Emotionally Nourishing' — By A Psychologist
Sometimes we need to go beyond scheduling and to-do lists, to look at how we can shape a day that's ... More actually fulfilling for us. Here's how to have an emotionally nourishing day. At the end of the day, you may have completed every task on your agenda, including answering emails, meeting your step goal, even remembering to water the plants. Yet, as the day comes to a close, you feel a strange hollowness. This quiet dissatisfaction is a common experience. Despite staying busy and productive, many of us end the day feeling emotionally undernourished. That's because productivity and emotional fulfillment are not the same. Efficiency may keep life moving, but it doesn't necessarily make it feel meaningful. To understand what contributes to a more fulfilling day, consider turning to a well-established psychological framework: Self-Determination Theory. According to research on Self Determination Theory, human well-being depends on the satisfaction of three fundamental psychological needs: When these needs are unmet, even the most efficient day can feel emotionally empty. Here are three science backed ways to design your day for emotional nourishment, not just output. 1. Protect A Pocket Of Autonomy It's not surprising that caregivers, parents and those navigating demanding jobs or juggling multiple roles often find it hard to feel good on days when they don't get to choose anything for themselves. Most hours are pre-assigned before the day even begins. But research shows that how much freedom you feel in those hours matters far more than what you're doing with them. A 2020 study published in The Journal of Positive Psychology found that moment-to-moment feelings of autonomy, that is, having a sense of choice and personal agency, were the strongest predictor of emotional well-being, more so than the activity taking place (work, rest or play). When people felt even moderate levels of autonomy, their mood, engagement and sense of meaning significantly increased. That boost, however, plateaued at high levels of autonomy, suggesting that you don't need total freedom. All you need is just enough to feel like you're participating in your day and not passively moving through it. So, even within a tightly scheduled routine, carving out a pocket of choice can have outsized emotional benefits. Try this: When we don't exercise choice, even in small ways, we begin to lose a sense of authorship over our lives. Autonomy is what helps us feel like we're living it up. And that feeling of intentional participation is the real fuel behind meaning, motivation and emotional nourishment. 2. Create A Micro-Moment Of Mastery Many people have a hunger for success. But what we often overlook is that the most meaningful sense of achievement comes from the littlest signs of self-efficacy rather than an objectively grand milestone. In reality, competence is lived out in the small, everyday acts of doing well. And this 'quality-in-doing' is not just about skill. It's actually more about meaning, reflection and the small feelings that we are becoming more of ourselves through action. A cross-disciplinary study of competence highlights this beautifully. Drawing from the work of Dewey, Vygotsky and Bourdieu, the research shows that competence emerges from our ongoing, culturally embedded interactions with our environment. It's not simply 'knowing how,' but also 'knowing why' we act. It's a deeply reflective, identity-shaping process. This means even the smallest act, done with presence and purpose, can lead to monumental growth. So, next time you do the following, take this as a step towards building the muscle of 'becoming,' strengthening the reflexive loop between action and identity: Remember, competence isn't about perfection. It's about creating a felt sense of 'I can.' And when you feel even a little capable in your world, you become more grounded in yourself. That's the essence of emotional nourishment. Feeling effective on your own terms. 3. Seek Out A Moment Of Meaningful Connection You can text 30 people from your contact list and still feel completely alone. Do you know why? Because relatedness doesn't depend on frequency or scale. It depends on presence. Even a simple meaningful interaction that makes you feel seen, safe and sincere, can emotionally rehydrate an otherwise dry day. And it's impact is biological. A 2019 study of over half a million adults found that social isolation was strongly associated with a higher risk of death across race and sex. The most isolated participants faced a risk of dying from all causes roughly two times higher than the least isolated. The absence of real connection had a particularly significant impact on cardiovascular health, outweighing even the influence of different lifestyle activities. In other words, your body registers disconnection as danger. In such cases, even brief, genuine moments of relatedness can regulate your nervous system, improve emotional well-being and protect your long-term health. So, choose for yourself what you want your connections to look like. To make them more meaningful, try your hand at one of these behaviors: When you offer that presence to someone else, it goes both ways. It nourishes the giver as well as the receiver. These subtle moments of connection may do more than lift your mood; they might actually extend your life. A nourishing day may look uneventful on paper. But deep inside, it's extremely rich. Are you feeling fulfilled in ways that are regulated and emotionally sustainable? Take the science-backed Flourishing Measure to find out.
