Leadership Insights from a Blender Disaster

Mar 5

Illustration of a spinach smoothie spill

I’m in my office and a text notification from my wife appears,

Image of a Text Message that reads "Help"

I run upstairs. She’s looking at the blender trying to make sense of what just happened. Spinach smoothie is all over the counter, the walls, everywhere—including all over her clothes.

What would you do to support her ? Not sure if it’s the right response but I laugh—quite heartily.

One little mix up in the procedure—pressing start before placing the lid on the blender, results in a 40 minute clean up job.

Later in the day I say,

"Thanks again for making smoothies and that was really unfortunate and probably not the best way to start your day."

She says,

"Maybe. As I was cleaning up, I thought to myself, ‘If this is the worst thing that happens to me today, I’ve got a pretty charmed life.’ I’ve been through a lot worse than that mess and there are a lot of people dealing with much more serious issues than my smoothie adventure. I was actually grateful and counting my blessings."

"Wow. That’s impressive Hon."

Seriously, to take this perspective in the heat of the moment—impressive. That’s why she’s my Queen !

Think about it. When things go sideways, it is so easy to play the attention seeking victim card, catastrophize the situation, or blow it out of proportion. Any of these responses lead you down the roads of self pity, blame and judgement—believe me, I know from first hand experience. Bottom line, you fail to show up as the inspiring leader you are meant to be.

Pause for a sec—what is your most recent green smoothie moment when things did not go your way ? How did you respond—were you your best self ?

While it’s not easy, inspiring leaders find the good in challenging situations—just like my Queen in her recent experience. So if you can follow her lead by having the self-awareness to actually count your blessings in the heat of the chaos, it will serve you well—very, very well I believe.

One fact I know for certain, you have more green smoothie moments coming. The question is, are you ready to respond as an inspiring leader ?