When Everything Hits At Once

Over the weekend, a tornado hit Steve's neighborhood. The wind whipped up trees, landing them on homes, businesses, across roads and powerlines. As a result of the storm, Steve and his wife were without power for hours. All their frozen foods melted onto the floor. He kept connected by recharging his beloved iPhone via a car charger. Thankfully, no one was injured and the Red Cross arrived on the scene to help the people worst hit by the storms. 

Sometime during that time, I direct messaged Steve on Twitter to congratulate him about winning Kevin Eikenberry's Best Blogs of 2009 Contest. His response: typical, humble Steve. "Ugh... did I win?" In the midst of the storm, the contest hadn't even crossed Steve's mind. 

How does a leader respond when stressful events blow in unexpectedly? He deals with what is most immediate and pressing, out of necessity. Even when there is a cause for celebration, he stays focused on addressing the issues most critical at the moment. 

If you have missed Steve around Twitter today and noted the absence of a new blog post here at All Things Workplace, you are not alone. One of the reasons that Steve has the best leadership blog around is because he consistently delivers excellent content that we can immediately apply to our lives and work. I know that each morning, I can count on Steve's smile popping up on my TweetDeck, and a link to his latest post. He is as dependable as the Chicago Tribune on my front porch.

Steve looks forward to being back in the swing of things later this week. In the meantime, he asked me to express his sincere thanks to you for all your support in The Best Leadership Blogs contest. Your votes earned him the coveted award for the second year in a row. As soon as the debris is cleared away and he has a new (stainless steel) refrigerator happily humming in his kitchen, he'll be back to celebrate with us. Be sure to congratulate him here so he has plenty of happy thoughts to welcome him on his return.

Guest post by Becky Robinson, Steve's official girl-fan and blogger for Mountain State University's LeaderTalk.

Comments

[Jo Jordan]

Oh,dear. Sorry Steve and thanks Becky for letting us know.

[Subbu]

Thanks, Becky, for the update. Glad that Steve and family are alright and will be back in action soon.

[Jackie Cameron]

Becky - Steve's fan-girl. what an accolade!

Sorry to hear things have been so tough for you Steve and looking forward to seeing you back up and running very soon

[Becky Robinson]

Steve started the fan-girl thing when he said he was Mary Jo's fanboy. Maybe the terms will catch on.
Thanks Jackie,Subbu, and Jo: thanks for helping me welcome Steve back so warmly.

[Mike Henry Sr.]

Steve, congratulations on the award but like so many other things, we get to take the bad with the good. I wish you the best. You truly do have a great leadership blog. Thanks for providing your thoughts and content. I'm a fan.

[Stephen Gill]

Steve, that's quite a social network you have! Even when a tornado takes you out, your "fans" step up to keep you going. It's like your blog has a life of its own.

Congratulations on your "best blog" award and hope you are back in business soon.

[Beth Robinson]

That bums that you got affected by the tornado, Steve. I'm glad it wasn't worse than just losing power. We were cheerfully driving home up the only slightly cloudy 95 that afternoon, idly wondering why 76 was closed...