Your clients hire you for your cool head — here’s how to keep it when everything’s on fire.
Leadership isn’t about being unshakable. It’s about learning how to weather the storm without becoming the storm. And that, I’ve learned, starts from within.
If you’re in the event industry, you know the pressure — last-minute client requests, missing inventory before a major event, venue delays, and inevitable team miscommunications. Any of these will spike your stress levels, but left unregulated, these daily fires will eventually lead to burnout.
Burnout isn’t just about working too much. It’s emotional exhaustion, mental fatigue, and a growing sense of disconnection from your work. In this state, frustration replaces clarity, and reactions become knee-jerk instead of intentional.
- Instead of adapting to a last-minute client request, you lash out at your team or partner with misdirected frustration.
- Instead of holding your team accountable to SOPs on a tight deadline, you let things slide, and inventory goes missing.
- Instead of approaching team miscommunications with curiosity, you engage in the blame game.
Now imagine moving through a day of client, vendor, and team snafus without unraveling, ending the day without feeling like you want to pull your hair out or hide under a blanket.
You absolutely have it within you to operate that way! And while a quick newsletter, a few podcast recommendations, or a book won’t transform you overnight (though you can get started on those below), it’s a step in your practice toward creating and maintaining emotional regulation.
One tactical tip that has helped me: When a situation starts to spiral, pause and ask, “Is what I’m observing based on facts or feelings?”
This simple question grounds me, preventing assumptions from taking over. It’s shifted me from a default of defensiveness and frustration to leading with curiosity and levelheadedness. More often than not, what my lizard brain tries to convince me of isn’t actually true.
Becoming an emotionally regulated leader isn’t about suppressing emotions — it’s about managing them so you don’t absorb your team’s struggles, but instead guide them through challenges with steadiness and clarity.
What helps you stay resilient as a leader?
See you next Tuesday,
Mallory Mullen
Goodshuffle
