I’ve been floundering for what to write, trying to digest all that has happened in our country in the last week and thinking about what, if anything, we can learn with regard to leadership.

For context: In the last 7 or so days, we’ve had a consequential debate for the highest elected office in our land, remembered and memorialized one of the worst attacks in our nation’s history, witnessed schools forced to close in response to bomb threats in a town in Ohio, and saw another apparent attempt on a former president’s life.

Every time I sat down to write, I didn’t know where to begin.

And then, yesterday, which happened to be Voter Registration Day, I briefly tuned in to Andrew Huberman’s podcast to find Esther Perel, the esteemed psychoanalyst, talking about our romantic relationships: “Curiosity is one of the top words for me because it stands in opposition to reactivity.”

There it was.

An apt description for where we find ourselves as a nation.

Reactive.

Intransigent.

And light on curiosity and discernment.

In business leadership, we recognize that survival is predicated on bringing our best thinking to our biggest challenges.

So, perhaps it’s a business lesson this time that we can apply to our national life and ourselves as citizens.