Is probably the most accurate word to describe the room.
Last Friday, Brad Wilson, CEO Emeritus of Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC, joined me for a fireside chat “From Volatility to Civility: When Politics Enters the Office” at the Magnificent Leadership Annual Event.
This subject came up at last year’s event, with leaders expressing that they were increasingly asked to weigh in on politics and world events.
In August, a WSJ article reported that CEOs were wrestling with it.
And then I saw that SHRM put out a Civility Kit earlier this year.
It seemed time to dive in, and I could think of no better leader with whom to do it.
Audience members asked questions they dared not raise elsewhere.
One person said it restored their faith in what leadership can be.
Another commented that it made them that much more grateful for their CEO.
I’m still digesting our discussion, it was so rich.
But I want to pass along a few of the lessons I’ve drawn:
- Civility is an essential bedrock, a foundation, on which organizations must rest. In addition to the atmosphere it creates, civility enables the dissent and contrasting opinion that are the lifeblood of thriving, competitive companies.
- I was reconnected with my belief that great leadership has the power to elevate everything – and everyone – it touches, to call forth what is best in us.
- Civility is modeled, like all leadership, and that behavior is the standard to which others rise.