Hi, Joe.
I’m not sure if you address questions like this, but I’ll try anyway. I am the CEO of a small company and I’m noticing that with all the political and economic turbulence, the effects of the pandemic and many people choosing to find jobs where they can work from home, or just retire, it’s getting harder to keep things going and keep my staff motivated. Any suggestions?
Fatigued
Hey, Fatigued.
Of course this is a question I can address; thanks for asking it. In fact, this recently came up with a coaching client of mine, a CEO of a local affiliate of a national organization. She brought in The Weston Network to work with her and her executive team over a six-month period on our Resilient Power Leadership program. We both expressed some level of concern that as we look to the immediate future, we see a continuation of the uncertainty and volatility that we have experienced the last couple of years with the pandemic.
I commended her on following her intuition to embark on a training like this as a way to be prepared for the myriad unknowns. It was her vision to create an executive team that cultivated more cohesion, accountability, trust, care and support for one another, as well as personal and group autonomy. I then shared with her an image that I’ve used for years that seems to be taking on a deeper implication at this time: When designing a skyscraper, architects will make sure the structure of the building has enough resilience so that it can sway with the wind patterns at that height. Without this compensation for the turbulence, the structure will snap.
These are the discussions I am having with the leaders I am currently coaching. What will it take to create the optimal structure for your organization so, like a skyscraper, it will withstand even the most challenging turbulence? How urgent is it for you to implement strategies that will upgrade the skill set and internal team building that guarantees an enhancement of the company’s resilience? For me, resilience does not mean suffering or enduring. When we are truly resilient, we are present, connected, maintaining a steady balance, as well as feeling confident to flow with challenges as they arise. We have vitality, stability and clarity, and we can tap into our creative problem-solving.
The design starts with embracing what many organizations worldwide are stepping into – shifting from a rigid, hierarchical leadership approach (where everything flows to and from the leader) to a more fluid, circular leadership approach. In other words, while still maintaining control of the direction and workings of the organization, finding ways to bring in more voices, get more input, get more buy-in from staff, and empower your executive team to creatively lead with more authority and autonomy.
Once this process has begun, the next step includes strengthening and upgrading the internal structure of the executive team – to continue the skyscraper metaphor, that means reinforcing your foundation and scaffolding so you can trust them with creatively adapting to an ever-changing world. That includes upgrading skills for approaching difficult conversations and holding each other accountable, in order to increase trust and safety. From here, the executive team repeats the same process with their department or team, creating more organization-wide cohesion, trustworthy structures and resilience.
By finding ways to empower each individual in combination with strengthening the relationships with each member of your team, you should be able to shift some of your attention away from the internal day-to-day tasks. You will see more time and energy focusing on your vision and on the organization’s increased impact with the community at large and other stakeholders. Taking on more of a visionary role, you will be well positioned to offer the support and strength needed by your staff, and maybe even your community, in times of challenge, offering hope and direction while navigating the unknown.
While this is an abstract offering, Fatigued, I hope it helps you think in a way that activates some creativity. The bottom line is that while none of us on our own have the power to hold back the current unknowns and challenges, where we do have power is preparing ourselves in the most time- and cost-efficient way with a plan to increase both personal and group resilience – remaining vital, clear and grounded, and deepening and trusting the integrity of our connections and relationships.
How are you getting ready for the possible effects of our ongoing economic unpredictability, social unrest, and increases in resignations and retirements? What are you doing to strengthen the internal structure of your organization? How are you encouraging or guiding your staff to cultivate resilience? These are the questions I would offer to any leader looking ahead to the next few years. Those who take the time now to build resilience and strong bonds based on safety and trust will be the ones who not only survive, but thrive.
While spending time reinforcing your foundation, keep aiming high,
Joe
Learn more about Joe Weston and his work here. Make sure to c heck out Joe’s bestselling book Fierce Civility: Transforming our Global Culture from Polarization to Lasting Peace, published March 2023.
To Ask Joe, please submit questions to: AskJoe@Fulcrum.us.
A golden tray sits on the Resolute Desk as President Donald Trump speaks during an announcement on American nuclear innovation in the Oval Office at the White House on July 24, 2026, in Washington, D.C. Trump is signing multiple executive orders targeting the nuclear energy sector and easing rules for new reactors and nuclear fuel supply chains.
Trump’s hubris rivals the fallen heroes of ancient Greek mythology
In January, the New York Times asked President Donald Trump if there were any limits on his global powers.
“Yeah,” the president responded, “there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”
That was eight months ago, but fortunately Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster adaptation of “The Odyssey” has made ancient Greek literature newly relevant. Before that window closes, I’d like to talk about hubris.
Today, the term mostly means excessive pride or arrogance. That’s part of what the Greeks meant by it too, but the meaning was a bit richer and more specific. Hubris was an insolent or outrageous act that offended the gods, often because the transgressor was claiming abilities or authorities that solely belonged to supreme beings.
Nolan renamed and slightly modified the concept of xenia for the film, calling it “Zeus’ law.” In the director’s telling, mortals should follow the rules laid out by the gods, specifically the requirement to treat strangers with respect lest they be gods in disguise.
In a sense, hubris is the opposite, or at least the rejection, of xenia. The hubris of the suitors, and at times Odysseus himself, invites punishment by the gods and their mortal instruments.
Which brings me back to Donald Trump. His claim that there are no constraints on his personal power to dictate events on the global stage was one of the greatest expressions of hubris ever uttered by a political leader.
Trump’s claim was obviously false when he made it.
He vowed that he could end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours. He’s proved powerless to make that happen. If he had divine powers to work his will, why would he have balked at implementing his tariffs so often that Wall Street adopted the “TACO trade” term for his deals? “TACO” stands for “Trump always chickens out.”
And why would Trump have made so many embarrassing concessions to China — from rescinding tariffs on Chinese goods to allowing them to buy crucial and incredibly valuable computer chips?
But Trump saw his success at capturing Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro as proof of his ability to launch missiles to the same effect as Zeus’ lightning bolts. Trump believed he was the most powerful man who ever lived.
This is no exaggeration. In March, when the Iran invasion seemed successful, Trump gave a document penned by“Presidential Historian David King” to New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan purporting to prove that Trump was “the most powerful person to have EVER walked this planet.” King was, in fact, a businessman and occasional caddy for legendary golfer Gary Player.
King compared Trump favorably to many of history’s most powerful, and often heinous, figures: Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun, William the Conqueror, Napoleon Bonaparte, Joseph Stalin, Genghis Khan, Mao Tse Tung, Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin. Many of these men thought they were the most powerful person in the world, too. And many were defeated precisely because they believed it.
At least Napoleon and Hitler had a string of truly impressive victories before they learned the folly of hubris. The limits on Trump’s power have been exposed by far less august forces than the combined might of the allies in World War II or the fearsome Russian winter.
Iran is a comparatively middling power. But the regime’s ability to absorb punishment while imposing its will on the Strait of Hormuz has proved to be a greater constraint on Trump’s power than his morality or mind. We should note that, at least rhetorically, his morality has not proved much of a constraint. He has repeatedly promised to destroy Iranian “civilization” if the regime refuses to capitulate.
But they haven’t — and won’t anytime soon — because the regime’s tolerance for pain far outstrips Trump’s. The combined fear of skyrocketing oil prices, outrage of Gulf state potentates, diminishing weapon supplies and domestic unpopularity is doing the work that international law, congressional oversight and the collective opinion of foreign policy experts can’t or won’t do.
If I considered Trump more heroic than reason and facts could allow, I would say his Sisyphean predicament has the whiff of Greek tragedy to it. Trump is vexed by the fact that the Iranians won’t honor deals or ratify his countless premature claims of victory — giving new meaning to his vow that his presidency would make people tired of winning. It’s almost like they’re out-Trumping Trump.
Things might have gone better if he’d heeded that great Greek tragedian Sophocles: “For Zeus utterly abhors the boasts of a proud tongue.”
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Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief of The Dispatch and the host of The Remnant podcast. His Twitter handle is @JonahDispatch.