When we would take family trips to Florida in the summer, it seemed that no matter what week we took, The Discovery Channel was playing Shark Week. There was nothing like watching shark attacks the evening before, then going to the beach. I probably had those experiences in mind when I posted this cartoon.
Watching Shark Week didn’t prevent us from going to the beach. We laughed about the over-the-top stories. Sure, some of them were harrowing and we took what we could learn from them. We knew it was more dangerous to wade in the water at sunrise or sunset. We realized we needed to be aware of our surroundings in the water. But it didn’t prevent us from having a good time.
Leadership in Risky Times
Today, leaders are facing all kinds of decisions involving risk. COVID-19 is causing business, government, and institutional leaders to make some tough decisions.
- When should we open businesses?
- When and how should we open churches?
- Where and when should we wear masks?
- How do you enforce social distancing without being authoritarian?
- What will be the best way to get kids back in school this fall?
It would be nice if the answers were as obvious as a shark enticing a bather with fake sincerity. There are a lot of unknowns. Our decisions will be complicated with the understanding there will be some risk that wasn’t there last year. Yet, all of us will have to take on some of that risk to move forward.
The odds of being attacked by a shark are 1 in 11.5 million even when you only include people who go to a beach. We are still trying to get a handle on how likely someone is likely to get the coronavirus. It will likely increase as time moves on. In any case, it will be best to continue practices such as social distancing, frequent handwashing, and sanitizing surfaces. We will need to learn how to live with this virus while maintaining safe practices and restarting our lives.
