Eric Haupt

Happy Sunday Friends!

Can’t believe we’re already in June! Seems like it was just January!

As always, here’s one quote I’m musing on this week, two core ideas, three favorite things, and one question to carry with you into the week ahead.

One Quote I’m Musing

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent; it is the one most responsive to change.”

| Charles Darwin

🌊 Leading Through Change

Change comes in two forms.

Sometimes we’re the architects—laying new foundations, nudging the culture forward, introducing the kind of disruption that’s meant to elevate.

Other times, we’re the ones caught in the wave, working to stay upright as it crashes through the familiar.

Lately, for me—and maybe for you too—it’s felt more like the latter.

Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been navigating waves of change in my organization—though "turmoil" might be the more honest word. Not the kind you read about in polished strategy decks, but the kind that reshapes people, roles, direction, and identity. The kind that quietly—many times not so quietly—unravels old stability.

Last week, it really hit home when a mentor of mine, someone who had been a steady compass for a long period, held their retirement. I won’t name names, we’re just going to pretend no one knows who I’m talking about.

It was more than a retirement.

Combined with all the other change—past and still to come—it felt like a shift in gravity.

The kind that makes you stop and ask:
What am I leading now? What version of me does this new landscape need?

And maybe most importantly:
How do I lead others through it?

🛠What Change Demands of Us

[stop] If you’re also in a season of change right now, pause. Breathe. Before reading on, name a feeling you’ve avoided about it.

Leading through change doesn’t just mean making decisions in uncertainty. It means holding space—for grief, for confusion, for anger, for reinvention.

In my mind, there are three kinds of leadership moments that surface in times like these:

The Visible Guide – the one who speaks clarity into the fog.
The Quiet Stabilizer – the one who grounds others, even as they process their own disruption.
The Change Agent – the one who turns pain into motion, loss into momentum.

Most of us rotate between all three.

And when we’re honest, we usually favor one and resist another.

This past week, I’ve found myself moving slower than expected.

Reflecting longer.

Sorting through emotion before extracting any neat leadership lessons.

That delay—what a much younger me would mistake for weakness—I now recognize as respect.

Respect for the change, and for the people in it.

💡Two Ideas From Me

🧭 Change is an emotional process before it’s a strategic one.
If you skip the emotional part—yours or others’—you’ll build solutions no one is ready for.
🪞 We lead through change not by having all the answers, but by being present enough to ask the right questions.
When the foundation shakes, people don’t need perfect plans. They need to know you’re still there.

Three Favorite Things This Week

📚 Video: The Truth About CHANGE - Simon quickly addresses why people resist change, emphasizing that it's not change itself but the discomfort it brings that causes resistance. | Watch here

🎧 Podcast Episode: How to Lead Through Uncertainty and Change, with Jacqueline Farrington – Jacqueline emphasizes the importance of vision, creating a sense of urgency, and connecting with employees' hearts and minds. Additionally, how to effectively engage both supporters and skeptics of change initiatives. | Listen here

✍️ Another Quote To Reflect On:

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” – Viktor Frankl

⚡️ One Question to Take Into Your Week

What kind of leader are you when the map no longer fits the terrain?

Grab your journal—or just a sticky note—and write one or two words that describe who you are right now.
Place it where you’ll see it all week.
Then, at the end of the week, ask: did I lead like that word?

This week, I’m thinking about the relationship between change and influence—and why stillness might be the strongest move a leader can make.