If You Are Fearful, It Is Time to Lead Differently
“Outside of pumpkins and haunted houses, the world we’re living in right now has its own monsters. The ones in suits.”
Fall is my favorite time of the year, and October is my favorite month. During October in Wisconsin, the air turns crisp, the leaves fall and the shadows inch in. Halloween is coming, and with it are the familiar masks, monsters, and frights.
If you are fearful this month, you are not alone.
Outside of pumpkins and haunted houses, the world we’re living in right now has its own monsters. The ones in suits. The ones in power. The ones quietly and boldly rewriting rules, shrinking protections, rolling back equity and demanding we stay quiet as they do so.
We are seeing an overall sense that the space to lead, to speak truth, to build boldly is shrinking, just when we need it the most. There is a continued concerted effort by the federal government to dismantle or suppress universities, nonprofits, and corporations that continue to stay focused on their diversity efforts. Nonprofits are reporting extreme levels of anxiety around funding, regulatory risks, and political uncertainties. (The Center for Effective Philanthropy)
So yes, if you are fearful, I feel you. If you are anxious, restless or wondering whether the good work we’ve done is under siege, I’m with you.
But here’s what I also know as a values-driven organization: In this moment, fear is a signal to lean in, and not a reason to retreat. We all must stick together and to our values. We can’t let fear stop us.
This month, I invite us to a different way of showing up. It’s time to lead differently.
See the Mask, Know the Monster, Hold the Vision
Halloween is fun because it lets the monsters play. But in real life, the monster is power unchecked, the monster is violating our rights and snatching our neighbors, silencing communities, and doing this with unchecked power. We need to pull off the mask of complacency. We must shine a light into the darkest corners of policy and practice where shadows are gathering to cause us harm.
Root in Safety, Then Act
As part of our organizational pillars—Freedom, Safety, Justice, Joy—Safety is what anchors us in moments like this. Not just personal safety, but community safety. Not just waiting until the haunted house becomes real, but building the door, lock, and light to stop the house from becoming a place we have to escape. We are organizing spaces where our members, our families, our neighbors, and our community can talk about fear and risk—not as a sideline, but as part of the strategy. We are building resilient systems as the collapse of old ones are falling around us.
Lead with Justice—Even When It’s Scary
True justice means fighting against fear and division. It asks us to name the monster by its real name. To call out policy that undermines, to uplift communities under threat, to protect the right to tell our own stories. To stand arm in arm with our neighbors against the beasts of division and harm. You are fearful because the stakes are so high. But justice demands we rise above fear, no matter the stakes.
Don’t Forget Joy—Because We Are More Than the Spook Show
Amid all of this, the world will try to convince us that our only role is to survive. I say our role is to thrive in joy, with love and empathy for each other. The colors of fall, the gatherings on porches with warm cider, the laughter of children–these matter and are the moments of joy that we must treasure. Joy is not a distraction. It is insurgent. It is proof that we are living, not just reacting. Despite the monster stories swirling around us, our story is louder and is one of life, possibility, and flourishing.
So if you are fearful this October, I get it. But join me, and let’s boldly lead anyway.
Let’s build safety.
Let’s practise justice by shouting the truth when fear whispers “quiet.”
Let’s choose joy when the world wants us flat, silent and diminished.
Because the story we’ll tell our grandchildren will not just be about how we survived the monster, but about how we led. How we built. How we loved. How we danced.
Will you show up with me?
