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Zail Dugal's avatar

As a risk assessor, I have to pivot from fire to fire and assess the risks caused by these various fires. I live this life. This job title could also be used interchangeably for my title as mother.

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Neela 🌶️'s avatar

Both roles require a 6th sense, endless triage, and the ability to spot chaos before it happens. You’re clearly qualified for both Zail.

Thank you so much for taking the time :)

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Shlee's avatar

And the people who can surf on shit, stay clean AND do their jobs well sometimes become a threat and get chased out or shunned until they leave voluntarily. I’ve seen it! It’s messed up

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Neela 🌶️'s avatar

So true. Those who can keep their heads above water and still get results often end up as the ones no one wants rocking the boat. It’s a damn shame Shlee.

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Shlee's avatar

I'm sorry I didn't thank you earlier! I just saw your generous k-fi donation-- somehow I missed that! THANK YOU!!!!

You're such a nice, supportive human :) :) How the heck do you make time to support all these writers (I see you reposting tons of newsletters).

Anyway, you're amazing. Thank you again (and any productivity tips are more than welcome). Have a great week ahead

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Neela 🌶️'s avatar

oh pshtttttt!

everyone needs coffee Shlee.

This platform is such a grind that it helps to support others.

Happy Wednesday friend.

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Fihmiya Hamdan's avatar

That needs to be a legit job title, Neela! lool.

Fixing and cleaning up messes that weren't even ours to begin with. The dumpster fire reminded me of when I worked for Quicken Loans and someone I ended up on email chains I couldn't get out of b/c someone tagged 'everyone' and it wasn't supposed to be, so we all got trapped in there. Of course, you can't block ppl, so that wouldn't help. loool

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Neela 🌶️'s avatar

Hi sis

Happy Thursday!

YES! Why are we always the janitors for messes we didn’t make? And don’t get me started on ‘reply all’.

It would be so helpful if we could block people.

Thank you for taking the time. I knew you would like this one.

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Shlee's avatar

Another great one, Neela! You have a way of perfectly articulating what everyone else is thinking but nobody knows how to put it into words quite like you

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Neela 🌶️'s avatar

Thank you so much Shlee :)

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jeanne's avatar

Chaos commandos🫨The worst places I've worked where this happens is in the ERs and ICUs. People die due to corporate greed and understaffing.

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Neela 🌶️'s avatar

Absolutely Jeanne. There’s no “storm-chasing” in healthcare.

It’s chaos with consequences you can’t undo. The system failing those who care for us all is beyond heartbreaking. I have had an article on draft for a long while about the healthcare system. I will try to finish soon. Thank you so much for chiming in.

I hope you are having a good Tuesday!

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Karen Mclaughlin's avatar

Agreed. Former healthcare HR person here. And the flavors of the month rotating through trying to raise Patient Sat scores or Employee Engagement scores.

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Neela 🌶️'s avatar

Oh, those “flavors of the month” can feel like a merry-go-round that never stops spinning. Lots of noise, little lasting change.

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Chason Forehand's avatar

👉A medieval blacksmith, for instance, was seldom interrupted while shoeing a horse by a messenger breathlessly announcing that the quarterly figures for anvil production were below expectations and could he please attend an emergency meeting with the regional forge coordinators.👈 I almost spit out my beautiful Nicaraguan coffee on this one. I've said it so much people are probably at the point of "yes we know what you think, Chason" but I think it bears repeating; People are what matters. It doesn't matter if you have the best widget in the world that makes millions a day, at the end of the day if you don't treat your people with dignity, making them feel heard, safe, valued, empowered, and heard, you might as well be selling dog poo, because eventually stories like this one will prevail, and companies will lose their way. The long game is where it's at and it's built through cultivating a culture of building relationships with people. Appreciate you sis. sending love from Nic. Going to deliver some veggies now.

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Neela 🌶️'s avatar

Love this, bro.

It’s the simple truth we keep forgetting.

No widget, no profit, no shiny report matters without people at the center. Building that long game culture isn’t easy, but it’s everything.

Sending love back to Nicaragua.

Enjoy those veggies

PS Thank you so much for restacking....

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Tina Worthing's avatar

Yup, that way my life - and why I got out - not doing what I was trained to do was infuriating. I've been using something like your survival guide for a few years - but I much prefer the way you word it!

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Neela 🌶️'s avatar

Honestly, we should get honorary degrees in figuring it out as we go. I’ll take a diploma in Emotional Endurance, thank you very much hahahaha.

I appreciate you taking the time to read all the articles you missed.

Thank you so much Tina.

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Tina Worthing's avatar

I enjoy your writing, reading them made catching up on everything else a little less stressful.

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Neela 🌶️'s avatar

I love this feedback Tina - the best. Thank you!!!!

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Astrid Sadaya's avatar

Sounds like the proper breakdown of "The rich get richer, the poor get poorer" 😅 I've experienced this too, working in retail/restaurant management and graphic/web design when the job expectations don't match the minimum wage. It's that moment when people start to leave unless they have families to feed. Sad but that's why I write about living sustainably away from all this "workmanship" 🥹 Thanks for your voice Neela! Reminds us of our strength 💯😊🙏🏽

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Astrid Sadaya's avatar

Oh that's supposed to be "workmanshit". Substack loves autocorrecting wrongly haha

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Neela 🌶️'s avatar

Bad bad autocorrect 🤣

Gosh I have spoken to people who left jobs just because they have nothing else to give

Thank you so much Astrid.

May you have the best weekend ahead 🤗

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Mark Howell's avatar

So you're saying, as a wildland fire management professional, the ULTIMATE shit-storm chaser, and fixer ("bringing order to chaos" is our unofficial motto), that I'm ideally poised to take over Fortune 500 companies?

Sign me up!

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Neela 🌶️'s avatar

You’ve been training for this your whole life Mark.

Corporate America has no idea what's coming.

Thank you so much for subscribing.

Happy Thursday!

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Mark Howell's avatar

That's really sweet, thanks!

The C-suite is busy listening to SEALs and Green Berets and there's no room to break in to that market. Trust me, been trying for 3.5 years since leaving the Forest Circus. Nothing against Jocko & Co, but they were first to market and they own that space.

I love the wit in your writing. Twain and Mencken are my literary heroes, you remind me of their style, hence the sub.

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Neela 🌶️'s avatar

Honestly, I’d pay good money to see a leadership book called From Forest Circus to Fortune 500. It's so tough out there and our unemployement rates are dogshit hahahaha. It's way, way higher than reported, so competition is ridiculous out there. But hey, you got me blushing, Mark Twain and Mencken eh? I also write more serious pieces when I'm in a melancholy mood. I am glad you are here Mark.

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Mark Howell's avatar

Oh I'm self-"employed", but FedGov wasn't ready for my outside the box thinking and willingness to be contrary. I doubt the narcissistic "visionaries" running the big boy corps and PE firms are much interested in them either.

I can be pretty fun, i try to keep fire related chat as straightforward as possible and keep the "cute" to a minimum...

But outside that? Party on Wayne!

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Neela 🌶️'s avatar

I am, too, and I am a huge contrarian, or maybe I just like asking too many questions. They are not. Which is why AI works so well for them. Everything is pretty much on fire. And it ain't gonna get any better. Memento mori lol!

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Mark Howell's avatar

25+ years in public safety, trust me I memento my mines of moria.

Part of being a first responder in this day and age is being a “trauma target”: “If only you were faster, smarter, better, did something differently, [bad thing] wouldn't have happened to me! It's all your fault!” I'm intimately familiar with my failings and faults and all our mortality.

Most people, as you alluded, love their comfort, their routine. Emergencies disrupt that, like a face punch, they remind them that they're not only mortal, but physically, mentally, and emotionally fragile beings and not always in control of their own destiny. That freaks them out.

I've been off and on working on a “responder blaming” post for a while…it's definitely something contrary that'll stir up the bees nest and get me massive amounts of blowback from those perpetrating it and FRs who enable it. It'll be full send time fairly soon.

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David Crouch's avatar

Very enjoyable and entertaining. One of the things I loved about consulting was that you ran a well financed project and you could stay out of the operations problems of your clients. It has changed some - clients are less mature from a process and talent side, agile project mgt introduces more turmoil, and some consultancies put staff on mire than one project- but it tends to get you out of the way of constant crises.

The smartest client decision I ever made, in 1994, was to ban all work for any tech company from that day forward Truly terrible clients.

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Neela 🌶️'s avatar

The worst David.

Consulting used to mean “high-budget, low chaos” by comparison. But now with leaner ops, agile misfires, AI and clients expecting speed over structure, it’s not always the refuge it once was. Totally get why you drew the line at tech. I am in the process of doing the same. Thank you for taking the time to chime in :)

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Dr Priyanka Upadhyai's avatar

Ah, this landed too close home. Shitstorm chaser 🙋🏻‍♀️

Awesome piece Neela and the best advice - Welcome the chaos! 😁

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Neela 🌶️'s avatar

hahahahaha

I think most of us are these days even in personal life too.

Thank you for taking the time Priyanka..

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Lucille M. Shaw's avatar

Excellent read, Neela! I totally agree—workplace chaos is the new normal. I’ve had my fair share of fires to put out, and it sharpens my problem-solving skills. It’s crazy how being good at managing chaos has become such a valuable skill.

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mark pro's avatar

Well said. Glad we have Baird to help explain "the Why".

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Neela 🌶️'s avatar

That we do.

Happy Wednesday Mark.

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Nadine's avatar

Poor Josh... But I have to focus on the initial stats. I definitely spend more than 27% of my time in meetings that could have been emails.

😅

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Neela 🌶️'s avatar

Me too Nadine so I feel you pain.

Most of these items can be cleared up on a 5 minute phone call.

Those are also helpful.

Thank you for commenting…

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Nadine's avatar

Everything that could be done in 5 mins needs to take 30 though so we all feel productive and stroke each person's ego 😆

Have a good Thursday Neela!

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Neela 🌶️'s avatar

That’s the way Nadine.

Thank you and same to you too.

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Alexander Andrews's avatar

Ha ha Oh I totally hear you... Anyone who is actually doing only what's outlined in their job description has struck gold! The other 99.9% of us are doing the catch all line "assist as required"... in fact, why don't we all save ourselves a ton of time writing JD's and just have them contain that one line - assist as required; at least the JD would then not be a work of fiction! (asking for a friend... )..... Happy Hump Day eve Sis!!

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Neela 🌶️'s avatar

Right bro?! At this point, my job description should just say: 'Professional plate spinner, occasional fire-putter-outer, and part-time psychic.'

I bet this is your JD too.

ONE more day until pure bliss.

Thank you so much for taking the time….

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Alexander Andrews's avatar

ha ha yes indeedio!! And I am doing those tasks across 3 different businesses right now! lol Oh yes, the serenity is near!! You're very welcome Sis!

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Neela 🌶️'s avatar

P.S don’t let me see you anywhere near social except IG hahahaha

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Alexander Andrews's avatar

Ha ha You got it!! :)

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Neela 🌶️'s avatar

Have the best vacation bro. Please be safe :)

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Alexander Andrews's avatar

Thanks so much Sis!! You take care and I look forward to catching up on return! :)

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Bette A. Ludwig, PhD 🌱's avatar

A lot of people will see themselves in this. Always appreciate your distinct lens on corporate chaos. And of course there’s so much to unravel when it comes to what’s actually happening in the work world right now.

Happy Tuesday 😊

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Neela 🌶️'s avatar

And AI implementaion makes it 100 times worse.

Thank you for taking the time Bette.

Happy Wednesday!

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