“Calmness is the cradle of power,” the late American novelist and poet Josiah Gilbert Holland who also wrote under the pseudonym Timothy Titcomb.

Great leaders stay calm and confident in a crisis.

For example, a client of mine, recently on vacation in Costa Rica, got stuck in a small, steamy hot elevator with fourteen members of his family. They were afraid that they were going to run out of air. My client initially told everybody to calm down. But telling people to calm down just reminds them that there is something to panic about. People react to their circumstances more than they react to directives.

Then my client pulled himself together and said, “I’ve got this. I know what to do. I’ve been in this situation before.”

And by establishing himself as the calm confident leader, he actually caused a calm in the elevator. He took action, a small step, prying the doors open a bit. He asked his daughter to press and hold the bell because it wouldn’t ring unless someone was holding the button.

He delegated jobs to other people in pairs to help them keep each other busy. This is especially important to remember when you have a crowd to manage.

When a man from the hotel responded to the alarm, my client asked him for his shoe. This helped because the whole family was wearing flip-flops. With a solid shoe, they were able to hold the outer door open to let in cold fresh air until help came.

Later, the family acknowledged my client for saving the day.

He instead gave credit to every one of his family for their calm state of being in the crisis. They kept the calm, he said. There is a Chinese proverb that says great leaders make people feel like they did it themselves.

To summarize:

1. Establish yourself as the calm, confident leader.

2. Keep people busy. Give them jobs. They feel some sense of control in a situation that would otherwise feel out of control.

3. Give credit to people for their role in the situation.

So what about you? How can you bring calm confidence to your current challenges so you can attract the support you need to reach your goals?