Buffalo in the snowstorm.
Lately, I’ve been talking with our staff about storms—those inevitable moments of adversity that hit our professional and personal lives. It could be a missed deadline, a frustrated patron, a facility issue, or something bigger like budget cuts or family challenges. Storms come whether we like it or not. And when they do, we all have a choice in how we respond.
The Cow vs. the Buffalo
There’s a powerful analogy from nature I’ve been reflecting on: when a storm rolls in over the plains, cows run away from it. But because the storm is faster, they end up getting caught in it and staying in it longer—tired, worn down, and disoriented. Buffalo, on the other hand, turn toward the storm. They face it head-on, and because they move through it faster, they come out on the other side quicker and stronger.
We talk a lot about leadership in our organization, and this analogy hits home: no matter how good you are at your job, storms are inevitable. The question isn’t if they come—it’s how you respond when they do.
This brings me to a framework I’ve been sharing with our team: E + R = O.
Event + Response = Outcome.
It’s a simple equation, but the middle variable—R—makes all the difference. Too often, people fall into the trap of thinking E = O. They believe the event dictates the outcome. But it doesn’t. It's our response that determines what comes next. The best leaders I’ve worked with, and the ones I strive to emulate, don’t ignore the storm or hope it passes—they lean into it. They bring clarity, composure, and courage into the chaos.
But even more powerful than being able to do this ourselves, is teaching others to do the same.
That’s leadership.
Not just weathering storms ourselves, but equipping our teams to respond in a way that produces better outcomes. Teaching them that when conflict arises, when the workload gets heavy, when things don’t go according to plan—they have control over how they respond. That they can be buffalo in the storm. That the outcome is never just about the event—it’s about the mindset and decisions in response.
So, what does this look like in practice?
When something breaks, we don’t look for blame—we look for solutions.
When a program fails, we don’t panic—we reflect, learn, and adapt.
When someone on the team is struggling, we don’t judge—we ask how we can help them through the storm.
