Create Magical Moments and Avoid Tragic Moments

Today, we are experiencing times of crisis. For leaders, facing tragic moments is a necessity.

All the news at the start of 2025 is about the terrible times for world trade, climate change, the change in the US presidency, the war between Ukraine and Russia , the European Union entering the tariff battle, China expanding in world trade, the war in Gaza (although a tenuous truce is in place), and on and on. It is all about crises.

Today, the world is interconnected by the global economy, technology, instant communication, immigration, culture, and politics. This interconnectedness grows daily and affects us all in one way or another. And it affects leaders’ decision-making processes and the followers of those leaders.

Creating Magical Moments

Our task, even in times of crisis, is to create “magical moments.” These are moments of pride that occur when we achieve a significant goal and experience a feeling of triumph, and not just personally – the valuable factor is that the team feels it. These magical moments make us feel confident, raise self-esteem, and keep us motivated to advance in achieving other goals and to continue growing. To create a magical moment, it is essential to clearly establish goals that challenge us to form the best team to take advantage of opportunities and achieve that goal. It helps a lot in those magical moments to recognize achievements and celebrate progress. We should not forget this because it is crucial –  it is fuel for the team to move forward.

But the leader's task in the creation of those magical moments is to dream, imagine, and deliver goals to pursue, since his task is to guide other people and invite them to accompany him. Remember "The leader who imagines, creates; with what is real, he has a goal to achieve to make it real." The leader who dreams of creating magical moments takes a journey through the variables he is faced with and asks his team to accompany him and support him, creating magical moments that penetrate what the others do not see. It is to identify what seems invisible today and make it visible, it is to turn your person into a magnet that helps others to realize themselves. You must develop the character to be successful  before the world that opposes your dream, your goal. You do not pay attention to the world that says NO to what you see in that dream to create that magical moment.

But leaders must also face tragic moments. As an example, I would go back to the moment that someone must have lived to raise the conspiracy in the Independence Movement back in 1810 in Mexico. Or more recently, in the 1960s when the president of the United States challenged the nation to go to the moon and bring the astronauts back safe and sound; Let’s also remember  the president of Toyota in Japan who launched the Just-In-Time manufacturing model that limited inventories, even though many people thought it would lead to failure and disaster.

All these situations and many more have one thing in common: a dream and  the actions undertaken by the leader’s followers., They worked with conviction for the dream proposed by the leader, who projects it as a challenge in the face of the things that are happening and to excel until they achieve it, thus creating a magic moment, since the intense desire to change for improvement’s sake is manifested by a team of followers who have the confidence and perception that it is worth trying to make that dream a reality. This requires a spirit of improvement and high motivation not only for leaders but also to support this task of change toward improvement.

Throughout the process of building and realizing this dream, the leader sets the example and is attentive to any difficulty to find a resolution. So, what happens, and why do we not talk about “tragic moments” that occur?

Let's think about what can happen with or without our intervention. Let’s look at what happened when the plane carrying the Uruguayan rugby team crashed in the Andes, at an altitude of more than 3,500m, in 1972. The survivors – only 16 of the 45 travelers survived – were on the mountain for more than 70 days.

Ask yourself, is there something there, in that accident, to learn about leadership? In such a tragic moment, what should a leader do? What is his task? What role should he play?

It was thought that the team would eventually  play a game and potentially win – a magic moment.  But the variable of the accident changed everything, creating a tragic moment.

Could it have been avoided? The reality was already there in the problem and we would have to face it.

In this case – this tragic moment – leaders must develop. Let’s look at some highlights from the interviews the survivors gave after the accident that inform leadership today:

Great communication: However, they knew little about the mountain. Hence, information does not necessarily translate into knowledge or initiative and intelligent actions. But the truth is that you must use all the data available to make decisions.

Employee creativity: What better time to use that saying, “need awakens creativity.”  Nowadays, we are going to find many unexpected situations. Creativity applies – to get ahead.

Mental strength: Let us remember that adversity, as Viktor Frankl calls it, addressing this issue even in the worst conditions, like a concentration camp, encourages us to "be master of your will and servant of your conscience." In the case of the Uruguayan rugby team captain, Marcelo Pérez, as a leader, he was not able to get rid of the self-imposed responsibility, self-imposed eye. "Without being one, he felt guilty. Since he had organized the trip, chosen the plane and took responsibility for each death. (…) He was psychologically dead, but he died the day he found out about the suspension of the rescue. Probably dying in the avalanche was the best thing that could have happened to him."

Cohesion and leadership within the team: In the face of adversity or a tragic moment, we may notice that the team lacks habits, has negative attitudes, and a lack of certain skills to work as a team.  This can fracture the team and prevent us from realizing the team's real capabilities and potential.

Don't allow passivity: Generally, the team expects the leader to direct, define the strategy, take risks, decide, and solve. Regardless of the success and goodness of the supposed leader, in a crisis there are countless participants in a team who voluntarily and unconsciously become passive followers, who just wait, meekly obey, and pretend to follow blindly, since that is usually more comfortable.

Choose this moment to decide and act. Remember firmly that leading is also deciding. It is a bit contradictory in that moment of crisis to try to direct, govern, influence, without going through the filter of the difficult art of decision.

It is the lubricant that should grease your good mood, above all, in the situation of a tragic moment, in our predisposition and ability to smile and distance ourselves from what is happening, in the joy of living and challenging routine, in friendly and timely jokes, in the cultivation of a sense of humor, which is essential to face and emerge successfully from the situation, without disrespecting the situation.

Follow your inner compass. It will never be easy to decide and even less so in a moment of crisis, but remember, good leaders observe, doubt, question, listen, argue, decide, act, err, correct, and learn.

In the end, think about being in the Here and Now, as quoted in the maxim, “The crisis stops the maelstrom and returns us to the here and now, the only dimensions that we can take advantage of.” Remember clearly that leadership is a dynamic and living phenomenon that occurs here and now.

The Values, Mission and Vision: A crisis teaches us how solid leaders are within the organization, but when  facing a crisis, also remember those faced by people with negative leadership: Hitler, Stalin. And also think about leadership that enriches humanity, such as Gandhi, Lincoln, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

In the end, we must capitalize on a tragic moment. In closing, remember that, “The opportunity at a time like this and from that inner reality, is that changes can be faced without apprehension or fear.”

A great leader said: “I see a lot of fear of uncertainty, of change, people are obsessed with information.  I believe that there is an inevitable script to achieve final learning, it depends on us how we live it. We are going to grow old, lose loved ones. The important thing is to go through these events with the feeling that everything has a meaning."