Applied in a business context, a team that possesses a strong sense of balance performs well under pressure and is not buffeted nearly as violently by the winds of change and external competitive pressures compared to a team that lacks a keen sense of balance. But what does balance look like in business?

What was different this time is how struck I was by the meaningfulness of the military honors ceremony. Ray served his country dutifully in the 1950s. Seventy years later, a corps of individuals—most of whom are retired and likely did not know Ray personally—dedicated their morning to seeing Ray off with a fitting salute. Wow.

So today’s lesson is this. Yes, as a leader, people are going to talk about you. Someone is probably talking about you right now. The good news is that you have control about what they’re saying and the irony is that you’ll sleep better and your ears will stop buzzing if you’re transparent, authentic, clear, and structured. Oh, and sprinkling in a bit of humility, a sense of humor, and a dash of vulnerability won’t hurt either.

I know from personal experience as a leader that teams who believe their jobs are at risk or who’s pay is uncertain do not perform at their peak abilities. The constant threat of being let go or of not getting paid looms over the team like a dark gray cloud. When the rumors swirl that x team is going to be downsized or y operating unit is going to be shut down, productivity grinds to a crawl.

Mentors in my life would often tell me: “Nobody likes a complainer,” and I’m sure you can close your eyes and think back to a former or current colleague who’s poisoned the team with their incessant complaining about every gory detail of their existence.

In a healthy team or organization, there is a spirit of learning and continuous improvement that is shared by each individual. There is shared purpose, strong communication, a sense of stewardship, well-defined goals and standard work, cross-training, backups, smooth handoffs, empowerment to pull the Andon Cord (to stop the assembly line in the case of an issue), and a laser focus on delighting the customer.