By Julie Adamen

A great crisis has happened, unprecedented in our nation, and we will all remember where we were when we saw or heard about the events of September 11, 2001.

Where do we go? What do we do? And how do we, as managers in a transient industry find meaning in what we are doing – when it was often hard to find meaning before the world turned upside down?

We go on. I am a manager, just as you are. I manage people and events, deadlines and issues, just as you do. That terrible week, I can only tell you that my phones weren’t ringing, and the only emails I received had to do with the incidents, and not with Business As Usual. Everyone and everything stood in mute shock, only interrupted by sobs of disbelief and sorrow. We ground to a halt, glued to our radios and TVs.

Yet, by that Friday, late in the afternoon…  business –related emails started coming in. Some I was able to deal with, others not in that our usual flow of communication had been interrupted and there was a lot of catching up to do. As a manager, it is my job to take care of that business. As a manager, you, too, must and do continue on in your job. And in many ways, that in itself is a blessing.  Sprinklers need fixing, budgets preparing and service calls answered. Deadlines must be met, meetings attended. And it is your responsibility to make those things happen.

We do our jobs. We come to work, sit down at our desks with our favorite coffee mug in our hands. We talk with homeowners, our co-workers and our vendors. We make those Board packets, though we may find ourselves staring blankly at the computer screen a little longer than usual. It may not be our best work, but under the circumstances, well, it is our best work. We find ourselves receiving emails that range from humorous to frightening. We are having a hard time concentrating, but that’s ok, so is everyone else.

And while doing our jobs as best we can, we ask ourselves, where is the meaning in what I do?

I can’t tell you how many times, when I managed community associations, I would hang up the phone after talking with a homeowner and think to myself, “Boy, does THAT person need something else to think about!” Our clients have always have found it much easier to focus on the small, controllable (in their minds) issues than the big ones facing the community. You’ve all had the experience of sitting at a board meeting where a $30,000 expenditure for street repair sails through without a hitch but the $27 overcharge by the maintenance company gets a 30 minute hearing and a two hour follow up on your part. But I am wondering - now – will this change? Will people, even down to our homeowners, have a little broader range of thought? Or will this drive them (and us) to try to control even more minutia, because that’s the only thing they feel they can control?

Time will tell. And you will be the first to know.

On finding meaning.  Like many of you, I have been deeply shaken by the recent events that have affected our nation. I am just as shaken thinking about what could happen in the future. And while trying to sort out all of those emotions, I, like, you, attempt to continue on in my job. And trying to find meaning in what I am doing. Trying to find THE ANSWER.

But wouldn’t it be funny if, on our quest for finding meaning, we discovered that THE ANSWER lies in the journey – doing our jobs, keeping our contacts, living our lives.

Maybe, this time, with just a little more awareness.