A small Catholic school in our community was attacked by a gunman during its first all-school mass of the year. Two children, just eight and ten years old, were killed, and many others were injured.
This tragedy is close to home for many of our team. And while I had a different topic planned for this newsletter, it felt important to pause, acknowledge what happened, and reflect on the deeper role of leadership in moments like these.
Even in the midst of heartbreak, and one could argue, especially in those moments, we still have responsibilities as leaders, and our company has commitments to our team members and our clients.
After a traumatic event that shakes the psychological safety of all of us, how do you recalibrate and move forward?
There are a few things that I have found that work for me personally:
- Talk about what happened; this helps me to process something incomprehensible. We’ll never be able to understand why something so terrible happened, but talking about it helps.
- Take care of myself; for me this means taking more quiet walks, getting enough sleep, eating healthily, and creating a peaceful environment around me.
- Looking for the light; I try to be more intentional about looking for, and creating more, positive moments. This could be as simple as smiling at someone I pass at the grocery store, sending a note to someone I haven’t spoken to in a while, or really going out of my way to do something unexpected for someone. It could also mean taking an action to honor someone who was impacted more directly by the tragedy.
As leaders, we can extend this same care to the people around us. That might mean:
- Making space for conversations and acknowledging that people may be distracted or grieving.
- Adjusting expectations when productivity naturally dips.
- Reinforcing our purpose, so our team feels grounded even when the world feels less stable.
One way we can honor those responsibilities is by continuing to grow, to share knowledge, and to strengthen the systems that help people thrive.
We can’t control tragedies like this, but we can control how we show up in their aftermath.
Whether it’s creating a moment of kindness, offering extra grace to a colleague, or giving our team the space to process, leadership in times like these matters more than ever.
Moments like this remind me that the real work of leadership isn’t only about hitting goals or improving systems—it’s about how we care for people. That’s why, at Denamico, our purpose goes beyond technology. Our tools are only as powerful as the people they enable and the communities they strengthen.
When we lead with compassion, we create the conditions where people feel safe, valued, and empowered to keep moving forward. That’s how we honor both our purpose and our humanity; by using our skills, our tools, and our leadership not just to grow businesses, but to bring more light into the world.
My hope is that we each find small ways to bring light into dark moments and help one another keep moving forward.
Kristin
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Kristin Dennewill
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