When my husband was elected as a local official he had a lot of really good ideas.
He didn’t seem to think that he would have an issue implementing changes to affect change but he got a serious wake up call within the first few months in office.
I remember the first couple of press conferences that he held and how uncomfortable, physically, he was. He would always end up sweating profusely and that made him seem incompetent. He knew what he was talking about and his ideas were sound but they didn’t seem very convincing as he stood there dripping in sweat. He decided to make some changes to the press office to give himself a better chance of looking the part of a leader. He had his staff member contact a local HVAC dealer to have an extra air conditioning unit installed just over the space where he had to stand. It was able to be hidden from view and none of the press had any clue that it was on. The cool air falling from the unit over his podium made him cool under pressure and he never broke a sweat again. This was one of the best changes he could have made and even though he was really nervous he was able to convey his ideas and look like he was confident that they were in the best interest of all. Working as a public figure is hard and it means making some really difficult choices. Installing a new HVAC unit was an easy one that he would do again if needed.