What does calm leadership actually look like when everything feels urgent, political, and on fire? In this episode, John Auerbach, Senior Vice President of Health at ICF, offers a preview of ASTHO’s upcoming Insight & Inspiration webinar, Steady Hands, Steady Teams: Leading with Confidence and Composure, on February 11th, and digs into the real-world skills behind steady leadership in volatile times. From pandemic burnout to nonstop crises, today’s public health leaders are navigating faster information cycles, rising mistrust, misinformation, and exhausted teams. So how do you keep people focused, grounded, and moving forward? We’ll also hear from Dr. Manisha Juthani, ASTHO president and Connecticut Commissioner of Public Health, who is co-hosting the webinar.
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This is Public Health Review
Morning Edition for Monday,
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00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:06,520
February 9th, 2026.
I'm John Sheehan with news for
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00:00:06,520 --> 00:00:09,320
the Association of State and
Territorial Health Officials
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00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:11,960
today.
What does calm leadership
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00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:14,480
actually look like when
everything feels urgent,
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00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:18,000
political, and on fire?
John Auerbach, Senior Vice
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00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:21,560
President of Health at ICF, will
give us a preview of Asto's
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00:00:21,560 --> 00:00:25,600
upcoming Insight and inspiration
webinar, Steady hands, steady
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teams leading with Confidence
and Composure on February 11th.
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00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:32,640
And he'll dig into the real
world skills behind steady
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leadership in volatile times.
He's hosting the webinar with
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Doctor Manisha Giuthani, Asto's
president and Connecticut
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Commissioner of Public Health.
I thought we'd give Doctor
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Giuthani the first word on the
event.
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We're really looking to explore
how leaders foster stability,
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build trust, and maintain
composure as a core leadership
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function.
One of the things that we all
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have to struggle with is what
strategies can we use to avoid
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reactive cycles, manage the pace
of the work that we are asking
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our teams to be involved in, and
inspire confidence within our
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organization and beyond our
organizations.
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And one of the ways that I try
to do that personally is through
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leading with clarity, with
enthusiasm, with a positive
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spirit.
And I hope to share some of the
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thoughts that I've had leading
our agency in Connecticut on
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this panel.
One of the thoughts I often
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share with my team is Covey has
a principle.
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It's a Foursquare box where we
think about work that is
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important and not important
versus urgent and not urgent.
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And you can think of four
quadrants with that work.
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And as public health officials,
we are often left with dealing
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with the important urgent crisis
of the day.
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Sometimes it's the important not
urgent that is actually where we
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want to spend a lot of our time.
We actually want to spend our
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time on the important not
urgent.
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It's just that the urgent ends
up distracting us a lot of the
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time.
And so I think part of what I'd
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like to focus on in this session
is how do we empower our teams
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to continue that important, not
urgent work.
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So then when we as leaders can
come back to it, the work has
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continued and we can continue to
push it forward while we have to
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deal with the urgent crises of
the day.
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And unfortunately, in
government, sometimes we're left
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with dealing with not important
urgent topics of the day that
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are important to somebody else
may be less important to us.
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And so I think it's really
critical to think about the work
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that we do every day, how we can
inspire people to do that work,
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to feel pride in the work they
do.
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We know that we have a workforce
that was pretty downtrodden with
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COVID.
Many people retired, many people
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left the industry.
And we have people that were
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just starting to emerge and feel
reinvigorated by their work when
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we are now dealing in another
crisis.
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And for somebody like me who's
been in this job now for a
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little over 4 years, I came in
in the middle of COVID and now
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I'm leading through another
crisis in public health.
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I think many people have said to
me that I'm an outlier in some
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ways, that to have made it
through one crisis and still
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sticking it through another.
I think of it more as how can we
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really inspire people that even
within crisis, we can find light
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at the end of the tunnel and do
good work and be there for the
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rebuilds that is sure to come in
public health.
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And so that's what I hope to
focus on in this session.
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And we hope that people come and
join us to listen in.
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Doctor Manisha Duthani is Asto's
president and Connecticut
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commissioner of public health.
Now let's hear from John
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Auerbach, senior vice president
of health at ICF, who's Co
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hosting the webinar.
Right now, we're in an operating
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environment for public health
that is simply more volatile.
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They're faster information
cycles now than they used to be.
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There's more visible mistrust
from different sectors,
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including at the community level
and policy makers.
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There's more misinformation
that's coming from lots of
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different sources.
I think there's heavier
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political pressure.
And, you know, maybe finally,
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just, you know, we have a
workforce at this point that is
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stretched thin and exhausted.
And so, given all those
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circumstances, it is more
important than ever to focus on
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emotional composure.
And the webinar will go through
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a number of strategies, one of
which being just small acts,
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micro behaviors.
Could you give us an example of
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what that means?
What's what a micro behavior
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might be that could help instill
that calmness in an environment?
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Well, I think 1 micro behavior
is having a moment every day.
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And I've been, for me, what
worked was at the beginning of
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the day to sit with my most
trusted advisors and just spend
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a few minutes talking about
here's where we are, here's what
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we know about the issue we're
dealing with, here's what we
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don't know yet, and here's the
next decision point and who
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among us owns it.
I think that level of continual
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communication, orienting the key
people in your staff at the
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start of the day can keep you
focused and, and, and some way
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keep you calm because you're,
you know that there's going to
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be a single vision for how to
get through that day.
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And this might be related, but
can you talk about the
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difference between reacting to
a, say, a chaotic environment or
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an unpredicted circumstance?
The difference between reacting
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to it and responding to it.
Sure.
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I mean, people do use those
words sometimes interchangeably,
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but I'll, I'll, I'll try to
distinguish between two
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different approaches.
I, I think in this context,
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reacting is, is sometimes when
you're in an urgent situation
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and that can undermine some
thoughtful action.
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You're responding maybe quick
list of a quick most quickly to
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the loudest critics or the
people who you're afraid will be
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your loudest critics.
And that can allow them to frame
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the issues that you're trying to
answer.
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Your communication may be
inconsistent or or or responding
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to a false information rather
than getting ahead of an of the
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policy.
And and that can lead you to
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decision making simply to
relieve the immediate pressure
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rather than to reduce the risk.
So that's under the heading of
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reacting, particularly reacting
without an opportunity for
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thoughtful consideration.
Responding on the other hand, I
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would say is more purposeful.
You slow down a little bit or at
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least just enough to make sure
you've got the problem defined.
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You set your top priorities, you
can make sure that you've
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assigned roles and division of
Labor, You can get a
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communication rhythm going, and
you can ideally make the best
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decisions by consideration of
the facts and the real
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circumstances that you're
facing.
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I I would say to be more in the
responding rather than the
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reacting mode.
It really helps to have plans
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developed ahead of time that can
anticipate as much as possible,
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but you might be facing.
It helps to conduct tabletop or
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other kinds of exercises so you
kind of play out the situation
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that might occur and you think
then about how to avoid that.
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And also that you have
discussions with your key
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stakeholders ahead of time
because you don't want to be in
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a situation where you're doing
catch up in the midst of an
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emergency.
So planning, training,
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communicating ahead of time is
more likely to make it easy to
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respond rather than react.
And lastly, could you, could you
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set the scene for us regarding
the webinar and make the case
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why it is useful to hear about
these strategies and hear your
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arguments for them live, rather
than maybe reading a ATLDR
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summary afterwards?
Well, first of all, I'm so
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delighted that I'm doing this
with Doctor Jothani.
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00:09:06,680 --> 00:09:11,040
I mean, she's amazing, a
wonderful leader and very
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thoughtful, both in terms of the
work that's gone on in her
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state, a relative to staying
calm and composed and, and
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making the appropriate
decisions.
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00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:24,960
But she's also made a an impact
on the national level as the the
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president of as though.
So just being able to have a
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conversation, I think with her
is, is a treat.
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My guess is it will also offer
us to be much more informal and
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I suspect frank about our own
experiences because I know my
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own experiences have not always
been the positive ones.
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I've made lots of mistakes and I
can share when I got things
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wrong and when I got things
right and what I learned from
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that situation.
My guess is that she can do the
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same.
And sometimes having that kind
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of a frank discussion with each
other doesn't make it into, say,
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00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:07,400
a journal article where somebody
is doing their best to Fact
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Check and you've got editors
rewriting things and maybe you
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have second thoughts about
should I have mentioned that or
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not.
So I, I think, I think this kind
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of conversation can be often a
little more honest, a little
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more informal and a little more
applicable to people who are in
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00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:27,320
the field.
John Auerbach is senior vice
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00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:30,680
president of health at ICF.
Earlier we heard from doctor
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Manisha Giuthani, ASTO President
and Connecticut Commissioner of
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00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:36,600
Public Health.
They're Co hosting the upcoming
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ASTO Insight and Inspiration
webinar, Steady hands, steady
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teams leading with confidence
and composure.
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On February 11th, join Manisha
Giuthani, MD, Commissioner at
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the Connecticut Department of
Public Health and ASTO
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President, and John Auerbach,
MBA, Senior Vice President for
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Public Health at ICF, for an
insight and inspiration webinar
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that examines how clear,
purposeful leadership
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strengthens both internal and
external trust.
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Through discussion and
reflection, we will examine how
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leaders embodies steadiness amid
uncertainty, set a sustainable
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pace, and provide calm direction
that builds trust and drives
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performance.
This conversation aims to
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inspire participants to
recognize their composure and
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capacity not as a personal
indulgence, but as a fundamental
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leadership function that shapes
the overall tone, focus, and
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confidence of their
organizations.
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Join us for this Steady Hands,
steady teams leading with
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Confidence and composure session
happening February 11th at 4:00
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PM Eastern.
The link to register is in the
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show notes ASTO newsletter
subscription options, feature
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00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:46,400
updates, analysis, resources and
events on pressing issues in
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00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:48,240
state and territorial public
health.
186
00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:52,360
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00:11:56,160 --> 00:11:58,400
This has been Public Health
Review morning edition.
189
00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:01,000
I'm John Sheehan for the
Association of State and
190
00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:02,360
Territorial Health Officials.
00:00:00,640 --> 00:00:03,000
This is Public Health Review
Morning Edition for Monday,
2
00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:06,520
February 9th, 2026.
I'm John Sheehan with news for
3
00:00:06,520 --> 00:00:09,320
the Association of State and
Territorial Health Officials
4
00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:11,960
today.
What does calm leadership
5
00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:14,480
actually look like when
everything feels urgent,
6
00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:18,000
political, and on fire?
John Auerbach, Senior Vice
7
00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:21,560
President of Health at ICF, will
give us a preview of Asto's
8
00:00:21,560 --> 00:00:25,600
upcoming Insight and inspiration
webinar, Steady hands, steady
9
00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:29,720
teams leading with Confidence
and Composure on February 11th.
10
00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:32,640
And he'll dig into the real
world skills behind steady
11
00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:36,640
leadership in volatile times.
He's hosting the webinar with
12
00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:39,680
Doctor Manisha Giuthani, Asto's
president and Connecticut
13
00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:42,760
Commissioner of Public Health.
I thought we'd give Doctor
14
00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:44,720
Giuthani the first word on the
event.
15
00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:49,360
We're really looking to explore
how leaders foster stability,
16
00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:53,160
build trust, and maintain
composure as a core leadership
17
00:00:53,160 --> 00:00:55,760
function.
One of the things that we all
18
00:00:55,760 --> 00:01:01,720
have to struggle with is what
strategies can we use to avoid
19
00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:06,560
reactive cycles, manage the pace
of the work that we are asking
20
00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:10,760
our teams to be involved in, and
inspire confidence within our
21
00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:13,600
organization and beyond our
organizations.
22
00:01:13,960 --> 00:01:19,560
And one of the ways that I try
to do that personally is through
23
00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:24,560
leading with clarity, with
enthusiasm, with a positive
24
00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:28,600
spirit.
And I hope to share some of the
25
00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:32,600
thoughts that I've had leading
our agency in Connecticut on
26
00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:35,360
this panel.
One of the thoughts I often
27
00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:40,600
share with my team is Covey has
a principle.
28
00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:44,160
It's a Foursquare box where we
think about work that is
29
00:01:44,160 --> 00:01:48,240
important and not important
versus urgent and not urgent.
30
00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:50,720
And you can think of four
quadrants with that work.
31
00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:55,440
And as public health officials,
we are often left with dealing
32
00:01:55,440 --> 00:01:59,160
with the important urgent crisis
of the day.
33
00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:03,840
Sometimes it's the important not
urgent that is actually where we
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00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:07,840
want to spend a lot of our time.
We actually want to spend our
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time on the important not
urgent.
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It's just that the urgent ends
up distracting us a lot of the
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time.
And so I think part of what I'd
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like to focus on in this session
is how do we empower our teams
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to continue that important, not
urgent work.
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00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:27,600
So then when we as leaders can
come back to it, the work has
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continued and we can continue to
push it forward while we have to
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deal with the urgent crises of
the day.
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And unfortunately, in
government, sometimes we're left
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with dealing with not important
urgent topics of the day that
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are important to somebody else
may be less important to us.
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00:02:43,920 --> 00:02:48,520
And so I think it's really
critical to think about the work
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that we do every day, how we can
inspire people to do that work,
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to feel pride in the work they
do.
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We know that we have a workforce
that was pretty downtrodden with
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COVID.
Many people retired, many people
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left the industry.
And we have people that were
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just starting to emerge and feel
reinvigorated by their work when
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we are now dealing in another
crisis.
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And for somebody like me who's
been in this job now for a
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little over 4 years, I came in
in the middle of COVID and now
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I'm leading through another
crisis in public health.
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I think many people have said to
me that I'm an outlier in some
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ways, that to have made it
through one crisis and still
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sticking it through another.
I think of it more as how can we
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really inspire people that even
within crisis, we can find light
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at the end of the tunnel and do
good work and be there for the
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rebuilds that is sure to come in
public health.
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And so that's what I hope to
focus on in this session.
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And we hope that people come and
join us to listen in.
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Doctor Manisha Duthani is Asto's
president and Connecticut
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00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:01,480
commissioner of public health.
Now let's hear from John
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00:04:01,480 --> 00:04:04,720
Auerbach, senior vice president
of health at ICF, who's Co
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00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:09,160
hosting the webinar.
Right now, we're in an operating
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00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:13,240
environment for public health
that is simply more volatile.
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00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:17,200
They're faster information
cycles now than they used to be.
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00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:21,880
There's more visible mistrust
from different sectors,
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00:04:21,880 --> 00:04:24,360
including at the community level
and policy makers.
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00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:27,920
There's more misinformation
that's coming from lots of
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different sources.
I think there's heavier
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political pressure.
And, you know, maybe finally,
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00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:37,560
just, you know, we have a
workforce at this point that is
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stretched thin and exhausted.
And so, given all those
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circumstances, it is more
important than ever to focus on
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emotional composure.
And the webinar will go through
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a number of strategies, one of
which being just small acts,
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micro behaviors.
Could you give us an example of
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what that means?
What's what a micro behavior
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00:05:00,280 --> 00:05:05,680
might be that could help instill
that calmness in an environment?
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00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:13,720
Well, I think 1 micro behavior
is having a moment every day.
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And I've been, for me, what
worked was at the beginning of
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00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:20,840
the day to sit with my most
trusted advisors and just spend
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00:05:20,840 --> 00:05:25,280
a few minutes talking about
here's where we are, here's what
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00:05:25,280 --> 00:05:28,880
we know about the issue we're
dealing with, here's what we
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don't know yet, and here's the
next decision point and who
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00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:38,640
among us owns it.
I think that level of continual
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00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:44,600
communication, orienting the key
people in your staff at the
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00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:49,000
start of the day can keep you
focused and, and, and some way
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00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:52,920
keep you calm because you're,
you know that there's going to
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be a single vision for how to
get through that day.
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00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:01,280
And this might be related, but
can you talk about the
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difference between reacting to
a, say, a chaotic environment or
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00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:13,120
an unpredicted circumstance?
The difference between reacting
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to it and responding to it.
Sure.
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00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:20,200
I mean, people do use those
words sometimes interchangeably,
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00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:24,240
but I'll, I'll, I'll try to
distinguish between two
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different approaches.
I, I think in this context,
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reacting is, is sometimes when
you're in an urgent situation
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00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:38,320
and that can undermine some
thoughtful action.
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00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:42,480
You're responding maybe quick
list of a quick most quickly to
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00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:46,520
the loudest critics or the
people who you're afraid will be
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00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:50,120
your loudest critics.
And that can allow them to frame
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00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:52,760
the issues that you're trying to
answer.
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00:06:53,640 --> 00:06:59,200
Your communication may be
inconsistent or or or responding
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00:06:59,200 --> 00:07:03,520
to a false information rather
than getting ahead of an of the
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00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:05,760
policy.
And and that can lead you to
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00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:10,280
decision making simply to
relieve the immediate pressure
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00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:14,800
rather than to reduce the risk.
So that's under the heading of
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reacting, particularly reacting
without an opportunity for
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00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:22,120
thoughtful consideration.
Responding on the other hand, I
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00:07:22,120 --> 00:07:27,640
would say is more purposeful.
You slow down a little bit or at
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00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:32,400
least just enough to make sure
you've got the problem defined.
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00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:38,640
You set your top priorities, you
can make sure that you've
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00:07:38,640 --> 00:07:42,840
assigned roles and division of
Labor, You can get a
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00:07:42,840 --> 00:07:48,480
communication rhythm going, and
you can ideally make the best
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00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:53,720
decisions by consideration of
the facts and the real
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00:07:53,800 --> 00:07:55,360
circumstances that you're
facing.
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00:07:55,800 --> 00:07:59,960
I I would say to be more in the
responding rather than the
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00:07:59,960 --> 00:08:04,680
reacting mode.
It really helps to have plans
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00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:07,800
developed ahead of time that can
anticipate as much as possible,
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00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:11,720
but you might be facing.
It helps to conduct tabletop or
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00:08:11,720 --> 00:08:15,960
other kinds of exercises so you
kind of play out the situation
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00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:19,280
that might occur and you think
then about how to avoid that.
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00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:22,120
And also that you have
discussions with your key
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00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:24,720
stakeholders ahead of time
because you don't want to be in
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00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:28,920
a situation where you're doing
catch up in the midst of an
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00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:31,760
emergency.
So planning, training,
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00:08:32,159 --> 00:08:37,200
communicating ahead of time is
more likely to make it easy to
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00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:43,320
respond rather than react.
And lastly, could you, could you
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00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:47,160
set the scene for us regarding
the webinar and make the case
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00:08:47,160 --> 00:08:52,640
why it is useful to hear about
these strategies and hear your
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00:08:52,640 --> 00:08:59,000
arguments for them live, rather
than maybe reading a ATLDR
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00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:03,720
summary afterwards?
Well, first of all, I'm so
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00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:06,680
delighted that I'm doing this
with Doctor Jothani.
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00:09:06,680 --> 00:09:11,040
I mean, she's amazing, a
wonderful leader and very
140
00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:13,400
thoughtful, both in terms of the
work that's gone on in her
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00:09:13,400 --> 00:09:18,760
state, a relative to staying
calm and composed and, and
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00:09:18,920 --> 00:09:20,840
making the appropriate
decisions.
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00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:24,960
But she's also made a an impact
on the national level as the the
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00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:27,800
president of as though.
So just being able to have a
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00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:30,560
conversation, I think with her
is, is a treat.
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00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:35,320
My guess is it will also offer
us to be much more informal and
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00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:41,360
I suspect frank about our own
experiences because I know my
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00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:45,440
own experiences have not always
been the positive ones.
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00:09:45,560 --> 00:09:49,040
I've made lots of mistakes and I
can share when I got things
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00:09:49,040 --> 00:09:51,040
wrong and when I got things
right and what I learned from
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00:09:51,040 --> 00:09:54,280
that situation.
My guess is that she can do the
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00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:56,720
same.
And sometimes having that kind
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00:09:56,720 --> 00:10:02,800
of a frank discussion with each
other doesn't make it into, say,
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00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:07,400
a journal article where somebody
is doing their best to Fact
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00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:11,360
Check and you've got editors
rewriting things and maybe you
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00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:13,600
have second thoughts about
should I have mentioned that or
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00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:16,080
not.
So I, I think, I think this kind
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00:10:16,080 --> 00:10:20,080
of conversation can be often a
little more honest, a little
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00:10:20,080 --> 00:10:23,720
more informal and a little more
applicable to people who are in
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00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:27,320
the field.
John Auerbach is senior vice
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00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:30,680
president of health at ICF.
Earlier we heard from doctor
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00:10:30,680 --> 00:10:33,920
Manisha Giuthani, ASTO President
and Connecticut Commissioner of
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00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:36,600
Public Health.
They're Co hosting the upcoming
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00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:40,480
ASTO Insight and Inspiration
webinar, Steady hands, steady
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00:10:40,480 --> 00:10:43,120
teams leading with confidence
and composure.
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00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:48,840
On February 11th, join Manisha
Giuthani, MD, Commissioner at
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00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:51,120
the Connecticut Department of
Public Health and ASTO
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00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:55,080
President, and John Auerbach,
MBA, Senior Vice President for
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00:10:55,080 --> 00:10:58,560
Public Health at ICF, for an
insight and inspiration webinar
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00:10:58,560 --> 00:11:00,880
that examines how clear,
purposeful leadership
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00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:03,600
strengthens both internal and
external trust.
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00:11:04,200 --> 00:11:06,480
Through discussion and
reflection, we will examine how
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00:11:06,480 --> 00:11:10,440
leaders embodies steadiness amid
uncertainty, set a sustainable
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00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:13,880
pace, and provide calm direction
that builds trust and drives
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00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:16,440
performance.
This conversation aims to
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00:11:16,440 --> 00:11:19,240
inspire participants to
recognize their composure and
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00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:22,680
capacity not as a personal
indulgence, but as a fundamental
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00:11:22,680 --> 00:11:26,240
leadership function that shapes
the overall tone, focus, and
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00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:28,080
confidence of their
organizations.
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00:11:28,600 --> 00:11:31,960
Join us for this Steady Hands,
steady teams leading with
181
00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:35,960
Confidence and composure session
happening February 11th at 4:00
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00:11:35,960 --> 00:11:38,840
PM Eastern.
The link to register is in the
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00:11:38,840 --> 00:11:42,760
show notes ASTO newsletter
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184
00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:46,400
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This has been Public Health
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189
00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:01,000
I'm John Sheehan for the
Association of State and
190
00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:02,360
Territorial Health Officials.