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- Turn It Off...Or Don’t
Note: please don’t think I’m promoting or ridiculing religion in any way.
When you start to get confused because of thoughts in your head,
Dont feel those feelings!
Hold them in instead
Turn it off, like a light switch
just go click!
Its a cool little Mormon trick!
We do it all the time
When you’re feeling certain feels that just dont feel right
Treat those pesky feelings like a reading light
and turn em off,
Like a light switch just go bap!
Really whats so hard about that?
Turn it off!
I went to see The Book of Mormon again recently. I describe it as quite possibly the best thing I’ve seen (movies, sports events, concerts) and that’s why I’ve seen it multiple times.
On the surface, it’s a comedy about two young missionaries.
But as some of you who know me won’t be surprised to see me write…really it’s a story about agile leadership.
I will try not to give away any huge spoilers (but even if I gave you the whole story you would still thoroughly enjoy it!)
Elder Price begins with certainty — armed with a perfect script and a desire to change the world for good.
Then their mission begins, and the world doesn’t follow the story he’s been told.
At first, he doubles down, preaches harder, and, like everyone around him when faced with doubt and discomfort, tries to “Turn It Off.”
Here’s me with the singers of “Turn it Off” after the show
I love the humour and ironic truth in that song.
“When you start to get confused because of thoughts in your head… Don’t feel those feelings! Hold them in instead!”
We can rationalise it as ‘discipline’ or ‘being resilient’ but really it’s denial and drifting from who we really are and could be.
The problem is that many systems reward it — the ability to smile through dissonance, to suppress doubt, to keep the story going even when it no longer fits.
Just like Elder Price we then start to doubt ourselves rather than the system. We start to think we are the problem - that’s distorting. And the system quite often rewards and reinforces that too.
Looking through my biased lens I also saw the traps of rescuing, shrinking and self-sacrificing before the Elders embark on the Calm REBEL Arc.
But when the pretending stops, something better begins.
Elder Price remembers why he came — to help, not to perform.
He examines what’s real, not what’s expected.
And when the system tries to pull him back into compliance, he chooses something braver: liberation
He decides to join Elder Cunningham in shaping a new story — one that may not be factually correct, but is humanly true.
Because leadership isn’t about defending the official version.
It’s about helping people find meaning that still works.
Stay Calm. Stay Rebellious. And remember…tomorrow is a latter day!
P.S. My new book Calm REBEL Leadership is out now.