There are many perks to my job, one of them being that every so often I’m invited to speak at a career day or a teacher will ask me to speak to his or her class about what it’s like to work at a newspaper.
Two weeks ago, I was invited by a first-grade teacher at Chatfield School in Lapeer to do just that. I think first graders are the youngest group I’ve ever spoken to, so I wasn’t sure how much they’d grasp. I’ve known this teacher for years, so I was comfortable asking for some advice. She suggested I talk about the various jobs at a newspaper. I prepared remarks, packed up some pencils, notepads and newspapers (swag is a must in any school) and headed to my speaking engagement.

Standing in front of 49 first graders is intimidating. Their energy is so high I worried I’d struggle to capture their attention, but they seemed to be hooked on my every word. What was helpful is that my arrival was perfectly timed during March is Reading Month when the entire school focused on reading newspapers. The school’s musical this spring — Newsies — was even tied into the theme. When I was done speaking, I asked for questions.
The first graders had a lot of great questions. I especially loved the student who asked about the clothing options for each career choice. A girl after my own heart. The questions eventually turned into storytelling. I was getting lots of great info like, “This one time my brother was in the newspaper.” “My dad gets a newspaper about cars.” I enjoyed learning a bit more about the students, but understandably the teachers wanted to encourage more questions and said “remember, you are asking questions, not telling stories.”
The students didn’t miss a beat and almost immediately found a way to tell their stories in the form of a question. “Did you know my brother was in the newspaper once?” “Why does my dad get a newspaper about cars?” I loved it! The students had adapted incredibly quickly. How smart!
The entire experience had me thinking about adaptability and how important it is to all of us and our brand. For better or worse, the pandemic proved that we can all be adaptable if we have to be, but five years later where do you rank on an adaptability scale? Changes in technology, personnel changes or even a career change can be just around the corner. Can you adapt as fast as a first grader?
A forbes.com article on the topic notes that “adaptability in the workplace is the ‘top skill of the moment,’ according to LinkedIn’s report, The 2024 Most In-Demand Skills … McKinsey predicts that eight of the top 10 skills future workers will need are soft skills — like adaptability … Adaptability is the capacity to adjust quickly and easily to changes in your work environment. ‘Adaptability is the best way to have agency right now,’ says Aneesh Raman, VP, Workforce Expert at LinkedIn. Raman adds, ‘at the core of managing change is building that muscle of adaptability.’”
Keeping that is in mind, here are three tips to help you adapt:
Don’t take it personally: Be like the first graders, who clearly didn’t see the instruction to ask questions instead of telling a story as a personal slight. They simply adapted and found a way to make it work for them. If you don’t waste time taking changes personally, it’ll be easier and faster to see the change as a positive.
Practice Deliberate Calm: This is a new concept to me that I’d like to do more research on, however, what I initially read in a Harvard Business Review article on the topics has me intrigued. From the article, “New, high-pressure situations often create a level of anxiety that triggers the very reactions that tend to limit us, stifling innovation. This is the adaptability paradox … ‘Deliberate Calm’ is a solution to the adaptability paradox. It enables leaders to act with intention, creativity, and objectivity, even in the most challenging circumstances, and it helps us to learn and adapt to novel challenges when the stakes are highest. ‘Deliberate’ refers to the awareness that you have a choice in how you experience and respond to a situation. ‘Calm’ refers to rationally considering how best to respond, without being governed by old habits.”
Remind yourself you’ve done this before: We have all adapted at some point in our lives, and the world hasn’t stopped turning. Remind yourself that no matter the change or the challenges it brings, you can do it!
What skills do you use to adapt to changes? Email me at ecaswell@mihomepaper.com.
Emily Caswell is the Brand Manager for VIEW Group, the branding division of View Newspaper Group.