Ranjay Gulati

I should preface that by saying, historically, human beings, when they'd encountered uncertainty and fear, they prayed.

A belief in a higher power.

The most effective way humankind for thousands of years has found to deal with uncertainty is to pray.

A belief in a higher source as being there for me is an important way in which people kind of cope.

Now, there are other ways in which people also understand this.

And I found the following among most of these people.

If you look at how people operate, we don't see things as they are.

We see them as we are.

Now, what do I mean by that?

We all look at the world through a lens of meaning and identity.

Why am I here?

Captain Sullenberger, who landed the plane in a U.S.

Airways flight in the Hudson River, had 90 seconds to do it.

Katie Couric asked him, what were you thinking when you had to do that?

He said, I realized in that moment that my 40 years of flying, my entire life up to that moment, had been a preparation to handle that moment.

This was it.

This was my moment.

When I talked to Suma Jan, a physician in New Orleans, ER physician, in the early days of COVID, a young doctor who has two kids at home, young kids at home, and is worried she's going to bring COVID back home and give it to her family.

And a decision she has to make is should she stay home or come to work?

She says, this is my Olympic moment.