The People, Process, & Progress Podcast - How to Lead Through Information Overload | S7 Ep7

Episode Date: September 24, 2025

We live in a time where more information does not always mean more clarity. In this episode of People, Process, Progress, I share how leaders, project managers, and parents can filter the flood of information and focus on what matters. We will cover why people need direction not noise, how to set critical information requirements for work and home, and how progress is made by responding with purpose instead of reacting to every ping.???? The Stability Equation: 7 Pillars for a More Balanced Life → https://a.co/d/fyLPR0Q ???? The People, Process, and Progress of Project Management → https://a.co/d/bJTqTNG ▶️ YouTube Channel → https://www.youtube.com/@peopleprocessprogress ???? Blog and resources → https://peopleprocessprogress.com

Every we return, there's another headline, another crisis, another expert opinion. Our phones light up, our feeds scroll endlessly, and our heads fill with more information than we can process. The question is, how do we lead ourselves and others through the overload instead of letting it crush us? Welcome back to People Process Progress, where we talk about real lessons in leadership, project management, and life. I'm Kevin Pinell, author of The Stability Equation and the People Process and Progress of Project Management. I'm glad you're here. Each week will explore ways to own your mind, move your body, and anchor your spirit so you can lead yourself and others with more clarity and balance. Today's theme, we're talking about leadership in a world where the flood of information never stops.

Whether it's breaking news, workplace updates, or personal responsibilities, our ability to filter, focus, and act makes the difference between clarity and in chaos. So let's talk about the people process progress. Let's start with people, right? As leaders, whether of teams or families, we set the tone, right? How we react to information, which certainly I've reacted very emotionally, very quickly. One thing I learned in public safety and emergency management and planning and things like that is that the information that comes out first is usually wrong, but it's also that information that gets people spun up, right? The quick grab headline the news channel that just throws something out there or the post or the whatever so we as leaders of the team or the rumor you hear in the workplace right we as leaders set that tone both at

our home and in the office or the virtual office if you will and people don't just need more than facts they need direction and steadiness right so one big thing when you're in emergency response is that you have to be able to maintain calm and that starts on your way there when you're getting to the scene of something on the radio right you don't want to be freaking out because they don't know what you're saying is going on when you're doing a size up when you get somewhere whether it's an accident or a fire or something else and they can't get you help if you're all hyped up the same thing for a project for let's say you've read the business case and we know hey we want to accomplish this thing by this date and here's the problem it's going to solve and if we are not really in

tune with that and what the outcome needs to be with that definition of done with that leader's intent, we can't provide the direction and the steadiness to make an assessment and then choose the actions or work with our team so they can choose the actions to move forward. So talking about this information overload, filtering information starts really with listening and then deciding what matters most for those you're responsible for, right? So what of all these crazy headlines do I hear that actually apply to my family and myself and my circle, right? Often there's international news and while we can be empathetic and sympathetic and donate or do whatever, it's not directly applicable, whereas what happens in this country,

what affects our income, what affects maybe school safety, what affects a whole bunch of other stuff, is directly applicable. So we need to determine what's really important information and what's not. so here's an example instead of passing every piece of information or news which i've seen a lot of people do they just forward these things or forward these posts or say yeah but then do they really read it because sometimes the things that are forwarded are nonsensical right so instead of passing every piece of news or workplace rumor right pause and go wait a second is it true is it relevant does this help am i part of the problem by exacerbating it by just spreading these you know unfounded truths or

lies and then take appropriate action. Process Wiles, we're going to talk about critical information requirements or CIRs. And this is a tool from emergency management and project leadership. So this has to do kind of what I was talking about and looking at what information truly matters to the success of your mission, the team, and the family. So let's talk about this on the project front, which directly applies to other planning is you should be able to give a succinct elevator pitch of information about your project, about the risk you're facing, about the issues that you have, about the plan to go forward, about how you're going to improve things, right? And so that's the same thing when you're bringing all this information in from whether it's online or the TV or rumor from people is,

okay, what's really going to impact us and what's not? And being able to tease those out is what's going to impact your bottom line. So like at work, budget changes for sure that's going to affect your cost, right, for your overall team, for specific projects, leadership, decisions, new policies that come down, we can do this, stop doing that. We should always do this kind of thing. That 100% is going to affect us directly. And ultimately, the most important thing, at least in project management, is the client needs, right? Whether that's a construction worker, a nurse, someone that's going to go to a store and buy the product, what are we focused on that affects those things, just as examples? And there's more. And then how do we filter out all

the rest of the information that doesn't matter? And at home, health, right, the health of our people, school, the safety of our kids, the safety of our spouses, right? And our family values, right? If those are being infringed upon or impacted negatively, then we need to stand up and look at, okay, this information coming in or these actions that are being taken are a problem. So let's talk about a simple process to filter things, right? Identify trusted sources. I've talked about that here quite a few times is, you know, verify across three completely different news sources, right, that you know have opposing views and what's the common thread there's some truth in there somewhere limit the frequency of checks and i've been guilty of this particularly the past couple weeks

in light of all the horrible stuff that's happened right across the board to many people in many places is don't look so much because you get sucked into it you start doom scrolling you start spinning the wheels in your mind and it's not good for you right and what i have found helpful for me and what I hope is helpful for others, including this podcast, but folks that I share or circle with either in person or virtually or on social media is share what helps people act, right? Not just what's fear and look at all the angles of it. Is that post that initially you get fired up about have some truth in it? Does the news story that's got this crazy headline just to get views or clicks or whatever have some facts in it? And then tease out what's all,

you know, we all know, especially if you're adults, what's inflammatory language, what folks are just grabbing at that's not really factual, and just use your judgment like a grown-up. Let's talk about progress, right? This comes I have found for me and for others, when we stop reacting to every ping, right, and start responding with purpose. And that's, that's part of kind of the reinvigoration that I felt lately because this is one of those areas I talk about on the stability equation. I've talked about on this podcast on posts is when you focus on helping others or being an objective voice or a helpful voice. And yes, there's some slant from my point of view, but largely, hey, how can we all think about this better? It helps

you. It helps you stabilize. It helps you be more comfortable with what's going on if you're not comfortable with it. Right. And at work, if you help settle the noise, tease out what's true and what's not, then the leaders who guide, right, others through this noise will build trust instability, right, and not just be part of the crowd, kind of like the high school rumor crowd, right? And there's small wins matter and having a calm conversation instead of a heated one, right? Cutting a meeting down to half the length, turning off alerts during family dinner, right? Helps people get more time back, helps stop the bits and bites and PowerPoints and whatever else from barraging them all day every day, right? But the overload doesn't stop,

but our response right our progress can change everything you all know as well as i do in 2025 that we live in a time where more information doesn't always mean more clarity right people need leaders who can filter the noise and that's just not some C-suite person everyone is a leader right you're leading your family you're leading your teams you're leading your dog when you're walking them right everyone needs to be able to filter the noise out processes like defining what really matters, help keep us grounded. And the progress we'll make is by focusing our energy on what moves us forward, not what keeps us spinning.

So this week, collectively, let's make our call to action to define our critical information requirements. Reddit work, at home, and our community, what actually matters and cut the rest, right? Unfollow pages that are just nonsensical feeds of negativity, right? Cut out people that are the same way. and share that filter with the people around you let them know like I've stopped doing this or I've started just following these folks or I'm not going to go to that thing anymore because it just ends up being a you know a rumor fest or something and you'll be really surprised how much lighter the load feels right when you stop carrying that noise thanks for spending time with me on people process progress if you found this helpful share the episode with someone who feels buried by information right now also check out the stability equation seven pillars for more balanced life where I go into detail on what helped me find myself rebalance based on the seven pillars of ownership, mindfulness, movement, boundaries, connection, sleep, and faith.

And then if you're thinking about how can I plan better, what's a quick way I can learn more about project management, not to be a project manager, although you can learn from that and get some help with that, but check out the people process and progress of project management. It's stuff I wish I knew when I was a new project manager. It's not going to get you ready to be certified, but it will get you ready to actually lead projects. And always remember that people are first. Our process should be aligned. We should make progress together. And as individuals, we need to work to own our mind, move our bodies, and anchor our spirits. Thank you so much for listening. More at peopleprocessprogress.com.

Godspeed, y'all.