During a leadership training course, our instructor posed a question about how we could improve our community in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Suggestions could range from promoting social distancing to encouraging mask-wearing and frequent exercise. After a reflective five-minute silence, the instructor invited people to share their thoughts. Surprisingly, no one volunteered. We all avoided making eye contact with him. Finally, he moved on to debriefing the session, marking a moment of collective realization that although we were enrolled in a leadership course, none of us took the initiative to speak or lead. When questioned, some admitted they were afraid of misunderstanding the topic, some claimed they didn't know what to say, and others confessed to feeling shy. This was an opportunity to demonstrate leadership skills, but I, too, failed to seize it.

Blog post: https://www.victorleungtw.com/2021/03/07/on-losing-opportunities-because-of-too-isolated/