During unexpected, unscripted events, we often look for a leader. Someone who knows what’s going on. Someone who seems to know what to do. Someone who’s an example for others.

This job belongs to the informal mayor. This is the self-selected linchpin who takes action. The person who helps us to organize, to find common purpose, to feel more at ease, or to feel a sense of order.

Informal mayors will be present in the airport terminal when all flights are cancelled. They’ll be in the parking lot before the high school basketball game when the doors are mysteriously locked. They’re walking among cars on the interstate when traffic has been stopped for hours. They’re among bystanders stuck in a public building that's on security lock-down.

Informal mayors are not elected. They have no official roles, responsibilities, or authority. They merely take action. They’re not necessarily heroic or larger than life. They’re merely generous connectors who see others and attend to what’s needed.

Meaning ... you can be one anytime you choose, and it can make a difference.

H/T Angie