The pandemic forced universities to move rapidly to remote teaching, and Centers for Teaching and Learning (CTLs) played a large role in ensuring that transition. We argue that the effectiveness of our work as academic developers lies in our style or approach as much as in any actions taken. This style of working -- holding lightly to expertise, embracing a generalist status, and trading authority back and forth with faculty -- was especially suited to the fluid and high-stakes nature of the moment. We suggest that cultivating this disposition might be an important outcome for CTLs to emerge from the pandemic.