'Lead not read'

I got some advice today for how I could cope teaching with a perpetually negative co-teacher. I was told to, 'lead not read.' It was then explained that this meant, if I understood correctly, that it's better to lead oneself in the direction one wants to take (like valued actions) than to spend energy reading the emotional impact/landscape of a situation. I think this might be easier said than done. I will try to keep the strategy in mind tomorrow when I'm at school working next to my co-teacher, and I think it will work best when I can also get a sense of detachment from my raw emotional reaction to her pointless comments.
On a slightly related note: I put 'wisdom' in the label, but now I don't know whether the phrase is wisdom or advice. It's too late to investigate the difference between those two, maybe another time.