Articles

Has Fear Seized Hold of You?

August 10, 2011 (Number 24) If you are like many of the senior leaders I've spoken to recently, feelings of fear may have been increasingly disturbing you.  Watching powerlessly as the global economy teeters and sizable chunks of stock market value — and of your retirement savings — disappear, it is natural you would feel some anxiety.

Before you jump to, "I'm just fine," look a little deeper.  Knowing what worries are percolating within you and how you're dealing with them is crucial to your experience of your power.  And it is critical, therefore, to how others perceive you — and respond to you.

At the opposite extreme from "denial," desperately demanding of yourself while your stomach churns, "I need to stop worrying!" is not really the most effective strategy, either.  There are far more sophisticated, and effective, approaches available to you:

• Know that repetitively thinking about events beyond your control will only intensify your feelings of powerlessness — and thus your fear.  Instead, focus on what you can control, such as how you show up in this moment.  Notice the fear around you, and the bodily sensations it creates within you, without letting any of it take over your thinking.  Then keep moving forward.

• Ask yourself, "What is the most powerful thing I can do right now?"  Asking myself this question during the onset of the Great Recession in 2008 produced the answer, "Write your book."  Heeding that counsel was one of the wisest choices I ever made.  That book, by the way, provides an entire chapter of strategies for transforming fear.

• Also ask, "What is the bigger picture?"  "Is whatever I'm fearing now the most important thing?"  If this doesn't begin to relax you, you're still too limited in your vision.  Expand it further.

• Leaders tend to blame and attack themselves for whatever misfortune they encounter.  Might you be doing anything like that, too?  Notice the impact that has on your mood, your ability to focus and your confidence.  Then try a more compassionate approach.

This time of jittery fear provides you an extraordinary opportunity to discover and express the deeper currents of your power. To the extent you take on this challenge, your leadership will be a true gift.  You will be the bright light and the solidity that people naturally come to.


Dean Herman