Page 130 - Fearless Leadership

Chapter

5

Changing Your Direction

and Taking a Bold Stand

The question isn’t who is going to let me;
it’s who is going to stop me.
—AYN RAND (1905–1982)

e have it backward. The conventional view is to apply a logical
Wapproach to the complex dynamic of aligning leaders in advancing
organizational objectives. This keeps leaders focused on changing struc-
ture, processes, and systems without fully considering the capacity of oth-
ers to implement and sustain them. We seek the comfort of known
methods and incremental approaches over the discomfort of discovering
something new, and perhaps, infinitely more effective.
To the casual observer, our automatic behaviors are mere examples of
unproductive actions, but taken together, they lead us in a disturbing direc-
tion away from leadership and organizational effectiveness. Our natural
impulse is to pull back, withdraw, and step away from situations that leave
us feeling uneasy, uncomfortable, anxious, or fearful. These avoidance
behaviors buttress us from taking accountability, working in partnership,
and operating with integrity. The net effect is that we contract our think-
ing, behavior, and participation, which dilutes our prospects for success.
We must overthrow the notion that conventional thinking and auto-
matic behavior are sufficient to solve problems at the speed at which they
are emerging today. While this may sound discouraging, there is a rem-

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