Page 131 - Fearless Leadership

118 FEARLESS LEADERSHIP

edy. We must reverse the instinctive reaction of avoiding discomfort and
fear and instead usher in a new era in which fearless leaders step into the
fray and solve problems from a radically new perspective.
This counterintuitive thinking of moving toward the very things that
make us uncomfortable in order to create something more effective is
potent and must be learned. For some it may appear risky. But the greater
risk is to remain on the proverbial treadmill of solving recurring problems
with solutions that are unequal to the task.
In this chapter, we investigate how to reverse the instinctive behavioral
urges of avoiding, escaping, and evading and replace them with extraor-
dinary behaviors that move us toward reconnecting people with one
another and the larger mission of the organization. In stark contrast to the
automatic behavior of avoiding, fearless leaders confront the real issues and
embrace new solutions.
This chapter is designed for you to learn the shortest and most effec-
tive path for working together in a new way. We explore how organizational
capability expands when leaders demonstrate their commitment through
uniform behavior.
In an unpredictable environment, your most powerful approach is to
counterbalance high levels of uncertainty with a stable standard of behav-
ior. When people know the rules for how everyone is expected to behave,
they are able to focus on pressing business needs. Articulating a compelling
stand for how you expect people to work together is the first step in defin-
ing personal and organizational context. This strategy puts you in control
and gives you the power to produce breakthroughs—sudden transforma-
tions of what is possible—and achieve unprecedented results.

Fearless leadership is not the absence of fear. It is the courage to
confront fear and solve problems from a radically new direction.

Reengineering your thinking and behavior starts with an undeniable
premise: there is nothing wrong, missing, or inadequate with you; you do
not need to be fixed. Our quest is to transform what you can achieve.
“Fixing” puts a Band-Aid on the symptom where wounds are temporarily
patched but never healed.