Page 132 - Fearless Leadership

Changing Your Direction and Taking a Bold Stand 119

Perhaps you are resigned, frustrated, or disillusioned, but this is normal.
By now it is clear that you have automatic and unproductive behaviors that
undermine what you want to achieve. But if you have strength of charac-
ter and strong core values of accountability and integrity, you have what
is needed to be a fearless leader. My goal is to offer you a methodology
that transforms your capacity to play a much bigger game.

MOVING TOWARD CREATING SOMETHING INSTEAD
OF AVOIDING SOMETHING
This drift of moving away from uncomfortable situations reveals our nat-
ural protective instinct of avoiding perceived threats. The only road out
of this milieu is to step into the discomfort and solve problems from a new
direction.
Conspicuously, our instinct is to trust only our intellect and depend on
what has worked before to save us. But this more-of-the-same philosophy
leads us away from what will resolve today’s problems. Limiting percep-
tions harden, and we become even more convinced that we are right about
people and situations. We stop looking for the possibility and see only sharp
and chiseled boundaries that prevent us from confidently taking action.
Fear, uncertainty, and anxiety undermine performance, and our instinc-
tive reaction is to run for cover. But it is here that we must change our
direction and move toward our discomfort in order to find more effective
solutions.
Think of your behavior as fitting into one of two categories: moving
toward generating something, or moving away from discomfort and fear.
Many consider avoidance behavior to be smart, normal, and natural. And
from a rudimentary perspective, they are correct; avoiding is a natural
behavior that appears to reduce the expenditure of energy and resources.
But the truth is that avoiding takes considerably more energy than creat-
ing a new reality.
Consider the amount of time you spend worrying or thinking about a
sensitive conversation, a difficult person, a potential conflict, a tough deci-
sion, misalignment of leaders, or an unresolved situation. It takes a sub-
stantial investment of energy to defend, be right, and avoid—much more
than is required to step into your discomfort, take a bold stand, and act