You gain strength, experience and confidence by every experience where you really stop to look fear in the face… You must do the thing you cannot do.
~Eleanor Roosevelt
It seems like most, if not all, people have something that they really fear. Fears can be very real at times. They can cause people to freeze up and tremble. Other times, fear and keep people from moving forward on their goals. As a leader, it can be easy to let fear get a hold of you. There are many things that you may fear as a leader. Some of those fears may include:
1. Fear of rejection
2. Fear of inadequacy
3. Fear of the unknown
4. Fear of underperformance
5. Fear of lack of control
When you are the leader, you cannot let fear take control of you. If you let fear have a hold on you, you will become an ineffective leader. When you let fear take a hold of you, you are giving it control over you. Fear can be debilitating if you let it be.
On the other hand, a little fear is okay if it motivates you to be better and work harder. You must use that fear to motivate you to be better. So what is the opposite of fear? I would suggest that it is courage. When you have courage, you look past your fears to the end result. If you have courage, you will act in the face of uncertainty. As a leader, you cannot succeed if you don’t have courage. Just as there are many things you can fear, there are also many things you can have courage to do. Some of those include:
1. Courage to be yourself
2. Courage to do what’s right
3. Courage to do your best
4. Courage to move forward when the future is unknown
5. Courage to face your fears
6. Courage to deliver bad news when necessary
As a leader, you may face internal battles between fear and courage. There is no fear that you cannot overcome with courage. What do you fear? What do you have courage to do? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below!
Hi, Brandon,
Great insight, Brandon!
Leaders become leaders for great reasons! If they had been remaining where they were, they would not have become leaders! Leaders needed to have the courage to stretch beyond their comfort zone.
What makes a leader courageous? The DREAM and VISION and PASSION make us courageous. The fear of rejection, inadequacy, of the unknown, underperformance or lack of control then becomes tiny challenges towards to end GOAL.
As you mentioned, “there is no fear that you cannot overcome with courage”!
I love Eleanor’s quote! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Viola Tam
Viola,
Great comment! As you mentioned, dream, vision, and passion are so important. When you set the end goal as your main objective you pretty much forget about all fears as your focus becomes clear. Thank you for your great comment!
I found that there is less courage in leadership and more fear in taking the responsibility for the welfare of so many to your heart. When the passion for what you do inspires you to care for so many fear and panic may set in. The best way to overcome that and find the courage is by seeing the good that you have accomplished and the impact that you have been able to acheive in the lives of those you lead, this is what drives a true leader.
Welcome Dee!
Thank you for your insightful comment. You make a very good point that once you look back on the difference you’ve made in the past, it is much easier to have courage to move forward. You begin to see that although you’ve gone through challenges, you overcame them by working hard. Thanks again for sharing!
Beautiful blog with nice informational content. This is a really interesting and informative post. Good job! Keep it up, hope to read your other updates. Thanks for this nice sharing.
Hi Brandon,
May I have your permission to use the photograph of the soaring eagle in a PowerPoint presentation on “Courageous Conversations” I’m presenting? I’d be glad to reference you site. And can you please tell me what the captions reads, as the font is too small to see. Thank you.
– Karen
Welcome Karen,
Thank you for visiting my blog. I really appreciate that you asked my permission to use this picture. I am completely fine with you using it. I am really sorry, but I don’t remember what the caption says. Sorry.
Thanks, Brandon
Hi Karen. The caption reads …Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it.