Do You Lead With Fear or Resilience?

Fear or Resilience?

Realists will say that there is a lot to fear in the world right now, the pandemic, the threat of a global war, personal job security. You name it, the list is long and endless. So as a leader, which identity are you leading with? Are you leading with the identity of fear or are you leading with the identity of resilience?

Examples of Leading with Fear:

Loss - Your focus is on the things you could lose if your world changes. You fear the loss of financial security, personal wellness, and professional status. So you never challenge the status quo.

Process - Your focus is on how hard the process of change will be. You fear risk, you fear pain, and you fear the thought of being uncomfortable. So you lead by being average, no better or worse than anyone else.

Outcome - You focus only on the negative. What if the outcome isn't what I expect? What if I fail? What if others change their opinion of me? So you lead by only thinking of yourself.

When you lead with fear, nothing ever changes and the reality is that things usually go from bad to worse. When you consider all of the struggles that cause stress and fear in your life, it's best to think of each struggle like a traffic light. A red light means that you are temporarily stuck and falling behind. A yellow light means that you have a choice to make and there is usually a risk/reward element to your decision. A green light means that you are confidently moving forward.

There are hundreds of individual traffic lights that make up your unique resilience puzzle. And we know that the lights are always going to be changing. When you lead with resilience, you celebrate every green light, regardless of how big or small that victory may be, because it makes your red lights feel less overwhelming. Your red lights are called "limiters" and they are simply an opportunity for improvement. An opportunity for red to turn green.

Don't forget to count the little wins, those yellow lights that are about to turn green. If left unrecognized, they can easily turn red. But with the right mindset and a little momentum, you can demonstrate to yourself and your teams how leading with resilience, not fear, gets everyone to where they need to be. It's all about building positive momentum.

How can you turn red lights into green lights? By leading with resilience.

Examples of Leading with Resilience:

Physical Control - Make time to invest one hour in your physical wellbeing every morning, even if that means getting up at 6am and going to bed at 11pm. Start by going for a walk every day and see where it takes you. For me, that journey took me all the way to the Ironman finish line.

Mental Control - Remind yourself of who you are and who you aspire to be every day and live by that mindset. I am a __________ . I am a __________ . I am a __________ . (I write down my 3 daily affirmations of who I am in my Resilience Playbook every day to remind myself that I believe in me, even if other people don't).

Personal Control - What did you learn today? Invest 30 minutes learning something new that will help you be 1% better at whatever you aspire to be tomorrow. YouTube, LinkedIn Learning, Books, Edx are all great learning resources.

Financial Control - Do the math, don't ignore it. Whatever your financial goals are, do the math today to determine which is more risky, staying the same or stretching yourself to be more than what you thought was possible for your life. The biggest risk to your financial wellbeing isn't change, it's not knowing your numbers. People who fear their finances do so because they don't know their own numbers.

If you aspire to be more than you are today, that will require you and those around you to get a little uncomfortable, but you don't have to stay in that constant state of anxiety. As a Resilient Leader, you need to demonstrate how to take control of the foundational pieces of your life that really matter, your Physical, Mental, Personal and Financial Resilience.

Each of these four foundational areas of resilience include many individual puzzle pieces that make up your unique resilience puzzle. To take control of each puzzle piece, you need to have a clear vision of the outcome you desire, an understanding of the identity or process you need to assume to make that vision a reality, and you need to track the proof that your identity or process is working and moving you forward every day.

So the next time you are faced with a decision to make, ask yourself if you are leading with fear or resilience, and then act accordingly. If you and the teams you lead are all on the same page, then your decision will be easy. Hopefully you will land on the page of resilience, not fear.

Does this make sense to you? Looking forward to your feedback in the comments below.