Conquering FUD

The role of leadership is to provide clarity and create forward momentum in a sea of complexity. Each day is filled with a plethora of opinions, choices, technologies, and perspectives. New ways and old constants sometimes create confusion, ambiguity, and slow this momentum. When there is confusion we have the beginning of FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt), which brings everything to a halt.

FUD holds good inclinations – and inspirations – back. Fear can often activate emotions which then manifest in either freezing, fighting, or flying away. The ability to move great ideas into actions is one of the most important attributes we all have in this world. When we can’t do this, we don’t thrive and nor do things around us. 

As a leader how you manage your fear impacts your performance. If you want to grow, understanding how FUD impacts your trajectory and when to apply new skills is critical to success. Learning how to walk into FUD and use it as a catalyst for even better solutions, ideas, products, services and personal growth is critical for yourself and your team.

Here are a few techniques to move past your FUD:

• Identify the situation in three sentences or less.
• Ask others for their perspective on how they would solve the situation.
• Engage those you term as “negative or toxic” and get their perspective as well.
• Engage those who you don’t know but who have successfully handled this situation.
• Write all the options down, story board it, draw it.
• Step away from the situation, go out and have fun with family and friends, go for a walk in nature.
• Come back and look at it with fresh eyes, answer the question “if there were no boundaries and you were not worried about failure, what would you do?”
• Define the first step that makes sense to take and take it.

“If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s.” 
― Joseph Campbell

Growth of a Leader

Our growth comes from our experiences, our willingness to be learners, to explore fear, to celebrate joy and be our best selves. Every time we confront fear we gain new skills and we become stronger and better in our professions and our lives.

Nobody knows the future. The future is built by doing our best in each moment. We create a great future by giving our best to our self and others. 

Keep Growing!