"With fear in your mind: What kind of dreams will you have? – Nightmares? " Ronald C. Stern. Mr. Stern’s question was perhaps the most telling of all, in a discussion on leadership effectiveness.
It begs the question: Can you really lead (effectively), if you’re afraid? Sometimes it can take living through a couple of major fears to realize they generally fail to live up to expectation. While we can all ‘speak’ to this academically, often it takes ‘living’ through it to truly understand. In my case, I used to fear any manner of unemployment. Three times I have had periods of unemployment, twice involuntarily, once by choice. Each time the ‘fear of being unemployed’ failed to live up to my worst fears.
After all, if you are dependent on something (believe you cannot live without) like your paycheck, your behavior -will- be constrained. Perhaps you will not be as outspoken, you will be more conservative in thought, speech, and manner. Standing up, being seen, recognized, will fly in the face of, ‘…being the nail sticking its head up.’
A large portion of our work force is currently furloughed indefinitely; a disproportionate number of them being mid-to-senior level career folk. As they come back to the workforce they may elect to play it safe for fear of losing employment again. Question is, what will that mean for our nation’s competitiveness?
