5 Leadership Fails that Erode Your Leadership Integrity: #5 Allowing fear to persist as your motivation.

We all have fears. And fears can be extremely motivating. In fact, you can find that many amazing successes have their their genesis in fear.

But allowing fear to persist as your primary motivation will likely not yield you repeated success. Because if your motivation is fear, then you have an issue of direction. You are running FROM something… not TOWARDS something..

We are often swift to make changes in an attempt to avoid discomfort. We change directions because we're trying to avoid fear or circumvent something that might be uncomfortable. This is especially true during moments of high urgency; when we fear the results of our actions or inactions.

The problem with this is that it causes us to run from something, not run towards something.

Instead of changing because of fear, change with a direction. This means, when urgency is high and you find yourself making quick decisions to avoid discomfort, that's the optimal time to retrain your decisions-making. It's time to reframe your thinking.

Instead of: "We are changing vendors because we uncertain about their steep price increases." Think: "We are driving towards a long term vendor relationship with transparency and stable pricing."

Instead of: "I need to help my team avoid their day-to-day arguments, or we are going to start dropping the ball for our customers." Think: "I want to drive this team towards healthy, effective communication and collaboration that puts our customers first."

Instead of: "Another competitor in this market is going to seriously hinder us." Think: We have a unique value proposition that we will continue to hone, pursue and provide for our customers.

Don't change because of fear. Instead, set a direction for where you want to go rather than where you don't want to end up.

You are in a different mindset when you operate with a distinct direction, rather than from a place of fear. With distinct direction, you can act with courage and confidence. With fear, you will always be subject to your emotional stimulus.

This is organizational autonomy. You have fears, but you remain steady in your desired direction.

Always have a direction for where you're going. I'm not saying you shouldn't be afraid...just be sure to set your desired direction before you act.

Go. Be. Profound.