What gives you genuine fear? For me, it was public speaking. As a seasoned professor, I was used to commanding a small room with a few dozen students or colleagues. But the idea of delivering a speech or presentation in a large hall full of hundreds of people terrified me. I avoided it for as long as I could—until I realized that my fear was keeping me from fully achieving my fullest potential.
Why do we experience fear at all? What brings on this tremendously powerful emotion? This is a question we must grapple with not only as individuals, but as leaders. Fear can permeate an entire organization, creating a culture of caution where analysis-paralysis stifles innovation and cripples the capacity to act boldly when it matters most.
To understand why this happens, both to us and to our organizations, we can turn to what psychologists call “The Fear Equation.”Through this lens, Fear = Uncertainty + Loss of Control. In other words, the more uncertain a situation appears and the less control we seem to have over the outcome, the more fearful we—and our organizations—will become. Let’s analyze each term in detail.
Uncertainty is the inability to foretell consequences or outcomes due to a lack of knowledge or understanding upon which we can make sound predictions. It is useful to distinguish this from risk. A risk is a danger we can identify and whose likelihood we can calculate, often by using past experience or statistical models. For example, JP Morgan’s analysis of economic factors might suggest a 60% risk of a recession this year. While not a sure thing and certainly capable of provoking genuine fear, its quantifiable nature allows for hedging and optimized decision-making.
In contrast, uncertainty refers to a situation where no amount of analysis can help us credibly pin down the likelihood of an outcome. We simply do not know, for instance, if or when we might face another global pandemic. We can guess, but we cannot accurately calculate the odds and the magnitude, which in turn prevents us from truly optimizing our way around it.
Faced with the prospect of a fundamentally uncertain situation—one with unexpected and unquantifiable dangers—the present moment can feel intensely ambiguous, unknowable, and, frankly, beyond our control. It can seem as if the situations are actually controlling us, rather than the other way around. This one-two punch of uncertainty and loss of control in turn arouses an emotional response that can make courage much more difficult, sparking doubt and, perhaps more profoundly, fear.
So, how do we solve for fear? How can we act boldly when faced with crippling uncertainty and a profound loss of control? This is the central question I explore in my new book, How to Be Bold. My research revealed a science-backed playbook of nine specific strategies—the ‘9 C’s of Courage’—that provide a path for building our courage muscles and leading others to do the same. In a broad sense, these strategies work by targeting the levers of the Fear Equation—doing what we can to reduce real or perceived uncertainty, while increasing our real or perceived control. This season, we will explore many of them in depth.
Let me close by revisiting my personal story of my fear of speaking to large audiences, and how I learned to cultivate a sense of Calmness (one of the 9 C’s) whenever I stepped onstage. At some point, I realized I was losing sight of my long-standing service mission as a professor: provoking and inspiring others through ideas at scale. A turning point for me came when I started to direct my mind to look inward and think about my own priorities and deep purpose, as opposed to being distracted by concerns of how the audience was receiving my message. This strategy of Paying Selective Attention is a powerful way to focus your attention on what matters, and instill a sense of Calmness in the face of fear. That small bit of redirection energized and motivated me to cultivate courage, take chances with my material, diverge from my prepared thoughts, and speak extemporaneously, all in service of communicating powerful ideas at scale.
So, when you find yourself acting in the face of fear, what can you sharpen your focus on? What can you pay selective attention to in order to cut through the noise, calm your mind, and act boldly?
