Is Fear-Based Thinking Negatively Impacting Your Leadership?

Last week, I discussed the consequences of fear-based thinking at the individual and collective level. This week, I share its threat to effectively exercising leadership.

What is fear-based thinking? 

Humans are born with two fears: falling & loud noises. We learn other fears from our environments. Some describe fear as an acronym--False Evidence Appearing Real. Grounded in past experiences and future assumptions, fear falsely predicts the present. That prediction induces anxiety, which stifles us from acting outside of our comfort zone. With fear dominating our mindset, we behave and emote as lesser versions of self.

Fear thwarts our leadership

Leadership is not about a position or title. Leader does not equal leadership. Leader is a position of authority given to a person to perform a role. Leadership is about tackling tough issues. Exercising leadership requires making daily conscious decisions. It's about being consistent and staying in it when it gets tough. It involves using intentional practices that provide strength and strategy for disrupting the status quo. Leadership mobilizes people with diverse perspectives to ally with each other for the greater good. One cannot accomplish leadership tasks with fear-based thinking. Fear maintains the status quo and impairs our ability to make sound decisions, both of which diminish our power. A mindset led by fear, cowers in the face of conflict and behaves impulsively. Fear-based thinking destroys relationships by projecting our biased worries on others. That projection breeds conflict and resentment when others challenge our distorted perceptions. Don’t believe me? Think about the last time you let fear guide your actions. Exercising leadership necessitates a trust and love ethic because it involves believing in our choices in the face of the unknown. Rooted in love, the pursuit of leadership involves partnering with others to create a better world for the common good. Fear-based thinking, on the other hand, drives us away from everything leadership stands for.

Unmask your fear defaults

If you want to discover the hidden ways fear disrupts your leadership, take our custom personal power inventory. 

Next week, I go deeper with providing strategies for exercising leadership with trust and love thinking.

With love and solidarity, 

Dr. Annice E. Fisher 

CEO & Founder