Creating Just Enough Anxiety
by Robert Rosen
The most successful leaders create the right level of anxiety -- enough to drive workers forward without causing them to resist, give up or try to control what happens. Anxiety is a powerful tool that can be used to drive organizations and their employees.
During these times of volatile global markets, declining consumer loyalty and increasing competition, anxiety is at an all-time high. Like all company leaders, human resource executives are challenged more than ever to help people adapt to change and uncertainty, and perform at their best.
In order to turn anxiety into the productive energy required to navigate change after change, HR leaders need to learn how to lead with "just enough anxiety."
During my 30-year career as psychologist, entrepreneur and CEO adviser, I've interviewed and advised more than 250 great leaders, at organizations worldwide, including PepsiCo, Northrop Grumman, Toyota, PricewaterhouseCoop ers, Boeing and ING. The most successful leaders I've met are those who create "just enough anxiety" inside themselves and their organizations.
What is "just enough anxiety?" It is the right level of anxiety that drives people forward without causing them to resist, give up or try to control what happens. More than any other factor, it powers leaders and their companies to the top.
Too much anxiety, on the other hand, leads to chaos and confusion, lowers productivity and destroys morale. Too little anxiety drives organizations into complacency, preventing the innovation needed for maintaining a competitive edge.
"Just enough anxiety" is a competitive human strategy that can lead people through uncertainty and change. It can help unleash people's creative energy and energize organizations. It can enable HR leaders to optimize their company's human capital to close the gaps created by change, between where an organization is today and where company leaders want it to be tomorrow.
Open Minds and Open Hearts
To use this strategy, leaders must live and lead with open minds and open hearts. They must tell the truth to themselves about who they are and what they want. They must ask difficult questions, admit mistakes and stay open to new ideas and ways of doing things by letting go of preconceived notions about life. Open and compassionate with others, they must express their emotions in healthy ways, and be able to bounce back from setbacks and failures.
Just ask Arbitron Chief Administrative Officer and human resource leader Kathie Ross. "You have to understand your own emotions," she says. "You need to express the whole range of emotions authentically and appropriately, including humor, which is enormously helpful in managing anxiety and helping people feel comfortable. "
All leaders are called upon to balance costs and revenues, growth and decline, innovation and efficiency. But effective leaders also must balance opposing forces inside themselves and throughout their organizations.
They need to be masters of three key leadership paradoxes: realistic optimism, constructive impatience and confident humility.
Realistic Optimism
Realistic optimism is the ability to imagine what's possible while having honest conversations about the reality of business today.
Realistic leaders tell the truth about what's working and not working, and confront the tough issues. They understand the trends, competition, problems and customer demands affecting their business, and focus on what matters.
Optimistic leaders dream the future, invoking the power of hope in their people. They envision what's possible, see problems as fixable, and believe that the cup is half full.
Leaders must be both realistic and optimistic. They must think in the present and future simultaneously, focusing on where they are and where they are going.
Alan Lafley, CEO at brand goliath Procter & Gamble, is the epitome of that concept.
From the top of the heap where company brands, such as Crest, Charmin, Folgers and Pringles, touch the lives of people around the world two billion times a day, Lafley digs down to be realistic about business goals, challenges and next steps.
A big-picture visionary managing 300 brands selling in 180 countries, he uses a one-page summary of the company's goals, objectives, strategies and measures as reminders of "now and next." Yet he also tracks item by item, year by year, and business by business.
Constructive Impatience
Constructive impatience is the ability to build a positive, supportive environment while instilling in people a sense of urgency and a drive for results. It involves living with and creating discomfort and excitement inside yourself and the people around you, stepping into the unknown and allowing yourself to feel vulnerable.
Constructive leaders see the best in people and create a working environment that is psychologically safe, characterized by trust, respect and appreciation. Impatient leaders challenge themselves and others to be better tomorrow, constantly raising the bar and speaking directly to people's desire to win.
Using both elements, leaders challenge people while supporting them, create stretch goals while soliciting buy in, balance urgency and right timing, and promote both winning and win-win solutions.
Cadbury Schweppes CEO Todd Stitzer knows that his ability to stretch people beyond their limits in a constructive way is the key to achieving his goal.
When I spoke to Stitzer in London, he told me how he challenges people to "make the company and themselves the very best they could be," by continually resetting the rules of the game.
That's no small feat when you're competing with giants like Nestle, with nearly $69 billion in sales, and Coke, with $24 billion. Once, Stitzer worked to decrease the timeframe for a new product, first moving the bar from the original two to three years to nine to 18 months, then to six to 14 months.
As a result, the company out-innovated Wrigley in less than two years.
Leaders must be at ease with uneasiness. Stitzer and others understand that some discomfort is essential for learning and change. They stretch themselves and continually seek to increase the amount of discomfort they can live with.
And they balance their sense of urgency and drive for results with their understanding of people's need to feel safe. They know that people do their best work when they feel valued and respected.
Confident Humility
Confident humility is the ability to blend the best of masculine and feminine leadership, making things happen, while empowering others to succeed.
Confident leaders believe in themselves, are comfortable with their personal power and shape their environment. They also share power with others and develop leaders, able to hold their power and give it away at the same time.
Humble leaders listen and learn from others, build great relationships and are great teachers. They are generous and compassionate.
To be effective, leaders need to be both confident and humble. They must believe in themselves while trusting their people, act with authority while sharing power and building a strong leadership pipeline, live their values while honoring others, and speak their minds while listening to and learning from what others have to say.
Since taking the reins of REI, founded in 1939 as the company of outdoor enthusiasts, CEO Sally Jewell has brought the company back from the brink of disaster by building solid relationships with employees, customers and the world at large.
REI was a company in crisis and it didn't know it, she told me. So Jewell started sharing the fundamental building blocks of the financial side of the business at town hall meetings and letting people know that the company, on its present course "was not sustainable. "
Fast forward to today and REI is in a much different situation. It now operates more than 80 stores in 27 states, with more than 8,000 employees -- and also has the largest outdoor store on the Internet. Company sales in 2005 surpassed $1 billion, with a one-year sales growth of 15 percent.
It all starts at the top. The way company leaders handle uncertainty impacts how safe people will feel. It determines how much they will trust the C-suite to lead them through change.
A Question of Leadership
HR executives should ask themselves how their relationship with anxiety affects their ability to manage the challenges of change and uncertainty faced everyday? How can they begin to create "just enough anxiety" for themselves and their organizations?
Answering these questions is critical.
Using "just enough anxiety" helps leaders more effectively manage the human side of the business. It takes HR leaders further down the path to building a powerful organizational culture capable of navigating the choppy waters of a continually changing marketplace.
"Just enough anxiety" is a competitive human strategy that organizations can use as a catalyst for new and continuing growth.
Anxiety is a fact of life. How an individual uses it makes all the difference. If it overwhelms, a person will panic. If it is denied or an individual runs from it, he or she will become complacent.
But if anxiety is used in a positive way, it is a powerful force. By cultivating an open mind and heart and mastering the three leadership paradoxes, HR executives can propel themselves and their organizations to the top.
[About the Author: Robert Rosen is CEO of Healthy Companies International and the author of Just Enough Anxiety: The Hidden Driver of Business Success (Portfolio; March 2008
by Robert Rosen
The most successful leaders create the right level of anxiety -- enough to drive workers forward without causing them to resist, give up or try to control what happens. Anxiety is a powerful tool that can be used to drive organizations and their employees.
During these times of volatile global markets, declining consumer loyalty and increasing competition, anxiety is at an all-time high. Like all company leaders, human resource executives are challenged more than ever to help people adapt to change and uncertainty, and perform at their best.
In order to turn anxiety into the productive energy required to navigate change after change, HR leaders need to learn how to lead with "just enough anxiety."
During my 30-year career as psychologist, entrepreneur and CEO adviser, I've interviewed and advised more than 250 great leaders, at organizations worldwide, including PepsiCo, Northrop Grumman, Toyota, PricewaterhouseCoop ers, Boeing and ING. The most successful leaders I've met are those who create "just enough anxiety" inside themselves and their organizations.
What is "just enough anxiety?" It is the right level of anxiety that drives people forward without causing them to resist, give up or try to control what happens. More than any other factor, it powers leaders and their companies to the top.
Too much anxiety, on the other hand, leads to chaos and confusion, lowers productivity and destroys morale. Too little anxiety drives organizations into complacency, preventing the innovation needed for maintaining a competitive edge.
"Just enough anxiety" is a competitive human strategy that can lead people through uncertainty and change. It can help unleash people's creative energy and energize organizations. It can enable HR leaders to optimize their company's human capital to close the gaps created by change, between where an organization is today and where company leaders want it to be tomorrow.
Open Minds and Open Hearts
To use this strategy, leaders must live and lead with open minds and open hearts. They must tell the truth to themselves about who they are and what they want. They must ask difficult questions, admit mistakes and stay open to new ideas and ways of doing things by letting go of preconceived notions about life. Open and compassionate with others, they must express their emotions in healthy ways, and be able to bounce back from setbacks and failures.
Just ask Arbitron Chief Administrative Officer and human resource leader Kathie Ross. "You have to understand your own emotions," she says. "You need to express the whole range of emotions authentically and appropriately, including humor, which is enormously helpful in managing anxiety and helping people feel comfortable. "
All leaders are called upon to balance costs and revenues, growth and decline, innovation and efficiency. But effective leaders also must balance opposing forces inside themselves and throughout their organizations.
They need to be masters of three key leadership paradoxes: realistic optimism, constructive impatience and confident humility.
Realistic Optimism
Realistic optimism is the ability to imagine what's possible while having honest conversations about the reality of business today.
Realistic leaders tell the truth about what's working and not working, and confront the tough issues. They understand the trends, competition, problems and customer demands affecting their business, and focus on what matters.
Optimistic leaders dream the future, invoking the power of hope in their people. They envision what's possible, see problems as fixable, and believe that the cup is half full.
Leaders must be both realistic and optimistic. They must think in the present and future simultaneously, focusing on where they are and where they are going.
Alan Lafley, CEO at brand goliath Procter & Gamble, is the epitome of that concept.
From the top of the heap where company brands, such as Crest, Charmin, Folgers and Pringles, touch the lives of people around the world two billion times a day, Lafley digs down to be realistic about business goals, challenges and next steps.
A big-picture visionary managing 300 brands selling in 180 countries, he uses a one-page summary of the company's goals, objectives, strategies and measures as reminders of "now and next." Yet he also tracks item by item, year by year, and business by business.
Constructive Impatience
Constructive impatience is the ability to build a positive, supportive environment while instilling in people a sense of urgency and a drive for results. It involves living with and creating discomfort and excitement inside yourself and the people around you, stepping into the unknown and allowing yourself to feel vulnerable.
Constructive leaders see the best in people and create a working environment that is psychologically safe, characterized by trust, respect and appreciation. Impatient leaders challenge themselves and others to be better tomorrow, constantly raising the bar and speaking directly to people's desire to win.
Using both elements, leaders challenge people while supporting them, create stretch goals while soliciting buy in, balance urgency and right timing, and promote both winning and win-win solutions.
Cadbury Schweppes CEO Todd Stitzer knows that his ability to stretch people beyond their limits in a constructive way is the key to achieving his goal.
When I spoke to Stitzer in London, he told me how he challenges people to "make the company and themselves the very best they could be," by continually resetting the rules of the game.
That's no small feat when you're competing with giants like Nestle, with nearly $69 billion in sales, and Coke, with $24 billion. Once, Stitzer worked to decrease the timeframe for a new product, first moving the bar from the original two to three years to nine to 18 months, then to six to 14 months.
As a result, the company out-innovated Wrigley in less than two years.
Leaders must be at ease with uneasiness. Stitzer and others understand that some discomfort is essential for learning and change. They stretch themselves and continually seek to increase the amount of discomfort they can live with.
And they balance their sense of urgency and drive for results with their understanding of people's need to feel safe. They know that people do their best work when they feel valued and respected.
Confident Humility
Confident humility is the ability to blend the best of masculine and feminine leadership, making things happen, while empowering others to succeed.
Confident leaders believe in themselves, are comfortable with their personal power and shape their environment. They also share power with others and develop leaders, able to hold their power and give it away at the same time.
Humble leaders listen and learn from others, build great relationships and are great teachers. They are generous and compassionate.
To be effective, leaders need to be both confident and humble. They must believe in themselves while trusting their people, act with authority while sharing power and building a strong leadership pipeline, live their values while honoring others, and speak their minds while listening to and learning from what others have to say.
Since taking the reins of REI, founded in 1939 as the company of outdoor enthusiasts, CEO Sally Jewell has brought the company back from the brink of disaster by building solid relationships with employees, customers and the world at large.
REI was a company in crisis and it didn't know it, she told me. So Jewell started sharing the fundamental building blocks of the financial side of the business at town hall meetings and letting people know that the company, on its present course "was not sustainable. "
Fast forward to today and REI is in a much different situation. It now operates more than 80 stores in 27 states, with more than 8,000 employees -- and also has the largest outdoor store on the Internet. Company sales in 2005 surpassed $1 billion, with a one-year sales growth of 15 percent.
It all starts at the top. The way company leaders handle uncertainty impacts how safe people will feel. It determines how much they will trust the C-suite to lead them through change.
A Question of Leadership
HR executives should ask themselves how their relationship with anxiety affects their ability to manage the challenges of change and uncertainty faced everyday? How can they begin to create "just enough anxiety" for themselves and their organizations?
Answering these questions is critical.
Using "just enough anxiety" helps leaders more effectively manage the human side of the business. It takes HR leaders further down the path to building a powerful organizational culture capable of navigating the choppy waters of a continually changing marketplace.
"Just enough anxiety" is a competitive human strategy that organizations can use as a catalyst for new and continuing growth.
Anxiety is a fact of life. How an individual uses it makes all the difference. If it overwhelms, a person will panic. If it is denied or an individual runs from it, he or she will become complacent.
But if anxiety is used in a positive way, it is a powerful force. By cultivating an open mind and heart and mastering the three leadership paradoxes, HR executives can propel themselves and their organizations to the top.
[About the Author: Robert Rosen is CEO of Healthy Companies International and the author of Just Enough Anxiety: The Hidden Driver of Business Success (Portfolio; March 2008