SWIMMING IN ANXIETY

I have to admit that writing about anxiety make me a little anxious--in a good way.  If I were anxious in a bad way, I wouldn't be able to write at all. If I had no anxiety, I'd just keep reading the Sunday paper.  

You, as a top level leader swim in anxiety everyday. It's a given. And so managing your anxiety and that of your company is a skill you have to have.
Sorry it is so.  I wish it were all about only urgency and creative tension but your company exists on an accelerated change trajectory that changes direction without warning! That is an automatic  anxiety creating machine.

The first thing you can do, is know it.  Accept it.  
Anxiety is you. Gulp. And it is not all bad.

The second thing you can do is know when you are crazy anxious, good anxious or in wonderful blind denial.  Crazy anxious makes you volatile, unable to concentrate, fearful about real connection with people, and  having to gear up in an exaggerated way for the day.  Not anxious enough usually shows up in tuning out, minimizing any bad news that comes your way and low energy for action.
Good anxiety gives you just enough edge to want to get things done, create needed change, and a sense of excitement and emotional energy.  

This is another of the modern leadership factors that exists on a continuum that you have to manage. It is a sliding scale that you need to master.  You own the anxiety level of your organization. Now what? 

Is your company asleep? Do you need to up the anxiety or discomfort level?  Or is your company a jangle of nerves and uncertainty with people focused on their own survival and not on your customers? Do you need to slide toward the low anxiety level with perhaps slowing down change or providing more grounding and assurance. And what can you do to position yourself and your company in the sweet spot of discomfort/anxiety so that there is optimism and "can do" energy?

I have raised more questions than I have answered.  Good anxiety or bad?
Living with unanswered questions and not being "stuck" is another of the
modern leadership factors!  I may have struck a theme. Good Monday!!

"NOW"—A VERY NEGLECTED RESOURCE

I read widely.  Those of you who have worked with me know I always had some book or concept to recommend. Sometimes you liked it and sometimes it drove you nuts. I haven't changed. Still I kept my interests mostly separate.  Business was business.  Art was art. Philosophy was philosophy. Literature was literature.
But, sometimes I didn't and that was usually the best discussion generator.

So, today I have been reading in Eastern philosophy and religion practices.
Yep, I have.  The emphasis usually circles around experiencing the "now" of life because everything else is "past or future", "regret or yearning".

Thinking of top C-level leadership, I wonder if you leverage "now" very much.
I didn't.  I learned from the past as we picked apart failed initiatives or reviewed what top talent had "done in the past".  And we certainly focused on the future.
What should our growth be, what is the strategy to get there, what skills will be needed?  We highly valued urgency which is simply rushing the future to get "here" sooner than it would naturally. Lots of "pushing the river."  

What if you managed to use the present (now) better?

What if you truly entered into every one on one conversation you had?
Would you pick up cues for possibilities for or unrest in your company?
Would you see talent more clearly?  What could you help to make right "now"?

What if you experienced the "here and now" of your customers?
What would you see and experience?  Neglect?  Artificial niceness?  Defeat with your product?  Generosity that builds loyalty?  What if you watched the customer experience for an hour—alone, no one to distract you with their own observations, no cell phone, just you watching customers in their "now".
What might come clear to you? How would  you make that "now" better?

What if  enhanced your every "now" moment in the company? Your morning entry to your office, the discussion in your staff meeting, your top talent
review, the visit of analysts could all shift to better results. You would be truly "present" giving what you have to give consciously and transforming the future with every good moment, letting the "now" do its work rather than only straining for the future and for different.  Step out of "more, better, faster" into the "now" in front of you and transform it. The rest will follow.  There is power in the "now" moments especially for leaders at the top.   

LEADERSHIP TOUCHSTONES

— Would you do the same job for half the salary?

— Do you have something preposterously important you want to get done?

— Do you think about 'better' or 'different'?

— Do you look forward to developing, thinking with, being demanding of, 
infusing with enthusiasm, your direct reports?

— Does the idea of contact with the core of your business excite you or
bore you?

—Do you take reality into serious consideration but not bow to it?

—When people see you coming, do they want to do good work and after you leave, do they want to do their best work?

— Do you often realize that you owe your privileged role to every person in your company and does it make you determined to make them proud of you?

WHERE THERE IS A YES, THERE IS A NO

And vice versa.  Where there is a 'no' there is a 'yes'.
This is true like a law of physics

The laws of 'yes' and 'no':

l. A 'yes' always has a partner that is 'no'.

2. The bigger the 'yes', the bigger the 'no'.

3. Too many times the partner is invisible.

4. The hidden 'yes' and 'no' can be a very bad surprise.

5. It's important to make the invisible partner to 'yes' or 'no' visible

6. The 'yes'/'no' is not simply a trade-off.

7. The shadow of 'yes' or 'no' is a given, never goes away. 

8. When a decision is painful and avoided, look for the hidden 'yes' or 'no'.

Think about this for:
-marketing decisions
-promotions for people
-budget decisions
-meetings you attend
-outside demands
-long term strategy
-your own growth and development