Future leaders must be courageous enough to address their own fears and insightful enough to help others do the same. In my work in the corporate sector, as well as in my work with the Blandin Community Leadership Program, I've become increasingly aware of five fears that limit leadership contributions. I have also found several ways to overcome each of these fears.
Fear often obscures a possible value base for action.
Overcoming the fears associated with showing up involves uncovering the invisible value base. The lives of Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Jr., Vaclav Havel, and others are undeniable evidence of the power of explicit value-driven decisions. Identify the transcending value. Common to each of these remarkable leaders is a passionately held transcending value, a value that surpasses self-interest. Work on related skills.