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4 Tips for Becoming a Fearless Leader

Author: Damien Justus
by Damien Justus
Posted: Apr 11, 2018

Fear is the enemy of leadership. It's very hard to follow a person who is overcome by fear because that person cannot even make his or her own decisions. If you want to be a good leader, then, you must be a fearless leader. Below are a few tips that will help you to overcome the obstacles put in your way and allow you to become the leader you were meant to be.

Acknowledge Your Fears

As a leader, you've got to be honest with yourself. Before you can address the things that make you afraid, you have to admit that they scare you. Take some time to sit down and think about your weaknesses and what they say about you. Understand the things you avoid so you can figure out exactly why you shy away from them. You can't make changes until you know the problem, so never try to ignore your fears - that's how they become too powerful for you to overcome.

Once you acknowledge these fears, you can motivate yourself to overcome them. Don't just sublimate them, face them head-on. A great way to do this is by participating in leadership activities that focus on your fears. If your fear as a leader in public speaking, for example, start taking classes. If you don't do well with conflict, go to seminars on the subject. Do all that you can to get ahead of the problem and, ultimately, to conquer it like anything else in your business career.

Get Support

You should also understand that a fearless leader does not need to be an isolated leader. Truly fearless leaders have people on whom they can lean for support. You may not be able to confide in your team when you have problems, but you can talk to a peer or to a mentor. Getting advice, having a friendly ear, and just having a place to vent can be a huge pressure release for some leaders. Once you have this support system in place, you know that there will be people to help you up when you fall. This, in turn, can help you to take more risks and to be the kind of leader to whom others can look up.

Understand Failure

As a leader, you will fail. It's going to happen, and that can be scary. If you want to be a fearless leader, though, you'll need to understand what it means to fail and particularly the difference between failing at a task and being a failure. Failure is a natural part of taking risks and all great leaders are risk takers. If you fail at a project, you've given yourself a learning experience. You might not have gotten the outcome you wanted, but you did get an outcome. Once you understand failure, you can start leading your team without a fear of failure.

Stay the Course

Finally, understand the value of staying the course. Do good leaders change their minds? Of course - if you can't look at a situation and make use of new information, you aren't fit to lead. Good leaders, though, take responsibility for whatever's going on in front of them even if things are going poorly. For good or ill, you're the person steering the ship - don't shift blame and don't try to abandon your post. Staying the course through thick and thin shows the world around you that fear has no hold on your position.

Staying the course also means moving on from the past. Don't dwell on what came before - keep your eyes on the horizon. Learn what you can from your mistakes and incorporate that data into future decisions. People respect those who are willing to look towards the future.

Being a fearless leader is more about controlling fear than its elimination. Take the time to know your fears, know your position, and to soldier on despite what might come next. Your desire to succeed must always outweigh your fear of failure - and when it does, people will follow you through anything.

About the Author

Damien Justus writes in the business, home improvement and real estate spaces, and is very passionate about health, cooking, diet plans and anything that has to do with staying fit.

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Author: Damien Justus

Damien Justus

Member since: Nov 07, 2017
Published articles: 42

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