Leaders Need 'Just Enough Anxiety'

Anxiety is a fact of life. Author Robert Rosen sheds some light on how you can use it to your advantage

by Marshall Goldsmith

Robert Rosen's latest book, Just Enough Anxiety, shows us that somewhere between coasting along and being paralyzed with panic lies the land of just enough anxiety. In the past, I thought of anxiety as a bad thing! His perspective on today's fast-moving, always-changing, crazy business world—and how we can live successfully in it—changed my perception of anxiety. I invited Bob to discuss his respect for anxiety and how it can be helpful. Here are edited excerpts of our conversation:

In Just Enough Anxiety, you claim the ability to harness anxiety is the single most important leadership quality you've discovered in nearly two decades of working with, and interviewing, more than 250 top leaders. What do you mean by "just enough anxiety"?

Just enough anxiety is the level of anxiety that gives us, as individuals and organizations, the emotional charge we need to thrive in an uncertain world. It is the energy that drives us forward, stretches us, and challenges us to be better tomorrow than we are today.

Why is just enough anxiety particularly important for business today?

Business today is all about change. Volatile global markets, declining consumer loyalty, and increasing competition are forcing leaders across industries and sectors to continually reinvent their companies. Such constant change makes people anxious. The leaders who rise to the top are those able to create just the right level of anxiety throughout their organizations to maximize and mobilize human energy, and to get the most creative ideas, the highest levels of engagement, and the best performance from their people. They are just enough anxiety, or JEA, leaders.

How can leaders manage anxiety instead of letting it manage them?

It starts with self-awareness. One leader's "just enough" may be "too much" or "too little" anxiety for someone else. There is no one-size-fits-all level. Once you understand what makes you anxious, you are better able to increase or decrease your anxiety, as needed, to create just enough. By admitting what you can and can't control, you can take charge of your life while remaining open to the unexpected. You can recognize anxiety as your natural companion on the path of change.

Do you make distinctions between anxiety, fear, and stress?

Anxiety, fear, and stress are often used interchangeably, which can be confusing. Fear is our innate survival mechanism, our emotional response to impending danger, either real or imagined. Stress is wear and tear on the mind/body in response to external events or conditions that strain our capacity to adapt. Anxiety is a state of arousal that occurs naturally when we face change and uncertainty.

And why are we so afraid of anxiety?

We're afraid of anxiety because of centuries of viewing change as dangerous, even life-threatening. And we've learned from medical models to see anxiety as a mental health problem. We've developed faulty thinking that goes something like this: Change and uncertainty make me anxious. Anxiety is bad, a sign of weakness. Therefore, I have to avoid change and uncertainty. I have to do whatever I can to avoid anxiety. Afraid that we can't understand or manage anxiety, we avoid, deny, resist, run away from, or medicate it. We refuse to see our anxiety as a major source of energy, for ourselves and our organizations.

Your book mentions the perils of living with too much or too little anxiety. Tell me about those.

Too much anxiety is tied to negative thinking. When we feel too much anxiety, we attack change. We become combative or controlling as we try to ease the pain we feel. This creates confusion and pain for the people around us, making organizational change difficult, or even impossible. At the other end of the continuum, too little anxiety is grounded in contentment. When we feel too little anxiety, we avoid change, value the status quo, and believe everything will continue to be O.K.