Stress got you down?

Tinder was the highest-grossing mobile app in 2019. Consumers spent a total of US$2.2 billion on dating apps in 2019. This year so far, despite the epidemic hysteria effects of coronavirus, casual dating activities has reported to be on the rise on the basis of the psychology of start living before you start dying.


Volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity? Stress? Hell, yes.


Uncertainty is a fact of life. My world and your world are both full of it. Stress is a killer. It doesn't just lead to heart attacks. It leads to underperformance, indecision, and on-the-job misery. Life will surely seem unfair to you at times, but it will seem unfair to everybody at times. 


Think about how an upcoming holiday can change our state of minds. The condition is set for people to be happy, loving and peaceful. The rest of the year, most of us return to a fearful and negative state of mind. Why? Because what we see in the news and elsewhere highlights the negative. 


The same happens in an organizational environment. You worry about the competition. You worry about the boss. You worry about coworkers. You worry about the product. You worry about the market. Pretty soon, when you consider any idea, process or action, you do so with fear and negativity. 


When people don't know what's coming next, they tend to dwell on the dangers and hazards of what might come. How do you turn fear into courage? Any leader who deals with times like this understands that sometimes there simply is no right answer, at least not a perfect one. I can't give you a precise formula that works in every environment, but I've experienced a lot of touchy leadership situations. 

As you can imagine, being in a sales discipline subjects you to great amounts of stress and fear. Throughout my career, I've had the opportunity to work with great people and great leaders. As a leader, one of the most important tasks is simply to be there and to create a positive environment. Leaders present in times of stress are far more valued than those who stop by once in a while when things are going well.

Just being there, however, won't suffice. Let the team know you're there alongside them. I believe there are times in which leaders need to maintain their composure, despite the natural inclinations to express feelings of discouragement, fear or even despair. This is not to say they should shield others from reality or withhold basic information about the situation. Rather, it is to say that there are times in which the perceived attitude of the leader is a powerful force that can create energy and optimism or fear and pessimism. 

I don't need a PhD to figure this out: great leadership is critical in times of stress and fear.