Use Exposure Therapy to Overcome the Fear of Leadership

Anthony Soltero -

It's tempting to sit on the sidelines of your career. It feels safe.

It's hard to exit your comfort zone and become the leader you are capable of being.

There's no growth in the comfort zone, sd why do we stay there. We know we must lead, so what's keeping us back?

Fear.

Why are we afraid to lead?

Responsibility and failure.

We are afraid of the responsibility of leadership. People will expect more from us. We have more people depending on us. We have more to lose:

  • Our confidence.
  • Our reputation.
  • Our job.

Increased responsibility comes with a higher probability of failure. The more responsibility we accept, the more likely we are to mess things up.

If we try to lead, we might fail.

When we choose to:

  • Take a leadership position
  • Tackle more difficult projects
  • Help develop others on the team
  • Own a project from start to finish

There's a possibility that we won't be as good as we thought we would be.

How do we overcome our fear of failing to live up to new standards?

Exposure therapy.

What is exposure therapy?

Exposure therapy is the process of exposing yourself to small doses of something thing you fear.

Through exposure, you become desensitized to the stimulus. Start with the least fear-inducing thing, then graduate to something scarier. With enough exposure, you can overcome your fear and distress.

We can use exposure therapy in our quest to become a leader.

How to use exposure therapy to overcome the fear of leading

Now that we have a strategy for overcoming our fears, we can put it to use.

When taking more leadership responsibility, we should do it slowly. There's no need to dive into the pool when there are stairs we can use to slowly step in. Taking on too much responsibility too soon increases likelihood of failure.

Instead, you can:

  1. Determine how you want to increase your leadership capabilities.
  2. Identify new actions and responsibilities you want to adopt.
  3. Expose yourself to small doses of that new responsibility.
  4. Increase your exposure over time.
  5. Overcome your fear.
  6. Repeat.

If you use this framework, you will be able to increase your leadership capability without overwhelming yourself.

You can't boil the ocean.

Expose yourself to small doses of leadership and see where it takes you.