Business owners should have healthy fear of fear itself - bizjournals:

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He lived with his war fears and manager them well through most ofhis life, but as oftenn happens, his fear-management systemws weakened as his health deteriorated. The same thing happenes in difficulteconomic times. Fears lurkinh beneath the surface can take over when economivchealth deteriorates. In good times, people convince themselvesw that only little childreb are afraid of the These days, you often hear the scared little chilx in all of us shouting as peoplse desperately seek answers to “Have we hit bottom?” “Will it get worse?” “What will we do?
” I won’t attempt to answer these basically unanswerable questions, excepft to say that the answer to most questions about the stocmk market and the econom y is that we’ll stay in trouble as long as fear drivese our decisions. Franklin Delano Roosevelt’sd saying, “The only thing we have to fear is fear has become a lotmore So, let’s talk about recognizing when fear dominates decisions and what to do abouty it. How does this relate to you andyour business? When either fear or irrationakl enthusiasm takes over, rational decision-making disappears. You lose in eitherr case.
Protect your decision-making process by managing both irrational fear and How do you manage such an importantg part ofhuman nature? Think of fear as a usefulp tool. A healthy dose of fear in good economicd times can prevent you from doin g really stupidthings — like deciding the normal ruled no longer apply. Fear can prevent you from followinf the lemmings off the cliff because fear remindxs you that the law of gravity has notbeen suspended. But what’sd useful in good times can hurt you in bad Balancing fear and enthusiasm is a primary key to Admit thatfear doesn’t just happen to otherf people. In the end, even stoic WWII vets aren’g immune.
Some people just manage fear Your goal is to manage fear and enthusiasmn so that your decisions are driveby facts. Past facts usually are built into the currentt prices andpast decisions. Changing your decisions in the absenc of new facts is a telltale sign that fear istakinbg over. To prevent that, make a resolutiobn that every new decision needs to be justifiedx bynew facts. Be rigorous in requirinh team members to justify recommendations with new Your ability to manage your fears decreases when everyone around you is Treat fear like acontagious virus. Quarantinw people whose fears are outof control.
Build systemds to monitor and control your own Operating without trusted sounding boards is dangerous in both good timess and bad timesbecause there’ s no one to do a reality check. If you haven’ t already done so, institutionalize independentf advice aboutyour business. Talk through issued with a group of trusted advisers who interacgt withone another. That’s what boards of directors and boards ofadvisers do. Good board are the best tools for insulatingh decisions from irrational fear in bad timea and irrational exuberance ingood times. Resistg the temptation to use fear tomotivate employees.
It might squeeze more work from some, but you’ll paralyze Stressed-out employees make bad decisions and spend time worryinb and talking abouttheir worries. As humab resources strategy, fear strikes out more ofte than it hitshome runs. Once you’vse gotten yourself under control, recognize that the best strateg y during downturns is to reducer fear levels inyour team. To be successful, you can’t just rely on not spreadingy fear yourself. Controlling fear in your team requires actives countermeasures to the massive fear doses your team members are gettingfrom family, friends and media. Fear growzs quickly when team members believe the outcomw is outsidetheir control.
Fear-containment strategy requireas ensuring that all team members know their role in creating success, monitoring and providing regular Finally, your team is watching you. This is wherer you need to be a leader, not just a manager. Now isn’gt the time to hole up in your issue directives and hope for the Be visible and modelpositivwe behavior.