
Leadership Horizons
This podcast aims to help leaders understand current and future leadership trends and encourage leaders to explore their horizons and understand the skills that will help them become even more successful moving forward.
Welcome to Leadership Horizons, where we explore leadership at its most transformative through two unique perspectives. I am Lois Burton, an executive coach and leadership development specialist and I've witnessed first hand how great leadership can transform organizations across sectors - from global corporations to public services, from manufacturing to the arts.
"Each week, I'll bring you either an in-depth conversation with a visionary leader who's redefining what's possible..."
"...or be inviting you to join me for focused explorations of critical leadership themes, where I'll share proven strategies and insights from my years of leadership development experience and research."
"Leadership Horizons, helping you to lead beyond boundaries -- Because the future of leadership knows no bounds. I'm looking forward to you joining me there"
Leadership Horizons
Turning Fear into Fuel
Fear lurks in the shadows of every leadership journey, yet it's rarely discussed in corner offices or leadership programs. What if the very fears holding you back actually contain the intelligence needed for your next breakthrough?
Drawing from 25 years of executive coaching experience, this episode tackles the universal yet often unacknowledged challenge that even the most accomplished leaders face: transforming fear from a paralyzing force into a catalyst for exceptional leadership. We explore the profound choice leaders face when confronted with fear—to "Forget Everything And Run" or "Face Everything And Rise"—and how this decision shapes careers, teams, and entire organizations.
Through real-world examples, including the story of a director navigating a high-stakes restructure, we demonstrate how facing fears systematically can turn potential disasters into unprecedented opportunities.
The episode reveals how fear manifests in teams—from silence in meetings to resistance to change—and provides concrete strategies for creating environments where concerns become valuable intelligence rather than roadblocks.
The practical RISE framework (Recognize, Investigate, Strategize, Execute) offers a step-by-step approach to metabolizing fear differently. You'll learn how to conduct a fear audit, implement team fear check-ins, and hold contingency conversations that remove fear's power to paralyze decision-making.
These aren't just theoretical concepts but battle-tested approaches used with executives and leadership teams across industries.
Ready to transform your relationship with fear? The future of your leadership impact depends on it. What current fear might be pointing you toward your next level of leadership growth?
Listen now, and discover how to turn that fear into your competitive advantage.
Leadership Horizons - Helping You Lead Beyond Boundaries
Hello and welcome back to Leadership Horizons. I'm Lois Burton, and this is one of our focused exploration episodes where we dive deep into the leadership challenges that matter most. Today we're tackling something that every leader faces, but few want to admit fear. Over my 25 years as an executive coach, I've seen how fear can either paralyze leaders or propel them to greatness. You know, when I started my consultancy back in 2000, I thought I had a pretty good handle on what leadership looked like, but it was in those early coaching conversations that I discovered something profound Even the most successful leaders are wrestling with fear. So let's start with a fundamental truth Fear is not the enemy of leadership. Poor decision making is, and fear, left unexamined and unmanaged, is what drives those poor decisions that can derail careers, teams and entire organisations.
Speaker 1:I want to share the two acronyms with you that have become central to how I work with leaders reframing their relationship with fear. You probably have heard of them. The first one is the acronym for fear itself false evidence appearing real, and we have to recognize that some of our fears yet are true, but many of them are based on false evidence. And then, more powerfully, I work with leaders on two choices we have when fear shows up. Choice one F-E-A-R forget everything and run. This is fear in its most destructive form. When leaders choose to forget everything and run, they make decisions from a place of avoidance. They delay difficult conversations, avoid necessary changes or, worse, they make reactive decisions that feel safe in the moment but create bigger problems down the line. I've coached senior executives who've missed game-changing opportunities because they were running from the fear of failure. I've worked with leadership teams that maintain dysfunctional patterns because addressing them felt too risky. The cost, innovation stagnates, talent leaves and competitive advantage erodes. Choice two F-E-A-R face everything and rise. This is fear transformed into fuel. When leaders choose to face everything and rise, they acknowledge the fear, they examine it and they use it as information rather than letting it drive the bus.
Speaker 1:Let me tell you about Jo. I'm changing her name as I always do, for confidentiality. Jo was a director I coach who was facing a major restructure. The fear was palpable Fear of making the wrong call, fear of the impact on the people she cared about, fear of the industry and organisational judgment. Using the face everything and rise approach, we worked through her fears systematically what was real versus imagined? What were the actual risks versus the catastrophic scenarios her mind was creating. Most importantly, what would happen if she didn't act? By facing her fears head on, jo was able to make thoughtful strategic decisions that not only saved her company, but positioned it for unprecedented growth. The restructure became a model for her industry.
Speaker 1:Let's also talk about how fear shows up in your teams. As leaders, we're not just managing our own relationship with fear. We're stewarding our team's relationship with it too. Fear in teams manifests itself in several ways. The most common are the fear of speaking up in meetings or presenting information that might be controversial, the fear of challenging the status quo, the fear of admitting mistakes and the fear of taking calculated risks.
Speaker 1:When teams are operating from forget everything and run mode, you get what I call defensive cultures. Everything becomes about protection rather than progress. I'm experiencing this at present with one of the teams that I'm working with. Some people in that team are absolutely operating from that protection mode rather than progress, and innovation is dying. Collaboration is suffering and the best people start looking for environments where they can truly contribute. So how do we help our teams to choose?
Speaker 1:Face everything and rise. Firstly, model vulnerability yourself, share your own fears and how you're working through them. The teams. I'm working with their senior leadership. People are doing this admirably and they're saying we honestly scared, we're not moving fast enough on this transformation and that those moments of honesty can open up the most productive strategic conversations that they've had in months. Secondly, create psychological safety. This isn't just a buzzword. It's about making it safe for people to voice fears, concerns and dissenting opinions without career consequences.
Speaker 1:In my team coaching work, I help the most successful teams create rituals and processes that normalise discussing fears and uncertainties. Thirdly, reframe fear as intelligence. When someone on your team expresses fear about a decision or direction, don't dismiss it. Explore it. What information is that fear providing? Often team members fears highlight blind spots or risks that the leadership hasn't fully considered. Let me share a framework I use with the senior leadership teams I coach. I call it the rise response to fear.
Speaker 1:So the R is recognize. What exactly are we afraid of? Get specific I'm afraid of failure becomes. I'm afraid that if this product launch doesn't hit our targets, we'll lose market credibility and have to lay off team members Iate. Is this fear based on facts or assumptions? What evidence supports or contradicts this concern? Often our fears are based on incomplete information or worst case scenarios S Strategize. If this fear were to materialize, what would we do? Having contingency plans removes much of fear's paralyzing power. You can't control all outcomes, but you can prepare for multiple scenarios and the E is execute. Move forward with awareness, not paralysis. Fear becomes feedback, not a stop sign.
Speaker 1:I want to also address something crucial. I mentioned it at the beginning the relationship between fear and poor decision making. In my experience, I've observed that leaders make their worst decisions in one of two states. Either they're completely avoiding their fears, making decisions designed to minimize discomfort rather than maximize results, or they're so overwhelmed by fear that they freeze and make no decisions at all, which is in itself a decision with consequences. The leaders who consistently make better decisions, the ones who've achieved what I see as real transformational leadership, have learned to metabolise fear differently. They've trained themselves to pause, breathe and ask what is this fear trying to tell me and how can I honor that intelligence? While still moving forward?
Speaker 1:Let me leave you with three practical strategies you can implement immediately. Firstly, the fear audit this week. Keep a simple log of when fear shows up in your leadership. What triggers it, how do you typically respond? Awareness is the first step to transformation. Strategy two the team fear check-in In your next team meeting. Try this. What's one concern or uncertainty we should be discussing that we haven't been talking about? You'll be amazed at what surfaces. And strategy three the contingency conversation For any major decision you're facing. Spend time with your team discussing what would we do if our biggest concern about this actually happened. Then you can create a plan. This removes fear's power to paralyze. Remember the goal isn't to eliminate fear, it's to transform your relationship with it.
Speaker 1:Fear often points us to what matters most the promotion. You're afraid to pursue the difficult conversation you're avoiding the bold strategy you're hesitating to implement. These fears are often pointing towards your next level of leadership impact. Throughout my career, from my early days in various sectors to building one of the UK's premier leadership coaching consultancies, I've learned this Courage isn't the absence of fear, it's feeling the fear and choose to face everything and rise anyway. Your teams need leaders who can do this. Your organization needs leaders who can do this and, frankly, your own fulfillment as a leader depends on your ability to transform fear from an obstacle into intelligence. Thank you for being with me today. Next week, I'll be talking about the power of making mistakes and announcing my autumn guest list. Until then, remember Leadership Horizons is about pushing boundaries, and sometimes the biggest boundary to push is the one fear has created in your own mind. This is Lois Burton reminding you the future of leadership knows no bounds, including the bounds that fear tries to create. Bye for now.