I finally found time on the weekend to start reading Sheryl Sandberg’s book Lean In. Early on she poses the question: what would you do if you weren’t afraid?
It’s a question that stopped me from reading on, as I instead began to reflect on my own career. I feel like I have achieved almost everything I have set my mind to and yet I had to admit, after reading some of this book, that fear has held me back from pursuing my final goal. It was a confronting moment.
In the past few weeks two of my friends have used the word ‘fearless’ to describe the attitude they’re taking to their career this year. We are all in our late forties, so perhaps our age has something to do with it.
One of the friends owns a small business that was hit hard by the downturn in offline retail. She has slogged it out for years, managing to keep her business cashflow positive against the odds. But she has decided the only way out of the cycle is to be fearless and think large. She is planning to leave behind the brand she developed and built into a small but reliable business and launch a much bigger idea. Her age was partly the catalyst for this decision as she decided that it was now or never.
The other friend is about to fearlessly step out of a major corporation that has overlooked her leadership potential and pursue her goal. She has decided to back herself, as those without fear are able to do. This woman is one of the most senior women in her industry and she has feared stepping out of it. Her industry is about to lose her to a non-executive career.
What is it that we fear? Like Sandberg, I often fear that I will never again be able to replicate my success, even though I have done so many times before. When I read that Sandberg still worries someone will discover she’s actually a fraud, after decades of success at the highest level of organisations, I felt so relieved. Clearly those thoughts are irrational, but not unusual.
One of my friends feared she was a one-trick pony when it came to successful big ideas. She is about to find out as she throws caution to the wind and goes for the next big idea for her business. It will involve financial investment but she has decided, as she faces turning 50, that it’s now or never.
The other feared she wouldn’t get another senior opportunity once she turned 50 if she threw in her job. But she’s realised it’s time to do it before the window of opportunity passes her by.
We are excited about facing our fears this years. We’ve made a pact to back ourselves.
What would you do if you weren’t afraid? Would you join us?