The Cranky Middle Manager Show #135 (MP3 12.0MB 26:31Min)

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Greetings everyone, today we’re talking about creating the right amount of anxiety at work- enough to motivate, not enough to leave you weeping in a corner. Our guest is Robert Rosen, author of Just Enough Anxiety- the Hidden Driver of Business Success.

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Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the show. Whether you’re a team lead, a junior officer, a mid-level leader…whatever they call you if you’re a middle manager welcome to the mix. I’ve been feeling some anxiety of late which is natural- and good, kind of. Been that kind of week so we dedicate this show to the goddess Eris. Strife can be both positive or negative depending on how you use it, which is kind of the point of today’s conversation.

2:40 The quote of the week is from Friedrich Nietzche, not exactly a bundle of laughs and an inspirer of bullying bosses everywhere but he did have this to say about chaos…. are you birthing dancing stars?

3:44 Welcome Bob Rosen. What’s the difference between anxiety and stress? When is it good and when doesn’t it work for us? Stress is something from outside that comes at us… Anxiety is the emotional response to change and stress. The best leaders have mastered this balancing act.

8:11 What’s a “too much anxiety organization” look like? Are anxiety and uncertainty necessarily bad? Wearing emotions on your sleeve, managing through fear, perfectionism, lots of frustration. Sounds like fun, right?

12:54 What about a “too little anxiety” organization? Nothing changes, things get avoided, complaisance is rampant. How do you diagnose organizations?

14:45 Organizations that create just the right amount of anxiety do five things well:

• Have an open mind
• Have an open heart
• Master three paradoxes: 1)realistic optimism (Price Waterhouse Coopers is a good example) 2) constructive impatience (Cadbury-Schweppes’ CEO does this well) 3) confident humility (Toyota)

18:20 We love case studies. Bob takes us through ING’s transformation under Michel Tilmant

22:15 What are the first steps to take? Recognize your strengths, get comfortable with uncertainty (yeah we’ll get right on that one) and befriend your anxiety. Practice non-attachment in a very Buddhist kind of way. Be real. I love when PhD’s say “S*** happens”.

You can visit www.justenoughanxiety.com for some of these assessments.

Resources

The Emotional Brain and The Executive Brain
They Way of Transition

Marshall Goldsmith’s new book on coaching

Frances Hesslebein

Don’t let the weasels get you down.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 10th, 2008 at 12:12 pm and is filed under Podcast. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.