Fear for us is a good friend, in exactly the same way that change is a good friend. So fear has positive and not so positive connotations. The one thing that drives us to be where we are today is fear of failure.

The best way to deal with fear and anxiety is to start by crystallizing our fear and become very clear of what is it we fear. In this way we can start at possible solutions.

One of the things that we lack is the courage to ask for help or direction, when we don't know. Great leaders have the courage to ask when they don't know. It's also important to understand the environment where we can let our guard down. We can't go to the board at a time of crisis and say we don't know; we can't pretend that we know. The bestbway to deal with this is to have a separate personal board of people who will not judge us when we need a perspective on something - people we don't report to.