Morra Aarons-Mele, a digital consultant and the host of The Anxious Achiever podcast, dives into the intricacies of leadership and control. She highlights how fear often drives the need to micromanage, suggesting small shifts in practices to foster open awareness and trust. Morra introduces the 'so what' technique from cognitive behavioral therapy to help tackle anxiety by facing fears directly. The discussion also emphasizes the importance of setting boundaries and embracing flexibility in hybrid workplaces to empower teams and improve resilience.
36:18
forum Ask episode
web_stories AI Snips
view_agenda Chapters
menu_book Books
auto_awesome Transcript
info_circle Episode notes
question_answer ANECDOTE
Hiding Anxious Micromanaging
Morra Aarons-Mele hides her anxious micromanaging because she knows it bothers her colleagues.
She realized this behavior stems from her anxiety and not others' shortcomings.
insights INSIGHT
Control and Fear
Control is often a coping mechanism for anxiety, driven by fear of uncertainty.
It's a primal brain response trying to protect us from perceived threats.
insights INSIGHT
Optimism vs. Anxiety
Optimism helps manage anxiety by believing things will likely be fine.
Even if things go wrong, optimists believe they can handle the situation.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
Turn Your Biggest Fears into Your Leadership Superpower
Morra Aarons-Mele
This book aims to normalize anxiety and leadership, arguing that anxiety is inherent in leadership and can be harnessed for good. It provides practical advice on recognizing and managing anxiety, confronting bad habits, resisting perfectionism, dealing with feedback and criticism, and modeling healthy behavior as a leader. The book is inspired by Aarons-Mele's popular podcast of the same name and is designed to help readers turn their stress and worries into strengths for themselves, their careers, and their teams.
Morra Aarons-Mele: The Anxious Achiever
Morra Aarons-Mele is the host of The Anxious Achiever, a top-10 management podcast that helps people rethink the relationship between their mental health and their leadership. Morra founded Women Online and The Mission List, an award-winning digital-consulting firm and influencer marketing company dedicated to social change, in 2010 and sold her business in 2021.
She helped Hillary Clinton log on for her first internet chat and has launched digital campaigns for President Obama, Malala Yousafzai, the United Nations, the CDC, and many other leading figures and organizations. She is the author of The Anxious Achiever: Turn Your Biggest Fears into Your Leadership Superpower*.
In this conversation, Morra and I discuss some key tactics that help leaders release just a bit of control. Since control is often driven by fear, we can let go of some control by making small shifts in our practices, awareness, and planning. We also explore how to set boundaries that will help us lead in ways that are more helpful to others — and ourselves.
Key Points
Control is often caused by fear. Optimism can be a bit of an antidote to it.
Adopt a practice mindset by making small shifts to endure uncomfortable things.
Practice open awareness throughs surrender; the opposite of controlling and micromanaging.
Get clear on scheduling, deadlines, longer term career goals. Those provide a healthy illusion of control.
Create a distinction between having an emotion and being the emotion.
Begin setting boundaries by noticing when you are moving from comfort to discomfort.
Resources Mentioned
The Anxious Achiever: Turn Your Biggest Fears into Your Leadership Superpower* by Morra Aarons-Mele
The Anxious Achiever podcast
Interview Notes
Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).
Related Episodes
Four Steps to Get Unstuck and Embrace Change, with Susan David (episode 297)
Effective Delegation of Authority, with Hassan Osman (episode 413)
Align Your Calendar to What Matters, with Nir Eyal (episode 431)
Discover More
Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.
Coaching for Leaders 