Facing Your Fears

I hate heights.

My sister is still mad that we never made it to the top of the Statue of Liberty in 1974, because I froze up on the stairs.

So, of course, yesterday I climbed the Sydney Harbor Bridge.

Ok, I’ll confess, while I made it to the top, I hated it. Not using that just a figure of speech, I sincerely despised it.

But here’s the message. Sometimes in life you have to do what you don’t want to do. I didn’t want to climb it. But for any number of reasons I did.

And sometimes as an organization, you need to face what you fear.

What does that mean?

• Sometimes it’s facing up to that difficult Board member.
• Sometimes it’s addressing a problem with a staff member.
• Sometimes it’s facing up to the fact that your organization may need to go in a different direction to deliver value to your members. 

All of these are conversations—and items—worth fearing. But just like the view of the Opera House was pretty darn good from the top of the bridge (when I wasn’t sitting down hiding my eyes), the outlook for your organization when you face your fears makes it worthwhile.