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A research-backed guide to leading with confidence and resilience in an age of anxiety.
Leading is inevitably frustrating and emotionally demanding, yet leaders get little training in how to deal with painful emotions. Since the global pandemic, stresses on leaders have only grown. To lead effectively in an age of anxiety, leaders must build the capacity to act in spite of unpleasant emotions, and bring a learning mindset to challenges that can otherwise feel overwhelming. Leading Outside Your Comfort Zone draws on a wide body of research to show how well-being and resilience emerges from this struggle; leaders grow by adopting a learning mindset in the face of unpleasant emotions. The book explains how to:
- Confidently face new challenges
- Accelerate progress toward goals
- Improve productivity during discouraging, "unfruitful" periods
- Overcome frustration with difficult personalities and organizational politics
- Build confidence and a mindset of stress-less productivity
- Build resilience throughout the organization
Leadership expert D. Christopher Kayes integrates insights from diverse disciplines, including management and organization studies, psychology, sports and military psychology, neuroscience, and education, and presents original research involving over 1,000 leaders. The book focuses on five tools that help leaders develop positive emotional engagement, creative problem-solving, learning identity, flexibility, and social support.
Introduction: Rising to the Outsized Demands of Leadership
SECTION 1: FOUNDATIONS OF LEADING
1. Moving Outside Your Comfort Zone as a Source of Growth and Well-Being: Overcoming the Anxiety-Ridden Demands of Leadership
2. What Research Says About the Practice of Personal Resilience: Leading for Resilience, Growth, and Well-Being
3. Achieving Optimal Improvement Through Learning and Performing: Moving Beyond the Unrealistic Expectations That Undermine Leading
4. Turning Adverse Events into Opportunities for Growth: Accepting Adverse Factors Beyond Your Control SECTION 2: FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES
SECTION 2: FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES
5. Cultivating Novel Experiences: The Experiences That Count for Developing as a Leader
6. Accepting Unpleasant Emotions: Growth from Frustration and Other Painful Emotions
7. Implementing Learning Strategies: Five Strategies for Resilience and Growth
8. Motivating Yourself to Learn: The Psychology of Learning, Motivation, and Resilience SECTION 3: APPLICATIONS
SECTION 3: APPLICATIONS
9. Keeping Focused: Overcoming Distractions or Why Staying Focused Is So Difficult
10. Leading Teams: Leading Through the Emotional Turmoil of Groups
11. Leading Organizations: Resilience, Growth, and Well-Being at Scale
12. Tiered Goal-Setting: Overcoming the Limits of Goal-Setting Through Tiered Goals
Conclusion: Pathways to Leading Beyond Your Comfort Zone: A Simple Formula for Leading: Move, Sleep, Learn
Epilogue
Notes on Methods
Notes
Index