How Anxiety Can Be a Leadership Asset

Contents

1 How Anxiety Can Be A Leadership Asset

How Anxiety Can Be A Leadership Asset

Marketing Podcast with Morra Aarons-Mele

How Anxiety Can Be A Leadership Asset

In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Morra Aarons-Mele. She 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.

How Anxiety Can Be A Leadership Asset

Her upcoming book is called The Anxious Achiever: Turn Your Biggest Fears into Your Leadership Superpower where the mission is to normalize anxiety and leadership in today’s workplace.

How Anxiety Can Be A Leadership Asset

How Anxiety Can Be A Leadership Asset

Key Takeaway:

In today’s workplace, anxiety is a constant challenge that can hinder the potential for high performance, but it doesn’t have to be that way. There should be no separation between mental health and leadership, and mental health should be normalized in the workplace. Morra shows that anxiety is a part of life, in fact, it is fundamental to leadership, and with the right tools, you can take advantage of its power and turn it into a strength instead of a weakness.

How Anxiety Can Be A Leadership Asset

Questions I ask Morra Aarons-Mele:

[01:29] So leadership and mental health in the same sentence, can you explain this idea that you’re putting those two topics together?
[03:29] What are you bringing to the conversation, that’s gonna help people see anxiety as a strength?
[04:43] Do you feel like there is more anxiety today, and if so, what’s causing it? Or are people just more freely talking about it?
[06:14] You talk about transforming anxiety from a weakness to a strength. So what’s the process that somebody might go through?
[12:06] I once read that if you’re not feeling a little stress, you know, you’re just not trying or you’re not pushing yourself enough. Is there any of that thought in the anxious achiever?
[12:53] What physical manifestations are people experiencing because they are not managing the anxiety or the stress?
[14:17] Do you think a true leader now should be coaching around mental health? Obviously not providing therapy, but somehow coaching or at least giving people opportunities to be coached?
[15:20] Many people in managerial positions who are like me age-wise, are managing much younger people. Is there a real challenge cross-generationally?
[18:00] Do you do any work inside organizations? Where would you go to help an organization that’s trying to maybe change its culture?