Just Enough Anxiety

December 17, 2007
Anxiety is an unfortunate fact of life, but can be a positive force in business success, says psychologist Rosen, contending that today's rapid rate of change is particularly anxiety provoking for businesses and those who work to build them. Rosen believes that business leaders can manage their own anxiety to yield positive company results. Though our minds try to protect us from anxiety by using ego defense mechanisms that can be productive or destructive, either too much or too little anxiety can be a hindrance to performance. But the right amount of anxiety can motivate and encourage. With checklists, questionnaires and self-evaluation forms, Rosen offers tools and guidelines to help readers assess and understand their personal reactions to the emotion. Concrete, real-life examples and explanations of anxiety's various forms, personal effects and potentially positive aspects teach managers how to work with the emotion and elicit its healthy side from employees. Rosen's insights are thought provoking and helpful.

February 15, 2008
Rosen, psychologist and leadership expert, provides a road map for success in living and leading with just enough anxiety. He quotes Charles Darwin, It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change. With interviews of 300 top executives over a 20-year period, Rosen presents his recommendations for leaders in our rapidly changing environment to create just the right level of anxiety to manage themselves, mobilize people, maximize performance, and accelerate sustainable growth. Rosen promotes healthy anxiety, which he defines as the extra effort to accomplish an individuals personal best, the exact amount you need to respond to danger, tackle a tough problem, or take a leap of faith. We learn that in striving to know themselves, be themselves, and challenge themselves while loving themselves, leaders and individuals can use anxiety as a catalyst for successfully functioning and reaching their potential in our complex and uncertain world. An excellent book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)