On the night that Sony cancelled their movie "The Interview" because of terrorist threats from North Korea I stumbled across an article from a website named the Under 30 CEO. The article is entitled "How to Use Fear As Your Compass and Fuel for Growth".
While the author makes some good points in the article about the negative impact of fear, the idea that you could use fear as a compass for business success is ridiculous. It is clear that Sony used fear as a compass the last few days culminating in their decision to pull the movie "The Interview" from theaters. Needless to say that didn't turn out well. In addition to the potential for massive losses on the movie they are suffering a blistering beat down in the court of public opinion.
How about replacing fear as our compass with things like courage, integrity or passion? No doubt you can use fear as a compass or to fuel your activities - but the consequences of doing so can lead you to a place with dysfunctional organizations, uninspired teams and poor performance.
America is better than this - we shouldn't be bullied and run from what we believe in. We also shouldn't be teaching our young business leaders to use fear as a compass. Whether in business or in life, having a deep and abiding sense of who you are when fear comes calling will keep you from making decisions that take you or your organization to the wrong places.
