Learning to Lead at The Edge 179 with only moderate signs of progress. This means that learning to love the plateau is an essential part of learning to lead at The Edge. Come to Terms with Fear Although most people don't like to talk about it, fear seems to be an in- tegral part of life. Every leader that I have been close to--close enough that they would really level with me--has described times that fear has loomed large in his or her life. Dealing with uncertainty, managing am- biguity, and not always knowing what to do come with the territory of being a leader. In fact, nature has programmed us to be afraid of perceived threats, and this physiological mechanism has an important function: It helps us avoid danger. Biologists have identified a part of the brain called the amygdala whose function is just that--producing the reaction of being afraid. Thanks to many years of biogenetic programming, we are quite skilled at being afraid. The problem is that to make a difference in the world, you often have to enter into territory where things can go wrong. Where there is risk, you can fail.You can be embarrassed. Sometimes there are more severe consequences: People can lose jobs, and sometimes, people can even die.There are many circumstances or events that trigger fear. If fear is that much a part of life at The Edge--if it is that important a part of being human--we ought to know something about it. We ought to make a friend of it, as Joe Hyams suggests in his book Zen in the Martial Arts. 2 Making a friend of fear means understanding what is most personally intimidating to us and embracing it rather than pulling back. The things that provoke fear are different for each of us. Some peo- ple are afraid to stand up in front of a group of people to deliver a speech. Others are afraid to take a personal financial risk or deal with the un- known. AsVirginia Satir, the well-known family therapist, once remarked, "Most people prefer the certainty of misery to the misery of uncertainty." American Management Association · www.amanet.org