What to Do with Fear of the Unknown

In 2008, my good friend Jeff Dykstra* faced significant fear of the unknown.

He’d already taken a huge risk leaving the private sector and moving his entire family to Lusaka, Zambia, in 2006 with World Vision. Now, he was only a few months away from finishing his commitment in Africa. His next career move weighed heavily.

And then his friend John, an executive at General Mills, visited Jeff in Zambia and gave him some advice that got him unstuck:

Just stumble forward with me.

John saw Jeff getting trapped in assessment analysis, which is so prevalent in our culture. “Show me the data,” we demand. “Do a cost-benefit analysis before we decide.” It’s meant to soothe our anxiety…yet nothing happens in life until we step into it.

The Answer Lies in the Action

Herminia Ibarra, the former professor at INSEAD and Harvard Business School and now a professor at London Business School, writes in her latest book that leaders need to do less thinking and more acting. You can’t analyze your way into solving a problem, she explains. It’s the doing, the connecting, the realizing that provide essential pieces of the answer that make a problem possible to solve.

In fact, Jeff had stumbled forward without having everything figured out once before.

Two years before, Jeff had been offered the chance to move to Lusaka and work on a U.S. Government-funded HIV/AIDS initiative in Zambia.  He wanted to experience the work firsthand but was afraid of uprooting his entire family and forgoing the comforts of home. Nonetheless, he and his wife and three young kids chose to face that fear and go.

That became the first step that allowed other steps to happen. Because once he was in Africa, Jeff could see that what Zambia and places like it needed most was investment.

One Step Leads to Another

Ken Powell had become the CEO of General Mills not long after the Dykstras moved to Africa. A short time later, as he was standing in a crowd of people at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Powell heard someone say, “Hello, Mr. Minnesota!”

It was Kofi Annan, the recently retired Secretary-General of the United Nations. Mr. Annan grew up in Ghana but stumbled forward himself when he attended Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Twin Cities is also the headquarters of General Mills, so he knew General Mills well—and he knew what was at stake in his home country.

“What is General Mills doing for food security in Africa?” he asked Powell.

General Mills’ mission centers around nourishing lives, and Powell knew they couldn’t ignore billions of people living in Africa.

“We’re not doing much,” he responded. “But I appreciate the question, and I will consider it.”

Seizing the Opportunity to Face Fear of the Unknown

Ken came back to General Mills and did move things forward, gathering a group of General Mills executives to consider how they might leverage their know-how and expertise to positively impact food security. When Jeff’s friend John visited him, he suggested that Jeff come back and help General Mills aim their intent to do something good in Africa. To stumble forward with him in the effort.

Despite his trepidation, Jeff took John’s advice, signing a 1-year contract to help build this new initiative with General Mills.  More fear and uncertainty, another opportunity to face it.

As Jeff got back to Minnesota, he and John and other General Mills leaders began to develop the general direction they thought they could go. They then got on an airplane and met with dozens of people across several countries. Gradually, a strategy formed for how General Mills could assist with food production and distribution in Africa—a strategy developed in a way that was only possible because of Jeff’s forward motion.

As the initiative gained momentum, Jeff realized it had big potential. But potential can be frightening. He was naturally afraid of the responsibility for stewarding this important work with General Mills.

Jeff recalls his anxiety about having great responsibility to make a meaningful difference, but not having the power to make it all happen, especially knowing firsthand the kind of impact it could create across Africa.

“I wondered if I’d mess up this thing that had so much potential,” he said. He couldn’t help but think, I hope I don’t blow it somehow.

But into the fear he stumbled.

And it worked. General Mills spun off the initiative into a non-profit, Partners In Food Solutions. Today, five other major global food companies partner in the wonderful work that Jeff and his team do.

Less Philosophy, More Valor

Jeff’s conclusion? Take robust action in life. Do a rough analysis and then get going. “There are no guarantees, and it won’t always go as desired, but you’re always gaining experience for whatever is next,” he says.

For many of us, our potential is often hampered by too much thinking, not enough action. Fear holds us back. Instead, we should follow King Leonidas’ advice in Steven Pressfield’s epic Gates of Fire: “More valor, less philosophy.”

What fear do you need to face and just stumble forward into it?

*Jeff got me to stop analyzing and start acting twice this year. He convinced me to take my family to Africa last Summer, and he’s leading me and a group of guys to run the Grand Canyon from rim to rim this week. I’ll never be the same because of those two decisions to stumble forward.

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