LINDSEY POLLAK: I don’t think I’m socially anxious. I think I’m a raging perfectionist. And my perfectionism needs that I am constantly calibrating how interested you are in our conversation, because I’m desperately afraid of making you dislike me or be unhappy. And so, I’m constantly watching you for those keys. I think where maybe anxiety is a little bit of a superpower is that I’m so attuned to that.
MORRA AARONS-MELE: I’m Morra Aarons-Mele, and this is The Anxious Achiever. We look at stories from business leaders who have dealt with anxiety, depression, or other mental health challenges, how they fell down, how they picked themselves up, and how they hope workplaces can change in the future. Today’s guest has done over 2,000 speeches in her career. It’s what she does. She is a capital E expert, but she still gets anxious before her talks, and the meet and greets around her speeches, those are so hard. After she’s done, she often worries she said the wrong thing. I wanted to have a conversation with a public person who has anxiety because, let’s face it, public is speaking is hard. Anytime you stand up in front of other people and put yourself out there, you’re taking a risk. And that is hard. Networking is hard. Interviews are hard. And frankly, a lot of us are out of practice. When you stand up in front of a room, you’re asking people to like you and trust you. Does it get easier? Yes and no. But the thing is, if you want to grow into your leadership, you’ve got to take the risk. And so, today’s conversation will help you. Lindsey Pollak is a New York Times bestselling author, keynote speaker, and guide to succeeding in today’s ever-changing, multi-generational workplace. And she joined me to talk about how to take the leap into putting yourself out there.
MORRA AARONS-MELE: You are not known as an anxiety talker as I am. You talk about career advancement, managing different generations, finding the best place for yourself. You’re a very forward momentum kind of career expert. But you said to me in a conversation that we were having that you sort of started talking about your own anxiety just as almost an aside in speeches and the response was so powerful that you have started talking about your own anxiety more. And I just wanted you to explain how that unfurled and what you think that’s about.
LINDSEY POLLAK: It’s really interesting. I started my career almost 20 years ago as a college campus speaker. I had been an RA, resident advisor, in college. My whole career came out of the idea of helping the next generation not make the mistakes I had made, or learn from what I had learned from. I …….
Source: https://hbr.org/podcast/2021/11/even-public-figures-have-social-anxiety