We are living in anxious times. And not the quiet, private kind of anxiety that individuals process internally, but a collective, ambient anxiety that moves through systems, organizations, and teams.
In recent weeks, many leaders I work with have described feeling more reactive, more irritable, and more emotionally drained. News of sociopolitical violence, such as what happened in Minneapolis, combined with market volatility, economic uncertainty, and a constant stream of information, has created a background noise that is hard to escape. Even when we are not directly impacted, our nervous systems are.
This kind of anxiety does not stay outside the workplace. It walks into meetings. It shows up in emails. It influences decision-making, risk tolerance, and relationships. Leaders often sense it, but feel unsure about what to do with it.
One of the biggest misconceptions is that anxiety is a personal weakness or an individual problem to be fixed. In reality, much of today’s anxiety is systemic. It is a reasonable response to unpredictability, loss of control, and rapid change. Treating it as an individual failure only adds shame and silence.
Leadership in anxious times is not about having all the answers. It is about helping people stay oriented when certainty is unavailable.
One of the most powerful things a leader can do is to name the emotional weather. Simply acknowledging that people may be carrying fear, anger, sadness, or exhaustion can be grounding. When anxiety is named, it becomes more manageable. When ignored, it tends to leak sideways—through conflict, disengagement, or poor decisions.
Another critical practice is helping teams separate facts from interpretations. Anxiety thrives on stories. Markets fluctuate, and suddenly the story becomes “everything is collapsing.” A difficult meeting turns into “my job is at risk.” Leaders can slow this down by gently asking: What do we know for sure? What are we assuming? What is still unknown? This does not eliminate risk, but it restores clarity.
Listening also changes in anxious environments. Leaders need to listen not only to what is being said, but to what is not being said. Silence, withdrawal, sarcasm, and sudden irritability are often signals of unspoken fear or overload. This requires presence, not speed. Anxiety accelerates everything; leadership needs to decelerate enough to notice.
Restoring a sense of agency is another key intervention. When the world feels uncontrollable, even small areas of choice matter. Leaders can ask: What is within our control right now? Where can we make decisions? What actions can we take this week? Agency does not remove uncertainty, but it reduces helplessness.
It is also important to recognize that leaders themselves are not immune. Many are holding their own anxiety while trying to contain that of others. This is why reflection, supervision, and peer support are not luxuries—they are necessities. You cannot sustainably offer calm if you have nowhere to process your own reactions.
A steady leader is not one who suppresses emotion or projects false optimism. Calm does not mean indifferent. Empathy does not mean losing direction. The most trusted leaders today are those who can hold complexity: acknowledging reality without amplifying fear, offering direction without pretending certainty.
There is no return to a simpler, calmer world waiting around the corner. This moment is not just difficult; it is developmental. How leaders respond to anxiety now will shape trust, culture, and resilience long after the headlines change.
The question is not how to eliminate anxiety, but how to work with it—consciously, compassionately, and responsibly.
