My fellow consulting firm owners and corporate exec buddies often ask me, "Aren't you nervous about being self-employed and supporting a family of six on an unpredictable salary?" My answer to them is, "Yes."

In the early days of my practice, I found myself anxious about the up and down nature of consulting, especially after growing accustomed to receiving steady paychecks while at HP. Now seven years into my practice, I've learned to turn anxiety into a useful leadership tool.

The trick is to embrace anxiety as another useful emotion, like anger or frustration, and to put it to good work, such as driving change within your organization. The danger is in letting anxiety be scary or painful. (This isn't entirely an original insight. Andy Grove warned us long ago with his book Only The Paranoid Survive.)

Here are just a few thoughts on how anxiety has worked for me and how it could work for you as well.

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