Using Fear as a Tool: It Has Risky Limits

by Carl Pritchard

Fear is a tool. It can motivate the overweight to diet. It can motivate the lovelorn to try online dating. It can motivate management to hire consultants. It can motivate team members to work overtime. And yet, it has the potential to be overused and abused. If we are driven to a state of fear too frequently, there is the potential for us to become inured to the notion that harm may actually befall us or that the fear is well founded.