One of the oddest things I have encountered in my young career is the overwhelming fear to "Embrace the Uncomfortable" or as Jim Collins might put it, "Confront the Brutal Facts".  The "uncomfortable" can manifest itself in many ways:

1. We are setting new accountability tools that require us to explain our performance on a more regular basis.
2. We are forced to explain to our team why we are not getting the job done.
3. We are asked to manage an area that is outside of what one might see as our "strengths".

I am sure you could all list thousands more but the reality is that managers, and people for that matter, have a hard time being out of their comfort zone. I believe this has it's roots in our need to feel like we are in control. If we are uncomfortable we are not in control, and when we are not in control we feel vulnerable. Vulnerability is not seen as a positive in the professional setting (maybe it should be).

All and all, I think we are better employees, managers and service providers when we allow ourselves to embrace the uncomfortable situations, whatever they may be. We become transparent when we are vulnerable and in many ways we show our true colors.

Some great articles here, thankyou for sharing

Dan:  The greatest self fulfillment and personal rewards I ever received in my career always came from accomplishing tasks that were far, far, far out of my comfort zone.  Not many people dare climb the Mt. Everests of the business world but when they do, they are set free of normal personal restraints.

A brilliant man, I was fortunate to work for in my early career, said only the incompetent and super competent get fired.  If you have the jam, step out of your comfort zone, don't worry about the consequences,  and accomplish what so few people every have or ever will.

Cheers

There is another book with useful list of chapter headings. It is "Leadership. The Sven-Goran Eriksson way" by Julian Birkinshow and Stuart Crainer.

Leaders are different
Leader as a coach
Keep the distance
Stimulate in order to win
Team has its own character
Be more simple
Never walk alone
Be open (global)

P.S. Sorry, I'm not sure that the headings I wrote are correct. I have Russian edition of this book and I translated heading from Russian to English.