Morra Aarons-Mele at Harvard Book Store

presenting

The Anxious Achiever:
Turn Your Biggest Fears Into Your Leadership Superpower

in conversation with MOSHE COHEN

Harvard Book Store welcomes MORRA AARONS-MELE—founder of Women Online and The Mission List and host of The Anxious Achiever, a top-10 management podcast—for a discussion of her new book The Anxious Achiever: Turn Your Biggest Fears Into Your Leadership Superpower. She will be joined in conversation by MOSHE COHEN, founder of The Negotiating Table and senior lecturer at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business.

A Return to In-Person Events

Harvard Book Store is excited to be back to in-person programming. To ensure the safety and comfort of everyone in attendance, the following Covid-19 safety protocols will be in place at all of our Harvard Book Store events until further notice:

• Face coverings are required of all staff and attendees when inside the store. Masks must snugly cover nose and mouth.

About The Anxious Achiever

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illnesses in the world. But in our workplaces, anxiety has been a hidden problem—there in plain sight but ignored. Until now.

The Anxious Achiever is a book with a mission: to normalize anxiety and leadership. As leadership expert and self-proclaimed anxious achiever Morra Aarons-Mele argues, anxiety is built into the very nature of leadership. It can—and should—be harnessed into a force for good.

Inspired by the popular podcast of the same name, The Anxious Achiever is filled with personal stories, research-based insights into mental health, and lots of practical advice. You’ll learn how to:

• Figure out your own anxiety profile so that you can recognize and avoid common thought traps and triggers
• Confront bad habits and unhealthy coping mechanisms
• Resist perfectionism, manage social anxiety, and set boundaries to prevent burnout
• Deal with feedback, criticism, and impostor syndrome
• Model—and communicate—healthy behavior as a leader

Whether you’re experiencing anxiety for the first time or have been battling it for years, The Anxious Achiever will help you turn your stress and worries into a source of strength for yourself, your career, and the people you lead.

Praise for The Anxious Achiever

“If you are a high achiever and you know—you just know—that you could achieve even more and be happier if you could wrestle your anxiety to the ground, this is your playbook. Aarons-Mele’s book is well-researched, highly practical, searingly candid, and deeply empathic. Riveting.” —Whitney Johnson, Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Smart Growth

“Aarons-Mele has written an astonishing book. She moves from stories to data to advice in a page-turning way. This is not a book for just anxious achievers—it’s a book for any human being who wants to transform their mental health.” —Andy Dunn, cofounder and former CEO, Bonobos; entrepreneur; and author, Burn Rate

“Readers will experience a deep and grateful sigh of recognition soon after diving into this wonderful book. Morra Aarons-Mele gently and intelligently guides readers through the different facets of anxiety and shows us how to tame negative self-talk and experience more joy and more success. Wise and practical, The Anxious Achiever is a game changer.” —Amy C. Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management, Harvard Business School; author, The Fearless Organization

“Anxiety can be debilitating in our work and in our lives. In The Anxious Achiever, Aarons-Mele shares real-life examples and pragmatic ideas on how we can successfully manage anxiety and convert it into a superpower to help us build meaningful relationships with colleagues and friends and lead with empathy and purpose. This book will help leaders and teams thrive in our deeply uncertain world.” —Vivek Bapat, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Brand Purpose, and Sustainability Solutions, SAP