ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses that we all struggle with to varying degrees, all day, every day. That something is anxiety and its first cousin, anger. The word anxiety is typically associated with some sort of disorder. The relationship of performance to anxiety forms an almost perfect bell curve. We perform best when experiencing a moderate level of anxiety. Lou Brugantti in his course "Building Excellence" notes that owner anxiety is usually at its highest when general contractor mobilization is at its lowest points—at the very beginning and very end of the project. Owner anxiety is at its lowest levels during the middle phase, when the General Contractor (GC) is fully mobilized. When dealing with one's external partners, take the risk of being the initiator of vulnerability. This is completely counterintuitive, and is the main reason why Lean culture efforts fail across companies.
