If you don’t control fear, then fear will control you and possibly sabotage your most valued goals.

Take Susan Lyne. Named one of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in 2011, Lyne is the perfect example of a Fearless Leader willing to take risks and potentially fail in order to succeed.

As an inexperienced programming executive at ABC Entertainment, Lyne wanted to steer away from the more male-dominated themes of police procedurals and focus on female-driven entertainment. The immense risks she took by championing shows for women such as “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Desperate Housewives” made the network extraordinarily successful.

Lyne has never shied from controversy, and was also instrumental in supporting the launch of “Lost” which, at the time, was considered to be a huge gamble: a show about a plane crash, the survivors, replete with back stories, jump-forwards, science-fiction and paranormal elements. Nevertheless, the show went on to be a ratings mega-hit for six seasons and won countless awards, including a Primetime Emmy award for Outstanding Drama Series in 2005 and 2006.

Not even those enormous successes could insulate Lyne from professional failure when, much to her surprise, she was fired from ABC in 2004, even though she had fostered the growth of shows that later became critical and commercial successes.

This was a huge setback for her, as you can imagine. But Lyne is an exemplary fearless leader in that, even after being fired and experiencing a catastrophic career failure, she had the courage to move on from her setback. Within one year of losing her job at ABC, Lyne joined Martha Stewart Living Omni Media (MSLO) as CEO, where she was hugely effective in inspiring and encouraging the people around her to excel. (She is currently CEO of AOL Brand Group.)

Lyne is a risk taker, having faced the possibility of failure many times on her journey to success. She explains, “I’ve taken a leap of faith on several occasions, and in every case, on some level, I’ve become a beginner again,” as she said in a Fortune magazine article.

By refusing to stay with what’s familiar in her career, and being courageous enough to take on enormous new challenges, Lyne has risen to the top time and time again. She embodies all the qualities of a Fearless Leader with her ability to inspire confidence, react with resilience, think from a higher consciousness, and excel with unrelenting passion.

Do you know of other Fearless Leaders such as Lyne, who’ve succeeded despite personal setbacks?

For questions about this post or for information on becoming a fearless leader, contact Dr. Cathy Greenberg and The Fearless Leader Group at (888) 320-1299 or by email at hello@fearlessequalsfreedom.com.