If you’ve ever taken a 101-level business, economics, or information technology course, you may recognize the term “fear, uncertainty, and doubt” and its acronym, FUD. The phrase’s origins date back to the 1920s and was often used as a sales technique where the salesperson would work to create FUD so that their customers would not consider switching to a competitor’s product or service. The term is often linked to IBM in the 1960s which used the practice to keep their clients from switching to other technology companies’ products – there’s that old axiom, “nobody ever got fired for buying IBM equipment.”
FUD affects all of us in varying ways in our work and personal lives. Should we take a risk on an untested method or service? Should we hire another staff member? Should we visit a country we’ve never been before on vacation, or just go back to that same place again? Should I stick with a regular gas car or try an EV for my next car purchase? FUD can creep in on almost any decision we need to make.
We should strive to fight back against FUD*.
* Don’t get me wrong, FUD (especially the fear bit) can have its place. Fear is a primal human response to perceived risks and dangers, and it usually serves us well. It keeps us a safe distance from the cliff, from driving too fast, and away from alligators. But when the consequences are not life and limb, we should do our best to keep FUD at bay.
FUD CAN SLOW PROGRESS
We see FUD frequently in our work – often resulting in wasted energy, added expense, and missed opportunities.
Our commissioning design reviews often uncover various symptoms of FUD. Design engineers will specify air handling units that are way bigger than needed to condition the space in question – even though load calculations show more modest sized equipment will suffice – often because they fear that if they went smaller (“right-sized”), there would be a small possibility of it being inadequate. The result is a huge AHU that will waste incredible amounts of energy over its lifetime and cost the owner a lot more money to purchase and maintain.
FUD also crops up during construction. We see this manifest in BAS systems where the systems the BAS controls are not programmed properly (uncertainty of how to properly program) and they are set to override the BAS programming resulting in wasted energy (doubt in the reliability of automation).
FUD is a huge barrier towards adopting climate-friendly products and practices, even in ordinary people’s lives.
“Is it a good idea for that developer to build a new 100-unit apartment building in my city?” (Fear)
“Will the EV have enough juice to get me there?” (Uncertainty)
“Do I really need to recycle? Does it even make a difference?” (Doubt)
An often-referenced study called “Perception of Risk” published by Paul Slovic in 1987 found that most people frequently misjudged the likelihood and severity of risks. For example, the study found that many people had great fears about nuclear accidents, despite their rarity, and were not nearly as scared of driving, despite its known risks. Factors like familiarity, control, and voluntariness contributed to their inaccurate risk perception. Emotions trumped hard data when it came to assessing risks.
Many people on construction projects don’t respond to risk based on likelihood – they respond based on emotionally loaded worst-case scenarios. That’s why we see controls overridden or redundant equipment added 'just in case.' Fear wins over facts.
If we take a step back and try to consider the likelihood of a perceived risk, it can make it easier to make an informed, more logical, FUD-free decision.
A DIFFERENT ANGLE: CREATING A FUD-FREE WORKPLACE CULTURE
Fear, uncertainty, and doubt is often thought of in the terms I described above, where we have an initial FUD response to something new. But as leaders, we can (sometimes unwittingly) create a work environment corrupted by FUD.
I just celebrated my 16th anniversary of working for Cx Associates, which is amazing to me. When I started as Cx Associates’ Operations Manager in 2009, the firm had five employees (we have 18 today), and I never imagined that I would rise through the ranks and gain enough knowledge and experience to wear the fancy-schmancy title I currently have, Chief Finance and People Officer, a title that still feels weird. Some days I feel like I don’t really deserve it. I feel like an imposter.
My Imposter Syndrome, I’m sure, has many roots which I should explore some day on a couch with an analyst. But some of it, I’m convinced, is from my past professional experience over the course of my career.
I’ve worked in offices where a relatively normal day had the leaders of the organization slamming doors, screaming at each other, and at more junior staff members (including me). Where leaders would regularly dress down their direct reports in front of others. Where leaders essentially ruled by instilling a sense of fear in their teams. Sitting here in 2025, it’s hard to believe that that sort of behavior used to be routinely tolerated in a workplace. And I’m certain that the behavior I endured from bosses like those in the past affects me to this day.
As I’ve grown into my role at Cx Associates, I remember these past experiences because I never want to repeat them, whether it’s on the receiving end or by replicating that behavior.
As leaders, we cannot expect to see growth or improvement from our teams by creating an atmosphere of FUD. If one of your team members makes a mistake, screaming at them, giving them the “I’m so disappointed in you” glare (which I’ve received many times from past bosses), or putting them down and making them feel ashamed or stupid is not going to produce the results you seek.
It will make them anxious, depressed, and scared to try.
It will make them hate you.
It will make them leave.
Having gone through those difficulties earlier in my career, I have a huge sense of empathy as I now occupy a position of leadership at CxA. Instead of scowling, putting people down, yelling, or dwelling on mistakes, I approach these situations with a sense of empathy, remembering how it felt when I made a mistake. I gently inquire, ask what may have gone wrong, how we can avoid it in the future, let them know it’s (usually) no big deal, and ask if I can help resolve it. Ninety-nine percent of the time, my colleagues can resolve these issues themselves, and we move on. They learn from their mistakes because they are not afraid of me (I hope!) and tell me about them, allowing us to work together to resolve any issues. I then encourage them to try to figure out how to fix things themselves, which is a great way for them to learn and reinforce skills.
These days, you will not find anyone yelling or glaring at each other at Cx Associates. You won’t find staff members who tense up and look away when their boss comes in. You will find a bunch of very smart, capable, and yes – imperfect – humans just trying to do their best work, improving and learning every day, in what we strive to make an open and welcoming environment.
OVERCOMING FUD
As I said, FUD can affect us all on some level. But we can fight against it.
The first step is recognizing FUD. Take a step back and consider your initial response to a new idea. Are you having an emotional reaction to a perceived threat? Why? How much risk actually exists? What is the likelihood of a bad outcome? Often these initial reactions are overreactions. If there is uncertainty or doubt, why? What is causing it? It’s probably just a lack of information. Check trusted resources and see if the information you can gather puts your doubts to rest.
In our work, we do everything we can do to remove vagueness, because FUD thrives in the unknown.
When we act as a third party reviewing other engineers’ work, it has the potential to be an adversarial relationship. We do everything we can to avoid this, from how we present our scope of work at kick-off meetings, to how we communicate on issues logs. We do not wag our fingers when we find something amiss; we make recommendations and come to a collaborative solution. We focus discussions on system performance and intent of the design, rather than finding blame. Avoiding an adversarial relationship enables a greater sense of openness, where mistakes can be discussed freely without anyone feeling targeted or personally at fault. This, in turn, reduces fear.
We use clearly defined scopes of work and detailed pre-functional checklists and other documentation, to remove uncertainty about why we are involved in the project and what our role is.
We perform multiple site visits along the way to test systems, correct issues as they unfold, and avoid surprises. When the team begins to get more comfortable with us on site, we begin to build trust, and they see the value we can add. This assuages doubt in our function.
Acting solely out of FUD can result in so many missed opportunities – from losing out on significant energy savings, to missing out on exploring a new destination or trying a new cuisine you might end up loving. And fostering a culture of FUD in your workplace creates a toxic atmosphere with unhappy staff.
The next time you’re faced with a decision, and you’re worried about the outcome, just remember to try to not make a choice based on FUD. After all, as Robert Downy Jr. said, “worrying is like praying for what you don't want to happen.”
