High Performance Leaders and Emotions

Are you an emotional leader?

I had a boss once who put his fist thru a wall. He got lucky. If he hits a stud, it's a broken hand, at least. But he hit pure dry wall and his fist went right thru. He was making a point. I don't remember what his point was, but it was obvious that he was angry. He was also out of control.

Leaders can't afford to look out of control. Scare your team and they'll lose productivity faster than you can say "update the resume."

I've lost my temper, too -- but never put my fist thru a wall (at work. I did once in college in the apartment where I lived, but that's another story. Oh, yes I did fix the hole.)

Sure, leaders can have emotions. But if our emotions get out of control they get in our way. Our teams panic. Our customers walk. Our families cringe.

I'm not advocating any kind of flat line robotics here. Enjoy your emotions. Cry. Laugh. Cuss if you need to. Enjoy the joy that's there in life's rich palette of emotions. Just don't get sloppy about it.

Why not align yourself with some positive emotions? How about these high performance leadership emotions -- joy, faith, delight, passion, patience, compassion, curiosity, creativity, courage...let those hang out all over the place. But keep the crazy ones dialed down.

-- Doug Smith

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