Use your Emotions Wisely
Anger is a tool just like any other emotion in leadership. In fact, anger can be the exact tool a leader needs to use in a given situation. Rather than shying away from anger as a leader, we should focus on when anger is the best emotion for us to convey as a leader. And how we can use anger appropriately.
Aristotle has a great quote on anger that sums up how to employ it as an effective tool:
Anybody can become angry; that is easy. But to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way—that is not within everybody's power and is not easy
The right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way.
Here’s an example of how that might play out in action. Holding people accountable is critically important for team morale. No one wants to feel like they're doing more work when the slackers aren’t being held accountable. Employees want to be treated fairly, especially when it comes to the actual amount of work being done.
Gregg Popovich is a former NBA coach (potentially the greatest ever NBA coach), and his leadership philosophy has been studied and discussed during his time coaching and since his retirement. In an article by Jonas Panerio, we see how Popovich would openly criticize his superstars in front of the team. Here’s what he said:
The worst thing you can do is let it go when someone has been egregious in some sort of way.
No matter who it was, Coach Popovich would have no reservations about criticizing or being hard on his top performers. He wanted to show the culture he intended to build.
When a top performer slacks at practice, everyone else feels like they can follow suit. When a coach gets angry, and the top performer responds by doing better, the rest of the team follows suit. Public accountability for high performers protects morale more than private correction because it sends a signal to the team. Knowing your people (who to get angry at and to what degree), your current situation (the right time for the right purpose), and how to communicate with your group (the right way) is how you can channel anger to your benefit as a leader. Not every reprimand demands public accountability, but when it’s needed, a leader has to be able to turn the switch and use anger to their advantage.
Anger might stay in the leadership toolbelt 99% of the time, but the 1% of the time you need it, you'd better know how to get angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way.
Do you know how to use anger as a leadership tool?
Until next time,
Rick
P.S. I was challenged by a friend to write something positive about using anger in leadership. Let me know how I did!