In their bestseller What Got You Here Won’t Get You There
I’ve picked up 3 out of the 20 “bad habits” identified in the book and I’m commited to observe my behavior in order to get better and improve myself. My pick for today is: Speak when angry, tomorrow I’ll talk about another one, and on monday about my third pick.
1. Speak when angry.
This is one of the most undermining habits of all. It’s ok to be angry on something, but it’s not ok to speak when you’re in such a bad mood. Have you done that lately? I have, and I regret it. You probably said things you didn’t mean to, or at least not in the way you should have.
If you constantly fall into the emotional trap of your anger, then you probably are also known for that. That my friend can be the worst image for you. Nobody wants to promote someone who’s yelling at coworkers on a periodical basis.
My remedy for that: next time I’m angry I will ask for a second, If I’m allowed, leave the room for a couple of minutes and then count up to 20. If I can not leave the room, then I will commit myself to listen all the arguments, and before replying making the longest pause, 5 or 10 seconds before start talking.
By the way, pausing before replying, helps you set the tone of your replying… Have you noticed, that when you’re angry you tend to speak faster than you usually do?
LEADERSHIP ACTIONS
Next time you feel you’re becoming upset for something and you’re in the middle of a discussion then take sometime to reply, or ask permission to leave the room for a moment. Then you will have time to THINK before replying, and let the emotions go by.
In the next 3-minute-leadership tip I’m going to write about another bad habit. And as a bonus, you cand check for yourself the list of the bad habits identified by Goldsmith and Reiter and look for the ones you would like to pick up and work on.
Remember: Be Alert, Be A Leader. 
Leadership
5 comments
Great advice, thanks a lot.
[...] the previous article “Bad Habits and Leadership, Speak When Angry” I’ve commented to you that I picked up 3 out of the 20 “bad habits” identified [...]
Anger management is extremely important under such situations .
Don’t express your anger and eventually you’ll get a really lousy gut cancer… I say you better punch him/her in the nose and let that anger go.
I’ve seen the real meaning of this article in my present job, as an investigator and this provide additional guidellines and ideas in the future coz i was planning to open a seminar about leadership
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