Ever Seen Anyone Display Anger in a Business Situation When Under Pressure?

 When under pressure in a business situation, sometimes people's emotion of choice is  anger.

Have you ever witnessed this first hand? Maybe you've been guilty of it yourself in the past. We've all been angry at some point in our lives. Sometimes it's appropriate; sometimes it's not.

Anger isn't necessarily a bad emotion if you channel it. Anger can be a very useful emotion if it creates a shift in your thinking. 

• "I'm done putting up with this (insert negative situation)."
• "I'm not going to let this go by anymore."
• "I'm drawing my line in the sand."
• "I wont' stand for this anymore."
• "I will step up and change this."

Anger is a great emotion if it spurs you to create new ideas, new solutions, higher standards, new goals, new ways of getting results, and you push yourself. 

However, if you're using anger as your go-to emotion when things get tough there are better options.

In the aftermath it can leave you feeling guilty and disappointed in yourself. It can damage relationships and your image. 

You have other emotions at your disposal. There are thousands of emotions you can pull from. People generally get stuck on a select few.

You are not your behavior; you can change it.

Sometimes what makes us angry or hurt is that there is an ounce of truth to what the other person is saying or the situation sheds light on something we don't want to admit. We typically don't want to take the feedback. Take the feedback!

Recall a situation where you were angry. Consider the possibility there was a gift in that moment. What was it? Allow that interaction to inspire you to better something. There is always a hidden gem in there.

How do you prevent going to anger in the future?

Write a Code of Conduct for Yourself.

Write out a list of "I am _________" statements. Examples are:

• I am kind.
• I am empathetic.
• I am intuitive.
• I am quick-thinking.
• I am understanding.
• I am forgiving.
• I am patient.
• I am smart.

Decide who you want to be in those situations. Who do you want to be in that role? How do you want to behave in the future? What is acceptable to you?  What do you want to project? How do you want to feel after the situation when it's over?

Let's face it - your buttons will be pushed at times. You will be tempted to use anger. There are better options. Decide in advance who you are, how you want to behave, and how you're going to handle those situations from now on. Then you get to feel great about it next time you are faced with a similar pressure situation. It's a matter of being prepared and deciding in advance how you will behave when your buttons are being pushed.

EMOTIONS are part of the larger picture of executive presence.

Emotions can be your Kryptonite or your superhero cape. It's your choice how you want to use them. Choose wisely.

If you want to dive more into the subject of emotions and/or executive presence I have a free training for you: The 5 Shifts to Advance Your Executive Presence and Rise to the Top. Get it HERE.