The Furnace of Emotion

With the enterprise investment landscape presenting a barren vista and business confidence diminished, the challenges of restoring our individual self-belief and of building our capacity to inject enthusiasm and energy into our organisations are colossal.  And it is in such circumstances that the mettle of leadership is forged.  Indeed sustaining motivation in the face of adversity is a particular distinguishing feature of leaders who accomplish long term success.

Experiencing feelings of anxiety, uncertainty and even genuine terror is entirely routine in difficult circumstances.  What is not commonplace, however, is the degree to which individuals harness the potential of such unpleasant emotions to expand their individual motivational capability and amplify their capacity to move forward towards new prospects. 

Our emotions are bodily and mental states that are capable of allowing us to initiate or resist change in our lives. They can be regarded as boundaries that mediate between the environment and our behavioural responses and they serve important functions in determining how we respond to the challenges we encounter daily.  

From an organisational perspective, emotions can prompt specific actions through their effect on physical, mental and social processes, so that the emotional response of individuals to dramatic events can have wide ranging implications in the workplace.  How we listen to and interpret the messages offered by our emotions can determine or deter our capability to achieve success.  So why is it that so little attention is paid to the issue of emotion in our workplaces and why indeed is there a widespread tendency among managers and leaders to regard displays of emotion with suspicion, derision and disapproval?

Beware of the Lakes of Pontchartrain

While the image of Taoiseach Brian Cowan warbling the lyrics of the Lakes of Pontchartrain to the amusement of an assembly of Fianna Fail parliamentary party colleagues in mid September may not bear the hallmarks of behaviour normally associated with an EU Prime Minister, surely we should reflect that he does not have a monopoly on such tactless conduct. Indeed those media outlets across the globe which have been quick to pillory Cowen over the so-called “Gargle-gate” affair, including The New York Times, BBC, Fox News, Washington Post and MSNBC, are all somewhat silent when it comes to comparisons or comparable gaffes by some of the ‘great and good’ among their own political elites.

Picture, for example, the immediate response of George W. Bush to the news of the attack on the Twin Towers in New York.  At 9:03 a.m. on September 9^th 2001, fifteen minutes after it was clear to Federal Security agencies that the United States was under terrorist attack, President Bush sat down with a classroom of second-grade children at Booker Elementary School to listen to them reading about a story about a pet goat. Or consider Gordon Brown describing lifelong Labour supporter, 66 year-old Gillian Duffy, as “a bigoted woman” for tackling him on issues relating to immigration from Eastern Europe, on the campaign trail in Rochdale in April 2010. The list of similar gaffes among such political notables as Nicholas Sarcozy and Italy’s Berlusconi goes on.

So why is it that otherwise mostly intelligent, well-advised and generally articulate leaders fall into the trap of making such blunders and indiscretions and, why do they appear do so at times when they most need a personal and political uplift?