Steve Jobs. Larry Ellison. Steve Ballmer. These and many other tech executives, past and present, embody the reputation of the monster boss, whose temper is feared more than the late nights, mini-breakdowns, and public humiliation sometimes required to please them.
But for other, less famous and/or talented corporate leaders, having a bad temper can be a misstep with dire consequences. Just ask former Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz.
"When you lose your temper you lose respect," notes one
"how to" executive management guide. And if you think that's not true, take a look around during the next meeting or conference where someone loses it. Note the rolling eyeballs, chuckles, and flurry of smartphone activity.
By the way, we're talking temper tantrums here, the kind that involve raised voices, nasty email attacks, and executive rants. Consultant Steve Tobak draws the line between these behaviors and a bit of work-related aggression:
Nobody's saying that heated debated or constructive confrontation -- a term coined at Intel (INTC) when Andy Grove ran the show -- is bad. It's not. It's absolutely healthy in a business environment where people are engaged and passionate about the company and its product. There's a big difference between that and acting out in anger.
A leader who loses his or her temper loses control, violating a tenet of executive behavior -- self-discipline and restraint. According to Daniel Goleman, the consultant and Rutgers professor made famous for his assessment of "emotional intelligence" for business leaders, the "ability to control or redirect disruptive inpulses and and moods" and the "ability to think before acting" are hallmarks of successful leaders. (Hear more from Goleman in the video below.)
What should you do if you have an anger problem? Don't give in to it, and if need be, get help, says Steve Tobak:
Anger and rage, the kind that results in blowups, tirades or abusive treatment of others, is almost never about what you think it's about. And it's certainly not about whatever it is you're raving about when you see red. It comes from inside and you're misdirecting it at someone else. Recognize it for what it is and get some professional help. You'll be a much happier and more successful person.
We've all known abusive bosses. Perhaps you've been one. But in today's enterprise environment, which values interaction, social networking, and flattened hierarchies, it's getting tough to succeed with a red face and raised voice.
Key difference between military and business: In business you can pick your battles. You can choose where you want to compete and with whom. A company can, for example, decide it's a luxury brand and abandon the low-end market to bargain competitors.
In the military, you don't have that option. Someone attacks you, you fight back or lose.
True! And come to think of it, the military is a great model: There has to be a leader at all times, and a chain of command that works under extreme pressure.
What is market competition but the heat of battle?
Certainly, people expect to be treated respectfully, and will demand it unless there is no economic alternative.
But businesses tend to be dictatorships -- although the dictator can and should be respectful of his minions (um, employees) and accept advice and counsel.
It's a limited job market in most areas, but a loose one in others. While many workers are finding it tough to get jobs, businesses are struggling to find qualified STEM workers.
Thanks to the Internet, secret bullying is tougher to keep hidden. If you're a bad boss, you'll be called on it these days -- and may wind up in HR over it faster than before.
So, yes, it pays to have a healthy and professional approach.
Corporate cultures that want to retain good talent will focus now on making their environment as healthy as possible. It's good for retention, it's good for innovation, it's good for the bottomline.
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Almost everyone agrees that data analytics, digital marketing, apps, and APIs will greatly affect their enterprise's results in the next 12 months. But a report suggests that not all large corporations are moving quickly to adopt these enabling technologies -- and that could seriously harm their profitability, customer satisfaction, and chances for ongoing success.
Enterprises are embracing open-source to avoid vendor lock-in, get better-quality software, and gain access to larger libraries of applications. In return, they may be putting themselves at risk for higher, more complex support costs.
Whereas some businesses search externally when they need a CIO, Choice Hotels had to look only at its CTO for someone with the necessary expertise, industry knowledge, and technological know-how to continue leading the company's embrace of enabling technologies.
Local social media can be powerful marketing tools, but they can't just be add-ons. They need to be tightly integrated into the corporate culture, according to Whole Foods social marketers.
A recent release of the popular TweetDeck app for Twitter power-users gives new life to software that had previously taken a wrong turn. Here's a quick walk-through of the new TweetDeck, to show you why it should be at the top of your Twitter toolkit.
New tools like laptops, tablets, smartphone, and wireless connectivity let us work from San Diego to Katmandu, and anywhere in between. But time management remains a problem.
Showing results is the best way to win over social business doubters, according to Mary Maida, Medtronic lead information solutions manager. Internet Evolution's Mitch Wagner interviewed Maida at the E2 Innovate conference.
Facebook's Graph Search may face some profound challenges and risks, first, because Facebook users haven't been thinking of their posts as product reviews; and second, because Facebook will now have to contend with the social-network equivalent of SEO "gaming" of results.
The medical instruments manufacturer looks to metrics to quantify its social business engagement, according to Mary Maida, Medtronic lead information solutions manager. Internet Evolution editor in chief Mitch Wagner interviewed Maida at the E2 Innovate conference.
Apple may want to do a TV offering, but to meet its goal it would have to address three specific issues that have been exposed by earlier attempts to make Internet TV work.
Many enterprises view high-speed broadband connections as ubiquitous. Yet in about 20 percent of the country, businesses and their employees do not have access to even DSL connections. This shortcoming diminishes enterprises' ability to support their employees.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
The whole Amazon.reader debate is a double-stupid. It's stupid to think that there's any e-book buyer who doesn't know Amazon's URL, and it was stupider to let ICANN launch the whole free-form TLD initiative to start with.
While NFC's original goal was to enhance mobile commerce applications, it is finding its way into a number of other uses, which is creating both opportunity as well as challenges for IT departments.
Enterprises would like to move to cloud computing but are hesitant because they are concerned about providers’ ability to secure company data. Here are some tips that help to ensure that if breaches occur, the business is not left holding the bag.
Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
The automotive website uses propensity modeling to target ads and customer registration forms, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
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