HBR Briefs: Emotions in Business

LAST Post about HBR Briefs for November: “Why Repressing Emotions is Bad for Business” (Daniel Shapiro) A lot of leaders who have to make tough choices, especially in these uncertain times, think that they must divorce emotions from their communication style: WRONG. Shapiro’s research offers this bottom line: “Emotional investment can improve your relationships, increase trust, and promote satisfying, enduring agreements.” According to Shapiro, emotions [especially negative ones] arise from predictable concerns from a lack of: appreciation, affiliation, autonomy, status, and role (change). He provides two brief but powerful examples of how people were laid off from two different companies. One layoff was done with respect, care and concern. The other, done unemotionally, cold, and uncaring. Take a guess at who threatened to sue the company!