{"id":2298,"date":"2012-11-04T23:20:28","date_gmt":"2012-11-05T03:20:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifewithhappiness.com\/?p=2298"},"modified":"2018-10-02T13:36:45","modified_gmt":"2018-10-02T17:36:45","slug":"when-fear-and-anger-affect-decision-making","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theexecutivehappinesscoach.com\/2012\/11\/when-fear-and-anger-affect-decision-making\/","title":{"rendered":"When Fear and Anger Affect Decision-making"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today’s Guest Post is by my LA-based colleague, Sharon Rich of LEADERSHIPIncorporated<\/a>. \u00a0She reflects on the impact of making decisions from too deep in the emotional realm. \u00a0<\/p>\n

~~~~~~<\/p>\n

My husband\u00a0has attempted\u00a0to have a substantive political dialogue<\/strong>\u00a0with a few colleagues on the opposite side in Tuesday\u2019s election.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The problem is that their positions are consistently based on unsubstantiated stories that predict massive disasters for those with their views.<\/p>\n

They use epithets like \u201csnake,\u201d \u201canti-Israel,\u201d \u201clike Christians rooting for the lions,\u201d \u201cAmerica haters,\u201d \u201capologists\u201d and other language that seeks to cast both the opposing candidate AND my husband as malicious, evil, ignorant and hostile to the US.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s clear that they are very afraid which makes them angry which makes them more fearful and which in turn makes them still angrier. They\u00a0aren’t interested\u00a0in facts or reasonable alternative viewpoints and this has made mutual understanding and meaningful dialogue impossible.<\/p>\n

A few weeks ago, one of the group invited us to a \u201cdebate\u201d intended to showcase each party\u2019s views.<\/strong>\u00a0She neglected to tell us that the organization putting on the event was strongly affiliated with “her side.” They cheered for their representative \u00a0and\u00a0when\u00a0the opposing debater spoke (even though he was a\u00a0highly respected\u00a0member of the clergy) the crowd began\u00a0to\u00a0boo and hiss. Even when admonished repeatedly by the moderator and host\u00a0to be\u00a0respectful, they still couldn\u2019t or wouldn’t contain their disrespectful behavior.<\/p>\n

The language being used by the debater on their side was full of extremes and violence. He described his opponents as \u201cbeating up on our values,” \u201cthrowing us under the bus,\u201d \u201cdangerous,\u201d \u201cshoving ideas down our throats,\u201d and so on.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, as his opponent tried to respond with factual and reasoned arguments, the crowd increasingly shouted him down.<\/p>\n

As the evening progressed, the angry energy in the room became more and more intense. As it became\u00a0clear\u00a0to those around us that we weren\u2019t participating in the heckling, we started to feel hostile glares. Each of us had moments of wondering if we were physically safe.<\/p>\n

It struck me that the stories being told and the language being used\u00a0were intended\u00a0to incite fear, anger and intense emotion. And that the more fearful and angry the people became, the less able they were to listen, think independently, or to make a rational decision.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest problems with using fear and anger as a political tool is that after the dust settles, you’re left with people who’ve been pushed into extreme territory that is a huge challenge\u00a0to address or control and that can take on a life of its own.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This experience increased my awareness of the emotional and fear-based decisions we all find ourselves faced with, not only in this election, but in our businesses and lives.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A decision made from fear is always the wrong decision.\u00a0<\/em>~\u00a0Tony Robbins<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve seen a lot of leaders make bad business decisions in the atmosphere of fear that has dominated the past several years:\u00a0<\/p>\n

The manufacturer who stopped all marketing efforts in a panic thinking they could save their way out of financial challenges, and whose rapidly declining\u00a0market share\u00a0is making it clear this was an extremely costly mistake from which they may not recover.<\/p>\n

The marketing firm that cut several star performers in the early days of the recession and who are now finding that not only have they been unable to replace them, they have to compete against them.<\/p>\n

The medical center that for the first time in its history experienced a loss and cut off funding to key departments, creating conditions that guaranteed\u00a0underperformance, which has compounded their financial problems with decreasing customer satisfaction, bad press,\u00a0morale\u00a0issues and turnover that will take much greater investment and time to turnaround.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But what are leaders supposed to do to manage change in these turbulent and scary times?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Notice the emotional stories.<\/strong>\u00a0Be vigilant! Resist the urge to get swept up in the drama. Be aware of language that triggers fear, anger and other strong emotions \u2014 whether it’s coming out of someone else\u2019s mouth, or rattling around in your own mind!<\/li>\n
  2. If you do find yourself faced with an emotional or fear-based decision, do the hard work of remaining open.<\/strong>\u00a0Stay calm. Fact-check. Choose reality. Make sure your sources are reliable. Be curious to see if the opposite story could be just as true.<\/li>\n
  3. Create a clear, specific, inclusive and positive vision<\/strong>\u00a0for what would be better.<\/li>\n
  4. Share your vision.<\/strong>\u00a0Get excited. Get others onboard. You can\u2019t do it alone! Give them an opportunity to get involved; to play a part in creating a better future.<\/li>\n
  5. Get into action.<\/strong>\u00a0Nothing allays fear or anger like positive forward movement.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \u00a0The best thing for us all in politics, business or life,<\/strong>\u00a0regardless of whether you lean toward conservative, independent or liberal views, is to reject fear-based thinking (which can come from either side) get the facts and make the best decisions we can, based on our values. One of the great things about our amazing United States is the built-in respect for competing views, which provides checks and balances that over time keep us moving forward on sane middle ground.<\/p>\n

    Let\u2019s never forget that. And don\u2019t forget to vote on Tuesday!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Today’s is a guest post by my LA-based colleague, Sharon Rich, who captures beautifully the danger of making decisions based in fear. AND REMEMBER TO VOTE ON TUESDAY! Quote from Sharon: “The best thing for us all in politics, business or life, regardless of whether you lean toward conservative, independent or liberal views, is to reject fear-based thinking (which can come from either side) get the facts and make the best decisions we can, based on our values.” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5789,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,58,11],"tags":[362,244,301],"yoast_head":"\nWhen Fear and Anger Affect Decision-making - The Executive Happiness Coach\u00ae<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theexecutivehappinesscoach.com\/2012\/11\/when-fear-and-anger-affect-decision-making\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When Fear and Anger Affect Decision-making - The Executive Happiness Coach\u00ae\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today's is a guest post by my LA-based colleague, Sharon Rich, who captures beautifully the danger of making decisions based in fear. 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