I read this article about “angry man behaviour” with keen interest a few weeks ago and I sent out a few tweets about it too. I have referred to it and thought about it quite a lot since this time. So I wanted to share some of this thinking and reflection.
Firstly, I am still appalled that we can claim as it did in the article that “angry men are seen as more competent, more focused, more effective and even more worthy…..”. This claim has appalled, frustrated and disappointed me – and mostly because I know it to be true. Debriefing many senior businessmen on their 360 degree feedback they own their aggressive “angry man” behaviour with pride and with the certainty that it achieves results. And yes it does achieve results in the short term – however they are not sustainable from either a personal or organisational level.
Personally this kind of behaviour brings stress and tension and it takes a toll on health. Organisationally this behaviour creates fear and stymies the release of people potential. People working for a leader who employs angry man behaviour do what they are told – independent thinking is stifled, collaboration is non existent and achievement potential from a revenue and profit perspective is below what it could be. It is a case of you don’t know what you don’t know – you don’t know what could be achieved should the angry behaviour be outlawed!
Angry man behaviour is rewarded and forgiven because it produces results. I have engaged in many coaching conversations about this kind of behaviour. It is sad that too many Australian leaders continue to adopt this short term approach.
Courageous leaders recognise that angry man behaviour is not constructive. They recognise that it leads to passive responses robbing people of their self esteem or it is matched with more angry man behaviour. This kind of matching results in the person with access to the greatest positional power – be it their own or that of their boss – doing their utmost to get their way, breeding fear into anyone who attempts to stand in their way. Let’s eliminate angry man behaviour – it really isn’t an acceptable way to achieve results.
Illustration by Edd Aragon
