You’d never jeopardize a customer’s experience by getting angry with him or her. But you want to get angry behind the scenes every once in a while to propel your career.
That’s right: It’s a good idea to get angry and blow off some steam. Then you might just move your career in the direction you want it to go.
Turns out, a bad mood or anger streak is an asset when it comes to attacking a creative block. And we know that a creative block can get in the way of the next great marketing campaign, sales proposal or customer solution.
What researchers saw
Three European professors recently asked more than 100 professionals to keep a diary of their emotions for a week — focusing on positive things such as excitement and inspiration, and negative things such as stress and hostility. The most productive people stared their most productive days with negative emotions. It appeared that they channeled their anger into their work.
The professors backed up this finding with a second study, asking new participants to brainstorm after they wrote an essay recounting a negative or positive event in their lives. Those who dwelled on a negative event listed more varied and original ideas.
Channel that negative energy
When a customer makes your blood boil, it might be a good time to go to task on a project or get together with a team that needs to brainstorm. One thing to avoid, though: making decisions. It’s seldom safe to make decisions that affect customers or colleagues when you are angry or upset — lest you do something you might regret down the road.
