Chapter 4: Compose Yourself

Overview

I think the guys who are really controlling their emotions . . . are going to win.
—Tiger Woods

Jordan Fladell earned his nickname, “The Tornado,” early in his career as a dot-com entrepreneur. Once, when employees did not fill out time sheets as they were expected to do, he gathered all 14 of the Internet startup’s employees into a conference room after lunch, and while standing on the table with a 55-gallon plastic waste can, he yelled, “This is what happens when we don’t fill out time sheets. We throw money away!” Then he tore up payroll checks (which were blank, although the employees did not know it), let the pieces float into the waste can, kicked the can down the hall, and yelled a little more before jumping off the table and storming out the door. Fladell’s team, all silent and shocked, quietly dispersed, and some avoided him for days.

In his professional and personal life, Fladell has high expectations, a “no excuses” mantra, and a win-lose sports mentality that stems from years of playing football, baseball, and roller hockey and wrestling. All have helped him to become, at age 32, the cofounder and chief sales officer of Definition 6, an Atlanta-headquartered, Web-based consulting firm that, even after the dot-com bust, is in its fifth year of growth, with revenues near $6 million. His brash style of leadership, however, also brought a downside. Some employees were not entirely comfortable around Fladell, unsure of when the next tornado would hit.

Not long after the trashcan incident, Fladell went on a “screaming spree” after sales managers made a decision that he did not like while he was out of the office one day.

Somehow the event hit home with him (no one would have dared call him on his behavior), and he realized that the way he was acting was wrong and felt that his personal integrity was at stake. “[The behavior] . . . was really in conflict with the way I believe others should be treated,” Fladell admitted. After speaking with a couple of people in the company about the issue and being told that his “belligerent” behavior prevented results, he apologized to his staff in a company wide meeting and immediately began making positive changes.

“I still get upset, especially over customer issues, but now I take a deep breath, debrief with my partner, and follow the ‘hot fire rule’—no matter how hot you get, you can’t fire someone on the spot, you have to cool off and wait until the next day.” Fladell believes that by not yelling and by being more “emotionally mature,” he is allowing his employees to be more comfortable with him and more productive. He has worked on converting his energy to helping his subordinates reach their goals, and that strategy has been a winning one for everyone and the company. “When someone tells me I’ve made a difference in their career or their life, that’s better than any sale or contract. That’s the greatest victory for me.”

At the core of Fladell’s new wisdom is the idea that effective and admirable leadership requires composure. Challenges, stressors, and obstacles are inherent in any organization and in any leader’s path; how a leader conducts himself or herself during the good times and the bad can be indicative of his or her character, competence, and ultimately, credibility. While the call for transparency that builds credibility urges leaders to reveal their true opinions and emotions regarding relevant business issues, it does not allow for leaders to irresponsibly let it all hang out. Especially during tough times, followers expect their leaders to be composed, calming, readying, and focusing the team.

However, you may be wondering: Isn’t it better to be effective than composed? This is business, after all. I need bottom-line results, not a reputation for being calm and steady. Today you will have difficulty being effective without composure. It is a formula that even Microsoft has realized is necessary for success in today’s business environment.

A November 2002 article in the New York Times Magazine, “Microsofter,” describes the new personality that the company and its chief executive officer (CEO), Steve Ballmer, are trying to project: “older, wiser, calmer,” and “transparent.” Writer Steve Bodow explains that since its former Goliath’s leverage has been weakened by a giant antitrust suit and increased competition, gone are the days when the company could “get away with simply being a bully.” Ballmer, especially, is working on getting control of his brash, impulsive personality; he used to scream so much at sales meetings that he had to have surgery to repair his wasted vocal cords, and a once widely circulated video, tagged “Monkeyboy,” showed the Microsoft executive rallying the troops “in ways that seemed, well, primal,” according to Bodow. This reputation almost cost Ballmer his 2001 promotion to Bill Gates’ former position because the company’s board was concerned about his “hotheadedness” ( New York Times Magazine, November 24, 2002, pp. 72–75).

A leader’s composure should not be underestimated as a vital ingredient for long-term success. To be effective in influencing followers, to be well regarded (if not well liked), to be seen as credible, indeed to be thought of as a leader, one must possess a solid, steady, controlled demeanor during challenging, stressful, and emotionally charged times and exhibit “grace under fire,” keeping followers focused on the vision and working toward a common purpose during periods of change or opposition.

Of 2052 employees who participated in surveys, 68 percent said that their leaders could improve at working constructively under pressure, and 73 percent of those leaders’ bosses agreed.