Brent Filson's Action Leadership™

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Reprinted from "Brent Filson’s Action Leadership Report,” a free e-zine helping leaders be more effective. Subscribe at and receive Brent Filson’s free report: 49 Tips On Using Action To Get Results.

IN THIS ISSUE: “The Anger Issue.”

SECTION 1: Brent Filson’s Weekly Tips To Lead By.
(Follow these tips week by week throughout this month.)

Week 1. Anger Comes With The Territory

Week 2. Their Anger Is Your Opportunity

Week 3. Your Anger Is Your Opportunity

Week 4. Crowns For Convoy

SECTION 2: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

SECTION 3: Guest Report

SECTION 4: Points of Light.

SECTION 5: News.

Week 1. Anger Comes With The Territory.
Action Leadership is about getting people committed to your cause. That means challenging people to move from simple compliance to all out commitment. When you are so challenging them, they often get angry. That’s to be expected. After all, if you are not getting a portion of the people you lead angry, you’re not challenging them enough.

Here is my four-step process to begin to deal with their anger. (1) RECOGNIZE. (2) IDENTIFY. (3) VALIDATE. (4)TRANSLATE.

Apply the first three steps of the process this week. Next week, I’ll have you apply the fourth step.

RECOGNIZE: Recognize that if you don’t face and deal with the anger of the people you lead, it will stab you in the back.

Many leaders don’t. They say in effect: “People should do what I tell them to do. Period. Their feelings are irrelevant.”

If ‘my-way-or-the-highway’ is your way of leading, don’t engage in this process, which relies on motivating people rather than ordering them.

However, if you want people to “want to” do the task, to commit to being your cause leaders, their anger matters a great deal. After all, people usually won’t sign up to help lead your cause if they are angry with you; and it’s virtually impossible, if you they reluctantly sign up, to have them stay your cause leaders.

There are four ways you can recognize that people are angry with you. The first is that you can see it on their faces or their body language. The second is that you can tell it in a drop off in their performance. The third is that you hear from other people they are angry. The fourth is they actually tell you they are angry.

IDENTIFY: Identify the causes of their anger. This may not be as simple or as easy as you think. They may be angry, but they may not want to talk about why they are angry or even admit to you that they are. Don’t back them in a corner. Don’t make judgments. Don’t get angry yourself. Get interested. Don’t say, for instance, “You’re angry ... “ Instead, ask open-ended questions like, “Are you angry with me?” — a question that seems on the surface only slightly different but that will make a big difference in the consequences of your interactions with them.

Once you and they have identified that they are angry, come to an agreement as to the actual reasons why. Drill through superficial reasons to the bedrock of why. They may say they are angry because you are giving them more work to do. But digging further, you may find out that they believe the supposed extra work will set them up for failure, and they might lose their jobs. So, they are really angry not simply for work-load reasons but for job security reasons.

VALIDATE: Validate their anger. Their anger is real and important to them. It’s who they perceive themselves to be (at the moment they feel angry) in their relationship with you. Many people embrace their anger. They may see it as the one thing that they can control in an environment in which they feel out of control. If you try to ignore that anger or belittle it, they will feel you are belittling them.

Tell them that you know they are angry and that you want to find out why. Avoid saying things like, “I know you’re angry ... but ... “ That “but” can harden them against you. Saying, “Help me understand why you feel angry about what I’m doing.” can get you farther than the “but.” This is not to condone their anger nor approve of it but simply to come to an agreement with them that it exists and that you intend to do something about it in a way that will be mutually beneficial.

This week, select people who are angry with you but whom you need to be your cause leaders and apply the steps, RECOGNIZE. IDENTIFY. VALIDATE.

We’ll leave TRANSLATE for next week.

Week 2: Their Anger Is Your Opportunity:
Last week, you took the first steps in dealing with their anger. This week, you will apply the fourth step: TRANSLATE.

In this step, you will TRANSLATE their anger into your results. Because, as you’ll see, their anger can be great raw material for results.

People get angry for many reasons. 1. Their time is being wasted. 2. Their individual worth is not respected. 3. They feel threatened. 4. Their efforts are not appreciated. 5. They are not given voice or choice in their work. 6. Their values are not recognized or given credence. 7. Their leaders cannot do their jobs well. 8. Their leaders focus on their own needs. 8. Their leaders don't understand and acknowledge their needs. 9. Their leaders don't provide clear direction. 10. They are being overworked. 11. They are being set up to fail.

Here is a five-step process to translate people’s anger into results. I call it the problem/solution/action process. The key to this process is that people’s anger usually stems from an unresolved problem. (1) With their help, identify the problem. (2) Come to an agreement with them as to the causes of that problem. (3) Help them find a solution. (4) Challenge them to take action to solve the problem. (5) Link that action to increases in results.

You can apply this process to any of the 11 reasons. As an example, let’s apply it to the first reason. Often, a key challenge in getting others to take new action is their complaining you are wasting their time.

Step one: Draw up two lists, one composed of the aspects of their job they believe waste their time, and the other of the aspects they feel are crucial.

Step two: Come to an agreement with them on which aspects are truly a waste of their time and which aren’t. Without such agreement, they may remain angry with you. For instance, they may feel that their having to complete a particular report or aspects of that report wastes their time. If you think that such reports are absolutely essential, you cannot continue this process unless you convince them that the reports are essential or that you will change them to make them essential.

Step three: Once you come to that agreement, work on each aspect in the “waste of time” list by applying this analytical tool: Decide if you want to leave it alone, change it, or eliminate it. There is no fourth choice!

Step four: If you have chosen to change it, have them suggest actions they will take to do so. Note the sequence here. Your first step in changing an aspect is to elicit from them what needs to be changed and the actions required to affect the change. If need be, you can always veto their choice. But if you first let them make that choice, you may find that they have delineated actions that tap a new vein of results. At the very least, they will be committed to those actions, since they go right to the heart of solving the problem of their anger.

Step five: Link those actions to increases in results. For instance, now that they have reduced, eliminated or changed a particular aspect of their job that was a problem for them, how will that translate into money saved/earned?

Be advised: This will not work for all people who are angry with you. You will always be confronted by “professionally angry” people who will be angry and stay angry no matter what you do. Just being you or just being a leader or just being you as a leader gets them angry, and nothing will change that. In subsequent e-magazines, we’ll talk about what to do with them as well.

This week, select those people you interacted with last week and apply the problem/solution/action process. Keep working the process to get measurable increases in results.

Week 3. Your Anger Is Your Opportunity.
I talked about their anger being your opportunity. But it’s also true that your anger is your opportunity. To understand this, remember David Coffin and Aristotle.

When writing my book, Executive Speeches: 51 CEOs Tell You How To Do Yours, I interviewed C.E.O. David Coffin who said, “I’m patient, reasonable, even tempered. But once my patience runs out, I give my best talks. .... Something has to be done. You want to get it done!”

I counsel leaders that great results happen in the realm of the free choice of the people you lead and that to give people choices, leaders should be “patient, reasonable, even tempered.” They should also be great listeners and adapt at asking good questions

... most of the time.

Occasionally, however, leaders must let their patience run out. They must get angry and show people they’re angry ... because something has to be done and they want it done!

However, just getting angry and communicating that anger is not enough to seize the opportunity that anger can provide. That’s where Aristotle comes in.

Aristotle wrote in Nicomachean Ethics: “Anyone can be angry. That is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, in the right way — that is not easy.”

This week — If you get angry, think of David Coffin and Aristotle. Be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, in the right way — and you’ll find that you may be giving some of your best leadership talks.

Week 4: Crowns For Convoy.
The stirring speech of Shakespeare’s Henry before the battle of Agincourt contains many leadership nuggets. But commentators who recount the speech usually overlook a particularly valuable one. They focus on the speech’s “band of brothers” aspects but neglect the fact that Henry also said that if any of his soldiers would rather not fight, he’d give them passport and “crowns for convoy” back to England.

Whatever organization you lead, however large or small, you will inevitably be faced with the challenge of people wanting to opt out and go elsewhere. Whenever leaders face this challenge, I suggest that they OFFER CROWNS FOR CONVOY. In other words, let them make the choice to leave and when they make that choice, vigorously support it.

You can take this even further by applying the Wind/sun Principle of Action Leadership. The name derives from Aesop’s fable of the wind and sun competing to see who can remove a coat from a man. The wind tries to blow the coat off, but the man clutches it tightly to his body. Then the sun grows hotter, and the man, perspiring heavily and getting hotter and hotter, gladly rips the coat off. The leadership lesson is clear: You can bluster and blow to get somebody to accomplish a task, but that’s not as effective as setting up a situation in which the person gladly does it.

Now, apply this to those people who want out, and you may find yourself reshaping your relationship with them in positive ways. Have them draw up specific leadership actions and provide milestones and ways that you and they can monitor their progress. Support them as you would any cause leader.

One might say that if somebody wants out ... good riddance! But let’s examine this. When somebody wants to leave, two facts apply. One is that, clearly, that person – for whatever reason – is dissatisfied and is looking for satisfaction elsewhere. And two is that you have a relationship with the person. It might be a good relationship. It might be a bad relationship. And you don’t want to get the two facts mixed up in a bad way. Because that relationship continues in one form or another even if you don’t set eyes on each other again. A bad relationship with an employee that left your organization can come back to haunt you in many unforeseen ways — such as in your relationship with the people who remain behind. By supporting that person in taking leadership of their leaving, you are taking the edge off bad feelings that might grow worse ... AND you are setting up a situation in which you can work together in a positive way. This gives you and the other person an opportunity to change your relationship. Then, HERE’S CROWNS FOR CONVOY is not offered in spite or rancor but out of a genuine desire to help. And it is that desire that can make a situation that may be working against you, work for you.

SECTION 2: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
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THE GOOD:
Edwin Stanton, Lincoln’s secretary of war, was in a bitter dispute with a general who accused him of favoritism. Lincoln advised the secretary to write an angry letter to the general. When Stanton showed Lincoln the letter, the president praised it. “This is a fine angry letter,” he said.

“I’ll send it immediately,” said Stanton.

“No, don’t send it.”

“Don’t send it?”

Lincoln said: “Chuck it in the stove. That’s what I do when I write an angry letter. You’ve had a fine time writing it, now burn it and write another letter.”

In leadership, anger, like revenge, is often best served cold.

THE BAD:
John Hunter, the famous English surgeon during the time of George III, suffered from angina. He claimed that it was brought on when he became angry. “My life is at the mercy of any scoundrel who puts me in a passion,” he said. His words were prophetic. At a hospital board meeting, he got into a bitter argument with a colleague and dropped dead on the spot.

In your leadership activities, recognize that people can’t make you angry. You choose to be angry.

THE UGLY:
Soon after he took power, Nikita Khrushchev was denouncing the late Joseph Stalin before a meeting of party apparatchiks. In the back of the room, somebody said, “Khrushchev, you knew Stalin. You were his colleague. You had many meetings with him. Why didn’t you do something? Why didn’t you say something?”

Khrushchev bounded off the podium and up the aisle, waving his arms and shouting, “WHO SAID THAT? WHO SAID THAT?”

Silence. People looked down and quailed in their seats.

Khrushchev returned to the podium and said, “Now you know why I said nothing. Now you know why I did nothing!”

Khrushchev didn’t give a presentation. He gave a Leadership Talk. He made his experience their experience. The apparatchiks might have forgotten what he said, but they never forgot how they felt!

In your leadership communications, capitalize on the power of emotion and experience. If you want the people to remember something, have them experience it.

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SECTION 3: GUEST REPORT
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I came back to my plant from a seminar on Action Leadership to find some workers on my teams rather angry with me. The seminar was held in the States, and though those workers knew that I was on an educational trip, they really felt that I was on some kind of vacation instead, leaving them leaderless for a few days to solve problems on their own.

I knew that the Action Leadership processes I had learned were perfect for my team and other workers at the plant, that they were exactly what we needed to increase cycle time, productivity and make further advances in safety. But I knew too that if I introduced those processes right away upon my return, I would have gotten some resistence, especially from the workers who were angry. On top of that, I knew that they were watching me so see what new “flavor of the month” I was going to shove on them.

So I held off introducing the processes. I waited two weeks before doing so. And then I introduced them gradually. That gradual introduction really worked. Action Leadership became a vital way we do business ... on so many levels and with so many functions. I see it as a door I’ve walked through into a whole new arena of results with opportunities that never existed before. But I believe that if I had not understood that some workers were angry, if I had not dealt with their anger, if I had introduced the processes prematurely, that Action Leadership might not have gotten off the ground. When you need to introduce processes that will fundamentally change your organization, it’s not only what you say that’s important but when you say it.
—Ashton Harrilal, Supervisor, Powergen, West Indies

SECTION 4: Points of Light

“The worst tempered people I have ever met are the people who knew they were wrong.” Wilson Mizner

“Powerless rage can work miracles,” Stanislaw J. Lec

“When I’m right, I get angry. Churchill gets angry when he is wrong. So we were often angry at each other.” Charles De Gaulle

“Managers say, ‘productivity,’ but workers mutter, “more work!” Brent Filson

“Anger makes dull men witty, but it keeps them poor.” Francis Bacon

“Anger is a kind of passive suffering, but indignation is a kind of joy.” William B. Yeats

“The real reason I am a C.E.O. is that on about a half dozen occasions over the course of my career, I’ve kept my mouth shut.” Said to Brent Filson.

“If a portion of the people aren’t angry with you, you’re not leading well enough.” Brent Filson

“People who fly into a rage always make a bad landing.” Will Rogers

“Some fools cannot be angry, but all wise men will not.” Anonymous

SECTION 5: News

Brent Filson’s ActionPlan leadership sessions at the Princeton Club: August 13, September 24, October 29, November 21, December 17.

Prepublication copies of Brent’s latest book, The Leadership Talk: Motivating People To Get More Results Faster, came off the presses last month. It is put out by Williamstown Publishing Company and is due for a Spring ‘04 publication date . Already, a major library distribution company has picked up the book to sell to thousands of libraries around the nation. Prepublication activities will also include bulk sales to corporations and non-profit organizations.

“The book is meant for leaders of all levels and all functions,” Brent says. “Right now, it seems to be of particular interest to small-unit leaders and middle managers. With this in mind, It can help these leaders augment their organization’s market strategies with something few organizations engage in: leadership strategies. For the Leadership Talk not only works on a one-to-one level but on strategic level too.”