Reset Rants

[PaulP]

The invitation was for a rant... I took up the invitation, passionately 

Highs and lows are a realistic and authentic part of life, as are emotions. It was one of the factors singled out in the Tiggers success last year, 360 feedback/expression around bona fide emotions (hurts/heroes and I forget the 3rd H). We shouldn't consign emotions to being solely 'irrational', many aren't. To me it's not an either/or thing but rather 'both' scenario. If emotions frighten you (not you personally) and must be controlled/dominated by rational thought then leadership aint for you. Leadership understands how best passion and thought can work together to get the best out of each other.

For me, allowing, even encouraging people to feel deep hurt and deep exhilaration around failure and success is great for development... provided you can provide a safe environment for them to do so - never ignore or deny or invalidate or minimalise emotions - they're friends not foes. Suppressing emotion is a gateway to trouble, big trouble. And believe me, gen y and millennials will use 'not too low' to minimise losing; to not seeing it as too bad thing; to not allowing themselves to hurt.

Of course you don't want people jumping off bridges after a loss, but hurts/disappointments not expressed or validated will far more likely lead to trouble than expressed, authentically expressed, hurts in a safe and validating environment.

In my view, that is exactly the sort of environment Bolton is trying to create. But don't assume what you see in pressers etc. is automatically what happens behind closed doors.