The Business Benifits of Getting Angry. More money, more status, more promotions and power. Hitler used anger.

In preparation of the Hitler Documentary I am watching him be very angry in his speeches. Hitler used anger to gain power and status with his audience as well as to sway them to their primitive emotions.  Here is an article I wrote on the benefits of anger.

Getting angry can get you promoted.

Yes, surprisingly new research studies suggests that we perceive people who get angry as having more competence and leadership capability than people who are warm and nice If your one of those “nice” people you might be rather disappointed to learn that niceness is not always rewarded. If you get mad easily you may want to show this article to your boss right away! I am going to share the research and then make recommendations for the nice folks on this newsletter list.

I teach interpersonal skills. I know that I have always valued kindness in others, feel blessed to have a group of wonderfully kind friends, and see myself as a caring soul but recent events in my life have reminded me that being nice does not always pay. So I have been reading research on niceness and even a book about being a people pleaser. Are you surprised? I know I am professional speaker and I confident in so much of my life, but at my core my Myers Brigs Personality type reads “loves to be of service to others.” I just want to make sure that for all you other nice people out that your personality type never reads “are a doormat.” And sometimes reads “You need to serve me.”

In one of a series of research studies on anger by Standform researchers Larrissa Tiedens, Tieden  tested  24 employees at a Palo Alto software company. Each worker received a list of coworkers and a list of emotions. They had to rate how often their colleagues expressed anger. At the same time, the group manager filled out a questionnaire indicating how likely he would be to promote each of the employees. The degree to which people were rated by coworkers as expressing a lot of anger predicted the degree to which the manager said he would promote them—that is, the more angry, the more likely to be promoted. Oh my gosh! Start yelling right now! While you are at it stomp your foot a few times.

In another study, Tiedens had MBA students watch a video clip of a job interview. The applicant was asked to describe a negative event, such as an office presentation that went wrong. In one case, the applicant exuded anger about the event. In another tape, the applicant said he felt guilty and sad that people had been let down. The MBA students were asked if they would hire the applicant they had just seen. They were equally willing to hire both applicants, but they slotted the one who displayed anger for a higher-level, higher-paying job than the applicant who showed sadness. This is bizarre news to a professional speaker. If you want to increase your income have a bad speech, then get mad about it and stay mad all the way to the bank.

Not only did Tiedons research subjects say that angry people are more highly competent they said those expressing sadness or guilt were viewed as likable and warm, though not chosen for leadership. Why? Tiedens belives her subjects.”Are making the decisions about who will get status based not on socio-emotional characteristics such as warmth and likeability, but on competence characteristics," Anger is powerful. Anger gets its way. If you have red or been through  my DISC personality training you remember the Driver or Get it Done type doesn’t care about people only the task. The corporate world rewards results. And if Get it Dones' will yell and scream get to get things done as soon as possible. Anger gets its way fast.  It is a time saver. Being nice takes too much time! In the corporate time is money.

Think about what nice people do. They stew about it. They think inside their heads of the perfect way they will say it. They call or email their friends to discuss it. That not only takes time it does not deal directly with the person. Here is an insight for nice people those actions do not produce results.

My advice all you nice folks out there…no it’s not to get mad. It is to communicate. Use your verbal and your nonverbal communication to the person who can full fill your request. Be powerful and be fast. Quickly figure right now think of something you want. Whether it is a project from your boss, an assignment from a co-worker, more money, or a call from your sweetie now go to that person and ask for it. You can use a nice warm voice, but if that doesn’t work it is important stand strong use a slightly louder firmer voice and say it again. Use the phrase “This is important.” If it still doesn’t work insist on it. Use the phrase, “This needs to happen.” Or “This needs to happen immediately.” You nice people will think this is too radical, everybody else however thinks that this is standard operating procedure.

My life has been rich because of kindness. However I know and I want you to know that there are times when you need to take strong action. Yes, you catch more flies with honey and that true, but sometimes you get tired of flies and you want the darn honey yourself. So ask for it. And over the next week wither you have the nice guy or an angry competent person notice the people around you and how they get their way.

 I will be blogging more about vice of nice so let me know what you think.

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com. Also check out Patti's YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.