Page 92 - Getting to the Heart of High Performance

As we know from research, negative emotions carry more
impact than positive emotions.

And what about so-called neutral behavior? Again you can
play the percentages. If you want people to leave you

alone, or if you want emotional distance from others, go
neutral. Most of the world will accommodate you.

You see a lot of neutral behavior in the matter-of-fact
conversations and transactions between people, where it

can be fairly useful. It also shows up in the neutral inter-
actions that we’ll call “elevator behavior.” These are the
everyday encounters where people make no emotional
investment in the episode and don’t even acknowledge

one another. Though fully aware of each other’s presence,
they pass like ships in the night. You can’t even determine
who’s acting versus who’s reacting.

Here’s the problem. Neutral behavior is so ambiguous, so
emotionally vague, it can easily be misconstrued. Behavior
that you intend to be neutral often gets labeled negative by
people on the receiving end.

76 DEEP STRENGTHS