Page 125 - How to Create a Winning Organization

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EMOTION IS YOUR ENEMY

“Intensity makes you stronger. Emotionalism makes you weaker.”

he Swiss Alps have majestic peaks and scenic valleys. Peaks
Tand valleys belong in the Alps, not in the temperament—the
emotions—of a leader.
I prize intensity and fear emotionalism. Consistency in high per-
formance and production is a trademark of effective and success-
ful organizations and those who lead them. Emotionalism destroys
consistency. A leader who is ruled by emotions, whose tempera-
ment is mercurial, produces a team whose trademark is the roller
coaster—ups and downs in performance; unpredictability and un-
dependability in effort and concentration; one day good, the next
day bad.
This is a pattern I sought to avoid at all costs. I would not accept
inconsistency—the pitfalls of repeated highs and lows. I wanted
the individuals on our team to play the same way, game to game,
that is, with the greatest intensity while executing at the highest
performance level of which they were capable. Emotional ups and
downs preclude this. Consequently, I never gave rah-rah speeches
or contrived pep talks. There was no ranting or raving, histrionics

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