Be Tough When Necessary, but Maintain Your Composure
Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument
—Desmond Tutu, South African theologian
It remains as ingrained in my mind today as the day it happened: I witnessed a senior executive whom I previously respected lose complete control of his emotions in a meeting. His profanity-laced outburst directed toward two shell-shocked employees was jarring. It remained a topic of conversation in the company for years, and no one who witnessed it ever looked at him the same way again.
Warren Buffett, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, famously said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” I tried to think about it ...
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