Goodbye Good Girl Biz Tip #14 - Business communication IS about emotion

Long ago - back in the 19th century - business planted its feet in the concretized goal of money and machinery.

In case you hadn't noticed, 1850 is a very, VERY long time ago and yet here we are measuring our "success" by the tiny benchmarks of money and systems instead of by the benchmarks of human potential, human care, and the limitless power of human invention.

I know. People like to say, "Oh, those days are gone." But talk to anyone in a corporation on any level and they will tell you differently. The problem is: everyone thinks there is nothing they can do about it.

So, what does it mean to communicate with emotion? You are no doubt hoping that it doesn't mean giving in to your worst emotional outbursts and eschewing accountability for your actions. And indeed it DOESN'T mean that.

Listen, we live in a society that teaches us nothing about emotion to begin with, nor healthy interpersonal communication that is based on communal, mutually caring, mutually held goals of mutual understanding - and then how to communicate when we don't have that understanding.

I am here to tell you that the (usually) men at the top have a TON of emotions that are translated through verbal tone, physical stance and muscle tension, word choice, controlling approaches and the like.

I know a Consultant out West who proved to a roomful of C-Suite Executives that what they were spouting, which was the time-honored, "There is no crying in baseball!" - wait, I mean, "There IS no emotion in business!" were kidding themselves. He asked them some time later if they had ever been angry at something that happened in business, and they all said, "Of course!"

He said, "Well, that's bad, because there is no emotion in business." And he rendered them silent with self-awareness.

If we do not honor our own emotions, we can not expect others to do so. That is really the bottom line. Our emotions are our emotional connection with our true Selves. They are our radar that tells us if something is out of whack with us or with the system or the environment we're in.

It is easy not to do or say something about it, I know. And I get why. If your boss hasn't done her/his job and is having you do it, what do you say? Will you jeopardize your job? Will you keep the upset inside and let it eat you up, and add it to the future upsets that are sure to come?

Emotion is EVERYTHING that business should be about. Same as with the human being, which is the one and only core of business, because if everyone walks out of your business, I just don't see the walls and chairs and desks stepping up to do your bidding.