How Entrepreneurs Avoid Anger

My former business partner and I used to get into huge fights. Tempers start flaring over a project, tensions rise over the direction we’re headed in, and anger boils over from past missteps.

Anger feels good for 15 seconds and then it fades into guilt. At least for me, it does.

As I’ve matured in Business leadership, I know that clear and effective communication is important. And when I get angry in business (it’s rare now), I realize it communicates a lack of self-control and frustration. I see it frequently through other entrepreneurs.

I used to see it a lot with irate clients. I had this one client that was the angry screamer. This is essentially a lot of yelling and intimidation but very little, if any, actual progress on the project.

I wasn’t a screamer. I was a leaker. I would just treat you terribly, rush a project, avoid calls, and not follow up after projects were complete.

My biggest secret to controlling anger is avoiding the fight from the start. I try to look at the good before the bad. I give the benefit of the doubt. I put myself in people’s shoes.

The bible says

Avoiding a fight is a mark of honor; only fools insist on quarreling. Proverbs 20:3 NLT

But I’ve controlled anger now because I’ve learned a lot through experience, through the word of God, and through God’s coaching.

Think about how God works as your coach. He gives us the information through His Word, shows us how to do it by the many examples in history and through leaders, and then He lets us go out and try it. Consequently, there is a lot of failure among Godpreneurs. I expect Christian business leaders around me to fail—don’t you? That tells me they are learning and trying new things.

So when we fail in business, God is not angry. He just helps us get back on our feet and lets us try again—sometimes without learning our lesson because that is up to us. He can only create the opportunity for us to learn—He does not control how we will process it.

When any entrepreneur lets anger get out of control, he can lose credibility. So if you are angry, watch out! It can have some serious consequences and can actually cause a project or entire business to fail. I never met a successful entrepreneur who could not control his temper. Uncontrolled anger is a sign of weakness—not leadership.

A Godpreneur’s uncontrolled anger may give us a moment of satisfaction but a lifetime of regret.