A Tailor-made Blog

CoM: Being Perpetually Angry is a Sign of Autocratic Tendencies

If you have read one of my earlier posts, I created a challenge for all young politicos to create a “Constitution of Me” as a method to both create a reference point for beliefs you want codified in writing, and to create an enforcement mechanism to help you check yourself before you wreck yourself.

This brings me to anger in politics. Anger in itself is not a bad thing. It serves a purpose, and can create a drive for action. That is all well and good.

However, we now have two leaders, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and NDP leader Thomas Mulcair, who are quite famous for their anger.

When you are famous for your anger, you should know that there something is wrong with the picture. A picture that is wrong for Canadians.

It means that this anger exists in many cases, and I argue that this anger leads to the inability to compromise, which ultimately translate to having an authoritarian streak. It’s a “my way or the highway” mentality, and if they don’t have their way, you’ll know of it. They’ll use their rage to make you conform to their wants and needs.

So I draw two lessons from here for everything, from politics to business:

1. Show that you cannot be intimidated. This doesn’t mean you yell back if you are dealing with a hardhead a la Mulcair or Harper. Keep your resistance peaceful and calm, yet firm. You shouldn’t cause rifts in your team over berserkers.
2. Don’t be quick to rage. Keep your anger scarce. If your ideas are good, you will win based on their merits, not because you yelled the loudest. Not because you used tactics to intimidate people to support you. Bullying is the easy way out, however, convincing arguments are always better. Better to have people on your side because they believe you rather than because they fear your rage. Nothing is more intimidating than a formidable argument.

A real life example from my own life would be when I put forth a policy motion at last year’s Ontario Young Liberals’ policy parliaments. These are competitive events you want to win and boy are they fun.

Rather than intimidating people from the sidelines, I dived headfirst into the fray. I argued in favour of a total revamp of the public transit system in the Greater Horseshoe Area. I made sure I was prepared for every counter-argument. I ended up with almost unanimous support to have the policy go to vote. Ultimately, my policy was voted to the top. I didn’t need to anger nor intimidate anybody.

Of course, this is a simplification. Nevertheless, I think it’s a good example.

Moral of the story: be cool, calm, and collected. Don’t be famous for throwing temper tantrums!