Professional Temper Tantrum x2
During one particular Leadership Program in 2012 I had a very difficult time. One week prior to our kickoff retreat, my best friend suddenly died and I was an emotional wreck inside. I forced myself through the program even though I should have stepped away and reapplied again in the future.
I lost my cool on at least two different instances. One was in person with my class of 30+ fairly well established professionals in NH and five admissions directors from area colleges and universities. The other was in a digital environment where I replied all to my whole class.
At our education session day I became really worked up about the information that the panel of education professionals was giving to our class. I was so upset that I was pacing in the back of the room. I asked a few questions but I could not handle asking anymore because their answers were complete and total bullshit. Traditional education is dying because it is not adapting to the world we currently live in and the world ahead. It also is clearly not a priority, the level of learning is sub par, the value is very low and the cost is beyond extreme. I asked a number of very pointed questions that were borderline insulting to those in education. Everyone was giving me looks because I was loosing it… At one point I had to step out of the room because it was just too much and I was going to freak out.
One of my friends coordinated the session day and was highlighted by one of the panelists as being one of their wonderful, driven and successful graduates. In reality she never finished because it was a waste of time and money. The education was actually holding her back from advancing professionally and growing her business. After the panel discussion he walked up to her and while in conversation she mentioned that she never graduated and decided to leave school. The gentleman then walked away.
While in the program one of our classmates was very well versed in emotional intelligence and motivation. He offered to give us a free opportunity to take the DISC personality assessment and then review the results with him in a group setting. This was a wonderful offer although he had a tough time rallying the class around a particular day to get together. He sent out multiple polls to find the day that works best for our class as a whole. He had sent out three polls at this point and when that email came through I snapped and hit reply all. My anger was not meant to be directed at him. My life was falling apart around me; I was bleeding money profusely, I was trying to do everything without letting go of some responsibility, my email and work was out of control and I took it out on him. I hit reply all and was a complete asshole and basically said that if you can not decide on a date after this poll, please remove me from the email list because my work schedule is primarily in the evening when most everyone else is free. I responded like a complete douchebag and was having a terrible day.
He responded back to me directly the following day and called me out a little but in a respectful manner. I felt terrible but it was too late I looked like an ass and also hurt a relationship with a really great person that was trying to do something nice for our whole class.
Breath…. think…. pause…. whatever you do, do hit press send when you are upset….