Leadership is about getting your team “wanting to” rather than “having to”. The same goes for when and how we react to negative news, inquiries, and concerns that those on our team voice to us; the easy route is to be impulsive in our response, however the leadership route is rarely the easy one.

An impulsive reaction can result in:

• Failing to envision the situation from other vantage points
• Futile and unnecessary negative emotion being thread through our response
• Embarrassment for the other party if done in front of others
• The other party no longer seeing us as leaders/mentors

Impulsive reactions to negative situations will not leave others on the team “wanting to” rather than “having to”, and when people feel that they have to do something the full potential of that person, the organization, and the leader will never be met.

As a closing thought, here is the definition of Spew: To expel large quantities of (something) rapidly and forcibly.