The HBR Work Smart Collection (4 Books)

8 Managing the Hidden Stress of Emotional Labor

by Susan David

With the possible exception of Sesame Street’s Oscar the Grouch, very few of us have the luxury of being completely and utterly ourselves all the time at work. The rest of us are called upon to perform what psychologists call emotional labor—the effort it takes to keep your professional game face on when what you’re doing does not align with how you feel. We do this outside the office too (making polite chitchat in the elevator when you’re feeling tired and surly comes to mind), but it is perhaps more important at work because most of us are there many hours per week, and our professional images and livelihoods depend on how we come across.

Say, for example, your boss makes ...