The, Rules of Work, 4th Edition

RULE 86

Know how to handle other people’s anger

There will be times when you really annoy other people. In fact, being a Rules Player may get right up their noses even if they haven’t a clue what it is you are doing. No one likes a smart arse and you might be seen as one if you cut loose from the herd and start looking good and looking cool. They may have a go. They may like to have a pop at you. How do you defuse their anger?

First you have to understand that there are two types of anger:

• justified anger
• tactical anger.

Justified anger is exactly that – justified. You just ran over their foot in your car because you weren’t looking. They are quite justifiably pissed off. What do you do? You get out of the car and apologize. Say, and mean, ...