Removing Emotion from Your Business

Have you ever been in a company meeting where one employee continually says they feel like the company is on the verge of something great? Have you ever continually listened to this person and wondered what this great thing was, or how they were going to get there?

When working with teams, there is always a person that believes they are onto something great, the next big thing, but don’t have a basis for why or how. It’s my belief that in life there are always those people that believe they are onto something great — people that are easily excited by being involved in something. Many times, I’ve watched these people go through intense emotional rollercoasters because they don’t have any basis for their feelings. They simply believe they should get there by a certain time, just because — when they don’t reach expectations, they are extremely discouraged about the path.

Outside of being the editor for Club Solutions, I’m a musician on the side — which many of you that have had a chance to speak with me, know I’m extremely passionate about. However, unlike many musicians, I’ve always tried to maintain a level of rationality and business comprehension to my work, aside from creativity.

Many musicians, I believe, are a lot like extreme people in business that are hungry for success — I blame The Beatles and Justin Bieber. Extreme people in business are more caught up in success than they are about the path to achieving success. They feel that their creativity and passion translates to everyone and people will get behind them because of their intense passion. But, I continue to ask musicians the question, “Why do you believe you’ll be successful in music?”

In business, we develop systems that allow us to manage people, products and companies. When we manage these systems for X amount of time, we achieve a certain level of success. We don’t wage war with beliefs that we are going to be great. We find ways to measure our greatness. Musicians seem to differ — probably not Jay-Z — the current exception to the rule … but he understands business.

You perceive your business as a brand, a product and a service to people in the world. You use your marketing to express to people why they should use you. Not that it’s easy to convince people why, or push them to use you, but in business it’s essential to stay focused on the goal and passionate about why you believe someone should use you.

I recently read an article about Mark Zuckerberg — that’s the founder of Facebook for everyone living in a cave. One of the greatest aspects about Zuckerberg in business is that he can be extremely unemotional about Facebook. The guy created Facebook and has used a lot of his ideas to make it great over the years — however, when someone else comes in and thinks they should change something for the better, his feelings aren’t hurt because his idea is crushed or someone is moving forward with his product, he looks at the idea objectively and the company moves forward.

His lack of emotional connection with his product allows him to look completely objective at Facebook without having any of his irrational beliefs get in the way of success. How would you feel if Donald Trump came into your club and said, I think you should change your color scheme from Yellow and Blue, to White and Aqua? You’ve used Yellow and Blue since the beginning. You chose the colors at Lowes or Home Depot, and you painted the walls yourself. Your wife even designed your logo with those colors. However, Trump believes that White and Aqua will be more appealing to a larger audience. Your team sees his point and agrees. Are you so emotionally attached to something you created that you can’t get out of the way of continued success?

In business, it’s important to remove irrational emotions. You must be able to look at your products objectively and make rational decisions about their success. Musicians and artists have a hard time looking at their work objectively as a product of the business — it’s their art and they will do with it what they will. This is what causes a lot of bands to split up or bicker. They get caught up with individual pieces of an album, the singer sang this (it’s the most important), the guitarist wrote all the guitar part (it’s the most important); the drummer wrote all the drum parts (it’s the most important). They want to market each piece differently and it’s theirs, not the band’s, the brands’ or business’. Don’t ask anyone of them to make a slight change, or you will experience the wrath of God.

Don’t be an artist with your business — be a businessperson. You have to have passion, but you must remove emotion and make rational, objective decisions about your business’ future. Trust me, you don’t want to stifle your success because your hung up on having Yellow and Blue, or White and Aqua — it could be the difference between success and failure.