Buffet Masterclass (Using reason): 2 – Mastering emotions

You may feel that rationality cannot extend to the emotions. You cannot control your feelings: for example, you either like somebody or you do not; something either makes you angry or it does not. But you can learn to control the expression of that feeling.

Placing emotion under control

Buffett will work only with people he likes, but he makes sure that his liking does not prevent objective judgement of those people, or objective action if they let him down. No doubt, Buffett is sometimes angry. But does he allow anger to influence his decisions or his behaviour? People often place their anger under control. For example, if another driver cuts you up in traffic, you will react angrily to a stranger, but very differently if the driver is your boss.

Dealing with anger

If you are angry, ask: "What purpose will my anger serve?" Usually, anger arises because somebody else is not behaving in the way that you want. Will your anger help to change their behaviour? Probably not. You may think that "letting off steam" is good for you, but, in reality, it is an unpleasant condition that any rational person would try to avoid, far better not to get angry in the first place, but, if you do, subdue it swiftly by applying the four-point anger analysis plan:

The cause of anger is often a fait accompli: a mistake has been made, say, and cannot be unmade. The uncontrolled emotion therefore serves no useful purpose. Equally, if you made the mistake yourself, the emotion of guilt is also useless, as it will neither correct the error nor help you to avoid making the same mistake in future.