There’s a lot of anger across the US these days. This got me thinking about the role of anger in problem-solving. Wracking my brain, I can’t recall an instance where I’ve seen anger actually resolve an issue. I’ve seen anger cause people to cover up problems. I’ve seen anger temporarily patch problems. But I have never seen anger actually solve anything.
Anger is an interesting state of mind. It speeds up reactions and bypasses logic. It’s often described as a red haze. From personal experience, this all seems familiar. Anger is an emotion that drives action. If you need people to get motivated, anger is a good way to go. The downside is that the motivation often comes from fear of more anger which can lead those motivated people to do a lot to not face it again.
As tools go, anger is a very useful one. It causes the person experiencing it to realize how bad a situation is – most people don’t get angry over little things unless those little things are part of something bigger. Once you realize that a situation has crossed that threshold from bad to really bad, anger can be a tool for making sure it is addressed. The risk is, you can’t go through any decision-making processes while in a state of anger. It’s necessary to cool down and reevaluate with a cooler head.