The Power and Danger of Emotional Thinking

Emotions are what make us human, but they are also what cause huge problems in every company

The common school of thought regarding being successful in business asserts that there is no place for emotional thinking.

While not entirely incorrect, it’s also not entirely correct either. When considering where emotional thinking fits into the equation, it’s important to identify what makes a business successful.

For a business to be sustainable and profitable, it needs to be skilled at two main fields: innovation and administration. Without innovation, a company can neither grow or stay relevant, and without the right people making the tough decisions, it won’t be profitable.

Emotion is crucial for innovation. Simply put, from our emotions stems creativity and from creativity stems innovation. Let your designers’ emotions run wild — the less boundaries and restrictions, the better their creative output will be.

However, the moment operations move from the workshop to the conference room is the moment when emotions should be traded for logic. Once you become emotionally involved in business proceedings, it’s game over.

Emotions prohibit us from thinking rationally, when we’re emotional fact and reason are ignored. Consequently, not only are mistakes and poor decisions made, but they’re repeated — becoming a vicious cycle.

What ensures success is discipline.

Discipline and emotional thinking are like oil and water — they don’t mix, they counteract, discipline must always override emotion. You must know where point A is, where B is, and the obstacles in between. Analyzing the full picture logically allows for precision, accuracy and most importantly, success.

Take, for example, Team Sky, the UK’s premier cycling team. Formed in 2010, Team Sky’s goal was to win the Tour de France within five years. It only took them three. Since winning in 2018, they achieved their sixth win in seven years. I had the privilege of meeting some of the team last year and it become very clear why they were so good: their team manager, along with the team psychologist and crew, were hyper-focused on the discipline of racing, not the euphoria of winning. No matter what they did, they always asked the question, “Will this conversation help us win?”

Other teams failed not because they didn’t work hard, but because they had a lack of focus. They spent time and energy on things that did help them win. With a clear objective in mind, everything that didn’t directly better Team Sky’s chances of winning was irrelevant and excluded.

Good business decisions are impossible to make while being emotional. Every emotional business decision I’ve made has ended catastrophically. Instead of basing my decision on what the customer needed or wanted, I acted on how I felt. Undisciplined, I lost sight of my desired outcome. It was not until I gained control of my emotions that my company began to succeeded.

So, contrary to popular belief, there is in fact space for emotional thinking in business. It drives innovation, which will, in turn, drives your company. The trouble arises when emotion leaks into high-level business dealings.

Emotion is a double-edged sword. It is what defines us as human, but if unchecked, it is the architect of our undoing.

Founder and CEO of Datum Alloys, Ben is a dedicated innovator and thought leader in the tech world seeking straightforward solutions for industry needs.

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