In a well-written piece by Adam Bryant in today’s NY Times (He Wants Subjects, Verbs and Objects),  Delta Air Lines CEO, Richard Anderson, in response to a question about the most important leadership lesson he has learned said, “I’ve learned to be patient and not lose my temper. And the reason that’s important is everything you do is an example, and people look at everything you do and take a signal from everything you do. And when you lose your temper, it really squelches debate and sends the wrong signal about how you want your organization to run. And it was a good lesson. It was a long time ago. And I had a C.E.O. who I was very close to, and he just took me aside and gave me a really short instruction about it. And it was a really important instruction.”

I agree with Mr. Anderson, to a point. While it’s important, no imperative that a leader not lose his or her temper, as in fly uncontrollably off the handle, there is a place in a leader’s repertoire for constructively using their temper. Frankly, it’s good for leaders to occasionally get a little lathered up about something that is important to them and the organization, and it’s just as good for followers to be reminded that some things matter more than others. Indeed, President Obama would do well to borrow this lesson from President Reagan, whose leadership style he mirrors in more ways than some care to think about.

Obviously the constructive use of temper in the workplace, or anywhere else for that matter, needs some boundaries, like:

1. It should be infrequent. Going ballistic on a daily basis is a sign of poor self control and immaturity. Moreover, after about 3 such episodes in a short period, it loses its effect, and the manager loses any respect they might have once enjoyed.

2. It should be deliberate and controlled. There is a huge difference between a calculated, premeditated rant and just popping off until you feel better or get tired. Obscenities and lots of extra volume are unnecessary and usually counterproductive.

3. It should be brief. Staying pissed off for a week does no one any good.

4. Beware and take steps to remedy collateral damage. Sometimes, even the best controlled tantrums have what professional painters refer to as “over-spray.” If a person is accidently “sprayed”, make it a point to quickly and genuinely apologize.

A thought leader in the arena of leadership and employee engagement, Bill Catlette is a seminar leader, keynote speaker, and executive coach. He helps individuals and organizations improve business outcomes by having a focused, engaged, capably led workforce. For more information about Bill, his partner Richard Hadden, and their work, please visit their website at www.contentedcows.com

As a result of having an 85 year old father who has been hospitalized almost continuously since November, I’ve been dealing with the health care system a lot lately. In so doing, I’m reminded of two things:

1. When it comes to having the capacity to practice some really great medicine, improving and saving lives, the U.S. takes a back seat to no one. Whether it is miracle surgeries performed by the likes of pediatric neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson, profiled earlier on this blog or producing pills with miniature cameras attached to them for filming the insides of your digestive system as they work their way thru the body, we have some truly remarkable medical  capability. And, we’re blessed to have some medical practitioners who are as caring as they are gifted; people like Dr. Raymond Jeffers of Collierville, TN., who always makes an extra effort to fit patients in, and has been known to take a half hour out of his busy day to ream a sclerotic insurance bureaucracy on behalf of a patient who is being jerked around and denied treatment.

2. We also have an incredible, almost diabolical knack for frustrating much of that capacity by virtue of antiquated systems that don’t mesh, funding/reimbursement schemes that inspire neither best effort nor the most appropriate forms of treatment, and a tort system run amok.  Moreover, as I’ve rediscovered of late, it just makes people crazy.

For these reasons, I’m delighted that President Obama today demonstrated chutzpah by initiating a serious overhaul of our health care systems. Unlike a lot of folks, I haven’t staked out a position on one of the fringes of this issue. I’m not especially looking forward to government having a greater role in my life, but I am very unwilling to live with a status quo, where:

- our competitiveness on the global stage is marginalized because our employers are saddled with the lion’s share of the health care insurance burden,

- 15% of our citizens (and growing) are uninsured,

- we spend more for health care per capita than any nation on earth, and fail to get results which match that expenditure, and

- darned near every visit to a health care provider involves more time filling out forms than getting treatment.

Since it is obvious that as a nation we are now going to have this conversation, I am strongly urging  clients, associates, and friends to take steps to educate themselves on the real issues of this dilemma. One good place to start is a wonderful book by respected health care analyst, Regina Herzlinger entitled, “Who Killed Health Care?” A professor of business administration at the Harvard Business School and Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, Dr. Hezlinger offers cogent analysis and  comprehensive solutions aimed at creating a much more patient-centric delivery mechanism.

Whatever you do, get the facts, then speak up.