Lose Your Temper, Lose Your Business; Successful People Control Emotions – Always.

I lost my temper with a borrower last night … and I thought of my Dad, whose business empire fell apart largely b/c he couldn’t control his temper. He burned all of his bridges with employees, customers and business contacts.

I also thought about all the rock star mortgage brokers and Realtors I have known over the years whose lives fell apart b/c they couldn’t control their tempers.

I then thought about all the podcasts I listen to with CEOs and founders.  “Corner Office” (JC Penney’s and Delta Airline’s CEOs) and “How I Built This” (Steve Case of AOL) come to mind. One thing that strikes me in ALL of the interviews is how even-keeled they all are – despite everything they went through.

And lastly, I thought of Jim Collins (author of Good to Great) and his comments about “Level 5 Executives” and how they always controlled their emotions no matter the circumstances.

And all of those memories reminded me to control my temper. Businesses rarely survive (and often collapse) with leaders who can’t control their tempers.  I’ve seen it happen many times. Our own culture suffered severely several years ago, when Heejin and I didn’t control ourselves the way we do now.

As an aside, the borrower last night was pushing all my buttons, wouldn’t let me speak at all, and kept making insulting accusations. But it was still no excuse for losing my composure. I will remember next time.

Jay Voorhees
Founder/Broker | JVM Lending
(855) 855-4491 | DRE# 01524255, NMLS# 310167