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Tipping Point

 

Tipping Point

There are many ways to describe how a lot of little things can add up to make a big deal. Historically speaking, the city of Detroit, Michigan, where I have spent a lot of my time as an adult, experienced “white flight” in the 1960s, where white families reached a tipping point and moved to the suburbs when black families moved into predominantly white neighborhoods. But from a career or work perspective, it can be really easy to let small, almost meaningless things cause us to reach out tipping point, or snap.

“Emotional intelligence (EI) is a convenient phrase with which to focus attention on the underlying emotional components of human talent” (Boyatzis, 2006, p. 124). As I continue to learn and grow more into the leader I know I can be, EI continues to be at the forefront of many discussion I have with people. Most recently, I experienced a tipping point at work where I was frustrated with the lack of effort by our legal team in getting back to me with some important contracts. I have been having difficulties with getting my contracts returned in a timely manner, and one day I snapped. Luckily for me, I had an outlet in someone I trusted that could hear me out and get these things off my chest. I know there is empirical evidence that supports the notion that negative emotional attractors will negatively impact a person’s performance. It is simply not sustainable to be negative and perform at a high level. So many aspects of our daily lives can be boiled down to a person’s attitude, effectiveness, and behavior. Below all that lies the resonance and dissonance we choose to live by. Harnessing our positive energy, and putting it to work for ourselves, rather than feed into negativity is a human element that is just now being unlocked through continuous research. Manifestations of who we think we are can limit our abilities to see through the haze to reach our full potential. For me in that moment at work, it is much clearer now that I cannot let myself reach the tipping point, therefore I must take action to prevent this from happening again.

The Results

I don’t wish to put those feelings I had that day on anyone. The results of my tipping point experience reinforce the reasons I choose to live in a positive world. If I can continue to integrate more of the desired behaviors into my life, flesh out the bad ones, and learn from these mistakes, I know I can rise to the level of other leaders in my organization. Time, stress, and personal problems will attempt to bring me down, but the responsibility is up to me and no one else. I am a competent person, a team player, a social butterfly, and a relationship-builder; it would be silly to throw all that way because I failed to see my tipping point on the horizon.

References

Boyatzis, R. (2006). Using tipping points of emotional intelligence and cognitive competencies to predict financial performance of leaders. Psicothema. 18 Suppl. 124-31.

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