In Matthew the Sermon on the Mount’s eight beatitudes are followed by twenty-three instructions on how to fulfill the law of God or how to operationalize the strategic insights. The first relates to the place of anger.
There is a tendency for many business leaders – men in particular – to use anger as a management tool. Many feel that anger is a form of honesty. It would seem that, if we are seeking to express our true self, anger would have a place in the mix.
Not according to Jesus. In Matthew 5 we read, “But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment: whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, “You fool!” shall be liable to the hell of fire.”
Anger of the type described by Jesus is dismissive of others and only possible when there is an absence of empathy. This kind of anger – especially in a leader – becomes an obstacle to the ability of many others and the organization to find their true selves. The anger – and others avoidance of anger – impedes the search for both righteousness and justice.
We Can Disappear You by Leon Golub (2001)
Anger that is dismissive of others is almost always an expression of an underlying lack of self-confidence. It is an expression of fear. It is a counter-attack on what the angry person perceives is a threat to his or her sense-of-self. This is evidence that the angry person is clinging to a very fragile self, something quite unlike the tsedaq of Isaiah and Jesus.
In my career I have had only one boss who was inclined toward anger. It was always the result of him being embarrassed or feeling on the edge of losing control. If he did not like the feedback he was receiving – at least from subordinates – he would reject the feedback in an assault of red-faced, profanity-laced rage. He did, however, avoid anger with clients and most superiors.
This did not engender respect. It did encourage caution and avoidance in providing feedback, which tended to place him in even more embarrassing situations with clients and superiors.
The most common Hebrew word for anger used in the Book of Isaiah also means a contortion of the face. In anger even the appearance of the self is lost.
Anger is a symptom. The underlying cause is the uncertainty, fear, and sorrow of not being your true self. It is impossible for such a person to be an effective strategist. In the long-term such a person is destructive to both self and community.
Even the self-righteous have a firmer grasp of reality than the person of anger. The self-righteous have, at least, embraced their tsedaq. The angry person has no clear angle on reality; neither tsedaq nor mishpat is available to him.
Fear, surprise, frustration, and embarrassment are all signals of incoming feedback. These emotional responses are alarms that can be very helpful to focus on what is happening and what it means. But to then respond in anger is to obscure or potentially reject the feedback, which is a rejection of reality.
Following his injunction against anger Jesus says, “So if you are bringing your gift to the altar and remember there that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar. First go away and make up with your brother; then come back and offer your gift.”
For Jesus the altar represents the fundamental reality of our relationship with God. He is warning us that we must put away anger before we can fully engage reality.
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