A quick tip from the road

(This post has originally been published on LinkedIn and has been cross-posted here for conservation and accessibility. It has been auto-translated from German and human-reviewed.)

🚐 Been on the road this week, so I had a bit less time for LinkedIn. To make up for it, here’s a quick tip that has saved me many times (including this week):

The next time you feel the urge to write an angry email… Do it!

But do yourself a favor and send it to yourself — or straight to your trash folder. That way, you can vent, smash the keyboard, and get it all out of your system without burning any bridges.

Then, wait an hour, or maybe a day, and write the email again — with a cool head.

And I don’t just mean putting it through ChatGPT to translate your rage into corporate speak (“HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY THIS?!” => “As per my previous email…”). Instead, take an honest five minutes and think about how you can actually turn the situation into something productive. #neverwasteacrisis

That way, a pointless “HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY THIS?!” quickly turns into a highly valuable “Let’s sit down and figure out how we can document our decisions more transparently moving forward.”

You’re welcome & thank you!

PS: I think the credits for this one go to Christiaan Wettberg… or Sven Bauer. Or somebody else entirely — who hopefully won’t send me an angry email about this, or at least waits a few minutes first 😉