Anger is generally considered to be a negative human attribute. But I’ve come to see that—not only is it a positive attribute—it makes the world better.

There’s a misconception that if you’re calm and “in control” of your emotions, that you are to be admired and commended. And if you’re more reserved then you’re more rational, and therefore make the world a kindler, gentler place.

Professors, lawyers, CEO’s and politicians have become increasingly calm and reserved over the years, rarely ever raising their voices (except for effect). If one of them becomes angry, they’re labeled as irrational and people become suspicious. (Remember what happened to Howard Dean?) However, when people maintain constant composure, we assume they are more stable and trustworthy. 

What a ridiculous assumption. 

A few weeks ago, I got passionate and very animated about something and my wife asked, “Why are you getting angry? Relax.” I thought to myself, what has happened to us? Why are we so averse to expressing a little anger?

I remember watching a TV documentary and they showed some really old footage of Theodore Roosevelt giving a presidential speech. He was animated and emphatic. He waved his fist around. I thought, “Wow, presidents were different back then!” I can’t imagine our current president filled with such conviction and becoming that emotional.

It seems we’ve become so obsessed with physical demeanor and verbal delivery, we often overlook the content. We’ve become more concerned with appearances than inner motives. Why?

I believe we’ve overreacted to our less gentle parents and grandparents—who were sometimes violent disciplinarians—by throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Many of us vowed to behave differently, even to the extent that some parents now refuse to discipline their children in any way whatsoever. So the pendulum has swung completely to the other side. 

The truth is, anger and violence are two totally different things. Anger is an emotion, violence is an action. Anger can be helpful, violence can be harmful. Anger is simply a result of feeling something inside, then expressing it. You can be angry and still perfectly rational. 

The problem with perpetually calm people is that you don’t know their inner motives. They wear a perfect poker face like emotionless mannequins. 

Let’s be clear, when anger becomes irrational and violent, it’s bad. But anger can indeed change the world.

Anger inspires action. It inspires change. It propels passionate people to snap out of their complacency and indifference, and do extraordinary things. It helps make the world a better place for all.

Anger compelled Martin Luther King to lead a non-violent charge to speak out against racial hatred and help achieve civil rights in America.

Anger compelled Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn to write an incredibly powerful book, Half The Sky, to raise awareness of severely oppressed women around the world. Which I highly recommend reading because it will make you informed (and angry).

Anger compelled Robert Kenner to create the documentary, Food Inc., to help inform the world of the disastrous health and environmental consequences of America’s industrialized food system. He also launched a website called, FixFood.org.

Anger compelled Cesar Chavez, Bob Geldof, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela, Winston Churchill and thousands of others too numerous to name. 

How do I know that anger was the active ingredient in the minds of these people? Because only the emotion of anger can literally eat someone from the inside out and compel them into activism. Despite fear.

Some people avoid anger for health reasons. And there’s some evidence to support that. However, I believe the supposed health risks can be mitigated by a healthy diet, plenty of exercise and quiet meditation (whatever kind you’re into).

The world is definitely broken. And you can do your part to help fix it. Just allow yourself to get angry. It’s powerful fuel. Become a passionate person and take action. Don’t be afraid to raise your voice once in a while.

I’m beginning to view my passionate, angry, ranting friends differently. I’m realizing that they are actually more trustworthy than the rest. They might wear their emotions on their sleeve, but I like that they’re not holding anything back. There’s no guile. No pretense. I know the real them. And I’m invigorated by an animated person who actually stands for something.

So let’s get some righteous anger about the things that need fixing and transform our spineless, soft-spoken, emotionless culture for future generations. 

(But I say again, please avoid irrationality and violence. It’s counterproductive. Remember, words are more powerful than fists.)

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Note: In case you didn’t know, this is an advertising-focused blog. So I should add here that anger can help transform anything and everything—including the advertising industry. It just needs a few passionate people to show some backbone and let anger move them to action.


It happens all the time. A person or company invents something that changes the world. They enjoy great success and perhaps even follow it up with another big thing. But a few years pass and their ability to innovate dwindles. How does this happen? What transforms a visionary into a has-been?

Innovation is essentially problem solving. We see something broken and we are compelled to try and fix it. It could be a sluggish system, an obsolete product, a void in the marketplace, you name it.

Many people believe innovation is for the young. This may be true for many internet start-ups but generally age has nothing to do with it. Henry Ford was in his 40’s when his company launched the Model T. Martha Stewart was 41 when she published her first book and 49 when she launched her magazine. Frank Lloyd Wright was 70 years old when he experienced his surge of success.

In fact, innovators are increasingly getting older. A study of Nobel prize winners over the last 100 years shows average ages on the rise.* 

So what are the factors that diminish our ability to innovate? Is it because we run out of ideas? Not likely. Ideas are infinite. I believe it’s primarily three things: loyalty, fear and focus

1) Loyalty

When you introduce something innovative into the world and achieve great success, you become immovably loyal to your formula. You might even repeat it a few times to greater success. 

The problem is, the world will copy you. Soon your cherished formula is commonplace and no longer innovative. However, this doesn’t stop you from using it over and over because you are hopelessly loyal. You tell yourself, “It worked before and it will work again!”

Some people and corporations are so loyal to their proven formulas, they are like captains who go down with a sinking ship, stubbornly refusing to believe what’s happening. 

Why is it so difficult to abandon formulas and reinvent? Why are brands so loyal to their established image, even when it becomes stale? Why does every great musician seem to become boring and irrelevant over time?

Very few innovators and artists seem to successfully reinvent themselves after a period of ten or twenty years. They are simply too loyal to the past. But there are additional factors.

2) Fear

When you are young and scrappy and broke, you take bigger risks because you don’t have far to fall. With success comes financial security. But also altitude. The ground looks very far away and you begin to worry about making a misstep. So you fearfully play it safe and stick to your proven formula. Which almost always fails.

Avoiding these two pitfalls is easier said than done. The obvious answer is to stay reckless and abandon stale formulas. And realize that everyone experiences fear—that it’s only threatening if you let it paralyze you.

3) Focus

Following your initial success you try to grow your audience. That means shifting away from your early-adopting, passionate, core audience in order to appeal to the masses. Which usually requires dumbing down your product. Which grows your base but alienates your core. 

This shift in audience focus can bring financial success but can result in eventual disaster. The masses are fickle. They’re not loyal. They are easily drawn away by a lower cost product. So you react by making it cheaper to keep them buying. And so begins a downward spiral. 

That might be an oversimplification, but it’s essentially what happens. Companies get big, then get bad, then fall apart.

These are three powerful forces which cause us to fail. So how do we avoid becoming victims of our own success?

There is one approach which I believe can cure all three ills. There are other names for it, but I call it, The Discomfort Factor. 

The more innovative and unfamiliar something is, the more difficult it is to predict how well it will be received. It could be a huge success or a giant flop. But since there’s no precedent, your uncertainty creates an incredibly uncomfortable feeling in the pit of your stomach. This is The Discomfort Factor. (Or, as someone else put it, “Dance with the fear.”**)

Discomfort might just be the key to continued success. If you learn to thrive on it, you are more likely to continually innovate. And if you stick to your passionate, core audience and grow slowly instead of chasing after the fickle masses, you will help ensure longevity.

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*Age and Great Invention by Benjamin F. Jones

**Quote by Seth Godin
Technically, a stigma is a mark of shame or disgrace. It gets applied to a person—often unfairly—and is not easily removed. 

Avoiding a stigma is like walking through a minefield. In our hurried age, people make shallow judgements about you based on stereotypes, personality, title, age, even wardrobe. Then they lump you into a category. This can all happen in an instant. 

It’s mostly a result of laziness. It’s taxing on our brains to actually get to know someone thoroughly and discover their hidden talents before forming an opinion about them.

Here are three common stigmas and how to overcome them:

The “in-house” stigma.
In ad agencies, there’s the in-house stigma. Like an in-house photographer or in-house editor. These individuals are generally viewed as not being as ambitious because they don’t work at an independent, cutting edge studio or production facility. Therefore they are assumed to be not as good. This is true sometimes but not always. Either way, it’s a powerful stigma that is unlikely to change. To overcome it: Try looking outside your day job to help establish a better reputation. Take on personal projects in the evenings and weekends and make something great. Or quit your job and seek out a hot, independent company.

The “wallflower” stigma.
Not everyone is a hilarious stand up comedian or life of the party. Some of us are quiet and shy. Which means we are frequently disregarded. People aren't comfortable around us and they avoid conversations. This is all despite the fact that many of the greatest artists and craftsman are socially awkward wallflowers. To overcome it: Learn to start conversations. Read more. Read the newspaper. Read books. Have an opinion and express it. Help your career by being more outgoing and sociable. I’ve had the tendency to be a wallflower but I’ve forced myself to be more outgoing and engaging over the years. And I’m glad I did.

The “uncool” stigma. 
The uncool stigma is probably the most shallow and offensive of all. Your wardrobe, manner of speech and social presence can sometimes determine whether you sink or swim. Personally, I applaud people who refuse to change who they are just to appease the cool police. However, if you feel that you’ve been stuck with the uncool stigma and want to remove it, you can. To overcome it: Use your talents. Do some risky and original work. Make it truly great. Then make sure people see it. It will supplant the uncool stigma over your head. Or you could simply develop a new sense of style. Change your wardrobe and image. It hate to admit it but this has worked for some people. They went from frumpy to hip and everyone seemed to view them (and their work) differently. Just like what happens on that TV show, “What Not To Wear.”

Stigmas are a painful reality. They affect how people view your work. If your raw creative output was the only criteria for judging your work, the world would be a better place. But that’s a pipe dream. Don’t waste time waiting for human nature to change. Refuse to be stigmatized. 


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