Anger, your worst enemy in business

Patience is the best virtue and anger is the worst enemy in business. Anger leads you to lose your sense, which results in taking wrong decisions or actions. Besides, anger also affects your health in the long run. So, if you want to succeed in business, first triumph over your anger. I always recite a powerful success tip to new entrepreneurs and that is 'ice on the head and sugar on the tongue'. It simply means — Be patient and talk sweetly every time.

I learned how to control anger in my early years in business. I was a novice in the business and my father had deliberately assigned me the responsibility of purchasing spices. I would go to the wholesale market. There, a trader would tease me sarcastically every time. Knowing that my father had been a middle-class salaried employee in his life and had dared to enter into business at the age of his retirement, he would comment, "Business is not your cup of tea. Better to get a job and earn a monthly salary like your father". Those words would make me furious. One day, I returned annoyed and told the incidence to my father. He remained silent for a moment and then advised me, "Look, my son. Business always tests our patience, endurance, capability and courage. You will face many insults, obstacles, and challenges on this path. But concentrate only on your work. One day these critics will themselves admire you". I followed this advice and it really worked.

I remember an old anecdote from the life of a great trader in Gujarat. He was grooming his young son for business. One day, he sent his son to collect some dues from his clients. The son returned angrily after the visit. The trader asked him the reason and the son replied, "Father, the clients insulted me in abusive language and shooed me away". The father told him to remain patient. Next day the client approached the trader and his son and apologised for his misbehaviour. He told them that he had been angry due to another reason and he lost his control. He also paid the entire dues and registered new orders. The father then turned to his son and said, "See the power of patience and sweet talking".

If the owner is hot tempered by nature, the anger unknowingly percolates to his staff and they start copying it. This results in losing customers as well as business. To always keep the business in profit, the owner must retain the existing customers and acquire new customers. Anger is a major block in this process. Anger causes personal health loss. It makes the mind unstable and turbulent. It increases blood pressure which leads to hypertension. Once hypertension becomes habitual it can lead you to some fatal conditions like paralysis, brain strokes or cardiac arrest. The only way to save ourselves from this silent killer is patience.

Dr Dhananjay (Jay) Datar is the chairman and managing director of Al Adil Trading.