The Great Recession of 2008 hit Starbucks hard. Company founder Howard Schultz was at the helm during this challenging time for the company. More than 600 Starbucks stores closed and about 12,000 workers lost their jobs. He cried at a team meeting when he made the announcement. Schultz then outlined a detailed plan for addressing the challenges. Following the meeting, he received email from over 5,000 employees thanking him for showing his emotions. He later told Oprah that vulnerability is important to transparency as a leader. When he stepped down as CEO, he said to his employees, “You’re going to make me cry before I start.” Would you cry at work? A survey of more than 1,000 U.S. employees working in an office environment, and more than 2,200 executives from 20 of the largest U.S. metropolitan areas found that 45% of workers admitted to crying at work. That said, some employees worry that it will affect their career. Lower-level employees are more concerned about showing their emotions at work. In fact, 32% said it is never okay to cry at work compared to 26% of executives. Mature workers (55 and older) are less likely to worry that crying will affect their reputation compared to younger workers. You will likely encounter challenging work situations that make you feel like you want to cry. For example, you may have a boss who is constantly criticizing you, or you may have a family emergency that you learn about while working. How can you manage your emotions? ...............

Discussion Questions

1. Do you believe that it is okay to cry at work? Explain why you think lower-level workers are more concerned about expressing sad emotion at work than executives.

2. Recall a situation at work or school when you felt like crying. Did you? What was the outcome?

3. In the situation you recalled in question 2, apply the six-step process to understand how you might have reacted differently.