179. About as happy as they make up their minds to be (Condition #27: mood)

You can probably tell from the last few episodes that I’m on a bit of a Google Scholar binge right now when it comes to OMG. And if you browse through the conditions we’ve covered so far this season, part of the subtext is that people’s moods matter. I definitely don’t want to leave you with the impression that you’ve failed unless everyone feels great all the time. I mean, sure, I think board meetings are altogether too serious for the most part, but that doesn’t mean they’re not, y’know, work. And hard work at that. Sometimes hard work is just not compatible with a diverse group of people all feeling pumped. But it’s obvious how and why mood matters, right? Take anger or sadness or whatever other powerful and ostensibly negative emotion. If just one person in a group gets super angry, the entire vibe changes for everyone. Same thing if just one person starts laughing uncontrollably or gets super excited. Sometimes these moods are something we can and should try to tap into as a group. Sometimes we need to take a break. Most of all, we can be at least a little intentional, hopeful even, about cultivating a specific vibes for different parts of our meeting. Our moods are naturally different sitting with friends with some scotch around a roaring fire compared to, say, a boring lecture in an auditorium classroom. What are the boardroom equivalents? Oh and back to Google Scholar: as far as I could find, the relationship between mood and cognition and leadership is…let’s just say complicated. So don’t expect to get it right every time.