Pour your heart out
Flash Interview with Jorge Marinho
C - How do you deal with clients’ close to the surface emotions?
JM - When clients are upset and just out of themselves the trick is... LISTEN. Using that technique all consultants learn: Listen, Listen, Listen. And afterwards understand the motive. If they are correct, just put yourself in their shoes and think of a solution. At that point, customers feel receptivity and feel there is someone on the other side listening to them - there’s an openness and willingness to solve the matter at hand.
From my personal experience, I believe letting them pour their hearts out and offering a “shoulder to cry on” and later telling them how we’re going solve the problem usually works.
C - Fearlessly, talk to us about a professional situation where you want to cry like a baby. Why?
JM - First of all, I don’t believe managers should cry in public. A manager should be “strong”, bullet proof, no crying – no showing of that type of emotion to customer or to the team.
But I’ll confess to one thing, in 2016 I had one of those moments. It was a difficult year for me, an intense project that provoked an intense personal emotion. Mainly because I believe we did an outstanding job with a young team, who grew up throughout this project on a personal and professional level. However, in the end we didn’t come out as successful as we had hoped and worked for. We struggled as a team after the project went live (we were tired) and small things became huge problems. It upset me because after 8 long months of development, the last 2 months were tough and unfair for the hard work until then.
In reality, I didn’t cry. But I really wanted to.
Besides this specific episode, with more or less difficulties I’ve managed to handle it.
C - Talk to us about what it’s like to be nervous for a presentation and how that can become an advantage.
JM - Overall, I don’t see how being nervous can be an advantage. Many consider being nervous is associated to high levels of adrenaline, more focus. However, I believe it limits us, our own way of being, of telling a story, because it imposes a rigorous “script“ instead.
Being nervous while being well prepared, can be surpassed – because being prepared always helps. However, many times those nerves are associated to little preparation.
C - Sometimes a dispute is the only way to end a difficult problem for good. Do you agree? Explain, calmly.
JM - With time people have come to know me, I’m many times too straightforward and not very cautious with my words. I believe when used cautiously it can be something positive. Many times, this straightforwardness, direct form of communication brings attention to what is really happening. It’s a way of unblocking specific situations and bringing about effective solutions.
C - Imagine you’ve just received the latest model of the iPhone, and when you open the box you realize the screen is broken! What can happen in a project that might make you feel something similar.
JM - Nothing! Absolutely nothing! I think everything on earth is less painful than opening a box with a broken iPhone. I’d rather cut my wrists. (Just kidding)
If I absolutely had to compare it to a project, I’d say losing your “right-hand man” or perhaps missing a strategic opportunity inherent to the project or lead.
C - What makes you laugh out loud at work?
JM - I think people recognize two specific characteristics of mine:
- My strong personality and the energy I put into things
- And something I do quite often, pranks
I have this habit of pulling pranks on my colleagues and seeing their reaction to these pranks. Those pranks and the other person’s consequent action makes me laugh out loud! I also work with two other extremely funny people who make me laugh on a daily basis.
I could share a few stories but perhaps we’ll leave that for another time. Wouldn’t want to give anybody any ideas.