Vaishnavi – The High Achiever with a Temper

    Vaishnavi delivered flawless work but couldn't control her temper. Her PQ was steel; her EQ was fragile. Here is why organisations rarely promote emotional storms - and how to fix the weak side of your Winning Kite.

    Vaishnavi – The High Achiever with a Temper

    Vaishnavi – The High Achiever with a Temper

    Vaishnavi was a force of nature—sharp, driven, and flawless in her work. Give her a project and she'd finish it before the deadline, colour-coded and perfect. Yet promotions kept skipping her. This is the story of a woman whose work was built of steel, whose temper arrived before reason, and what her career teaches every high performer in India Inc.

    In short

    Where this sits on your Winning Kite

    Everything in this story lives on one side of The Winning Kite (KITE Leadership Framework)—my four-sided model of a career. Picture your career as a kite. The top is Success. The left is EQ, Emotional Intelligence—how you handle pressure and manage your emotions. The right is RQ, Relationship Intelligence. The bottom is PQ, Productivity. Success = EQ + PQ + RQ. Vaishnavi's PQ side was magnificent. But her EQ string had snapped—and a kite with one weak side wobbles, loses balance, and eventually crashes, no matter how strong the rest of it is.

    A Force of Nature

    Vaishnavi was the opposite of Govind, the charmer I write about elsewhere in this book. Where he was all warmth and no output, she was all output. She was sharp, driven, efficient—a woman who treated a deadline as an insult if she couldn't beat it. Her PQ was unmatched. Hand her a project and it came back before you expected it, colour-coded, cross-checked, flawless. Over fifteen years she delivered every single project on time. She worked weekends. She saved the company lakhs. On paper, she was exactly the kind of person you'd want running a department.

    But her EQ was fragile. She had a temper that arrived before reason—the kind that speaks first and thinks later, once the damage is already done. Colleagues had a phrase for her: "brilliant but explosive." You admired the brilliance. You braced for the explosion.

    The Afternoon at the Gate

    One afternoon, the office buzzed with whispers. Vaishnavi had walked out of the building in tears. Outside, near the gate, people saw her crying uncontrollably while a friend tried to console her. She wasn't a junior; she was a senior professional, standing in full view of the building, undone.

    Later we learned what had happened. She'd had a heated argument with a colleague—Mr. Sakhre, a man equally short-fused and equally stubborn. Two strong personalities, neither willing to bend, both convinced they were right. The clash left both of them embarrassed. But it was Vaishnavi who felt shattered.

    And here is the part that matters: this wasn't a one-time episode. Every few months, something similar happened—an outburst, a breakdown, a tense confrontation that left the entire floor uncomfortable. Her eyes would swell, her face would show the strain, and everyone on the floor would know, without being told, "Something's happened again." Each incident created noise, tension, and unnecessary drama. I have a name for this in my workshops: professional tamasha. The word fits because a tamasha draws a crowd, feeds on emotion, and leaves nothing useful behind.

    Why Sympathy Runs Out

    Here's a truth that took me years of training professionals to understand. No matter how good your work is, organisations rarely promote emotional storms. Bosses can handle mistakes—mistakes can be corrected. But they can't handle meltdowns, because a meltdown is unpredictable, and unpredictability is the one thing a leader cannot afford in the people they promote.

    People like Vaishnavi often attract sympathy for a while. Colleagues feel sorry. They comfort her, defend her, tell her Mr. Sakhre was equally at fault. And he was. But in the long run, that sympathy fades. Slowly, the label changes. She stops being "the brilliant one who had a bad day" and becomes "the one who could erupt anytime." Unpredictable. Unstable. And eventually—this is the quiet, painful word—unfit for leadership.

    Inside the company, that's exactly what happened. People respected her results but dreaded her reactions. Even her seniors started keeping their distance. No one wants to manage someone who might explode in the next review meeting. Nobody wants to hand their own reputation to a person who cries at the gate every few months. So despite her brilliance, promotions skipped her. Her kite had one side built of steel—and the others sagged. A kite that rigid can't adjust to the wind. It doesn't dance with the breeze; it fights it, and it tears.

    "Why Does No One Remember My Good Work?"

    What breaks my heart about professionals like Vaishnavi is that they are sincere, talented people who genuinely don't understand why they're not valued. If you sat her down, this is what she would say—and I have heard versions of it many times:

    "I gave this company fifteen years. I worked weekends. I delivered every single project on time. I saved them lakhs. And what do people remember? One or two incidents where I lost my temper—okay, maybe more than two, but still! Why does no one remember all the good work I did?"

    And when the pain gets sharper, it slips into victim mode:

    "What was my fault? Where was I wrong? I was only being honest, only demanding excellence. How is that wrong?"

    Then she looks around at colleagues who are less skilled but more composed—people getting the leadership roles she was passed over for—and she concludes: "This world is selfish. Bosses don't care. Companies don't care. All they want is someone who smiles and agrees."

    But that isn't true, and believing it is the trap. The truth is simpler and harder: excellence without emotional maturity is incomplete. Organisations promote people they trust to lead humans, not just projects. Leadership is not only about output—it's about stability, empathy, and influence. Companies don't need managers who burn bright and scorch the people around them. They need leaders who sustain light. Vaishnavi kept polishing the one string that was already strong, while the string that was breaking her career went unattended.

    The Formula She Was Missing

    The whole of Stars at India Inc. rests on one equation:

    Success = EQ + PQ + RQ

    Read those three lines against Vaishnavi and the diagnosis writes itself. EQ without PQ or RQ makes you pleasant but ineffective. RQ without EQ or PQ makes you popular but unreliable. And PQ without EQ or RQ makes you productive but difficult—that was Vaishnavi, exactly. Productive. Difficult. Only balance lets the kite soar high and steady.

    The classics agree, for what it's worth. Daniel Goleman, who popularised the term emotional intelligence, found that self-regulation—the ability to pause between a trigger and a reaction—was one of the sharpest dividers between good managers and great leaders. But I don't need a research paper to prove it. I've watched it play out on office floors across India for over a decade. The most technically gifted person in the room is often the one who never makes it to the corner office, and almost always it's the same missing string: EQ.

    Kite sideVaishnavi's reality
    PQ (Productivity)Steel. Flawless, early, colour-coded delivery for 15 years.
    EQ (Emotional Intelligence)Fragile. Temper before reason; outbursts every few months.
    RQ (Relationships)Eroded by the outbursts; colleagues avoided collaborating.
    ResultRespected, feared, and repeatedly passed over for promotion.

    How to Rebuild the Weak Side of Your Kite

    Here is the good news I always end this story with: EQ, PQ and RQ aren't fixed. They're skills. With awareness, effort and practice, you can build all three—and the weak string is usually the one that gives you the fastest return. If you see a little of Vaishnavi in yourself, start here:

    1. Name the pattern before it names you

    Vaishnavi's tragedy wasn't the temper—it was that she never fully owned it. "Maybe more than two incidents, but still." Awareness is the first EQ trait for a reason: you cannot manage what you refuse to see. Write down your last three blow-ups honestly. What triggered each? You'll usually find the same two or three buttons being pushed again and again.

    2. Buy yourself the pause

    A temper that "arrives before reason" is a temper with no gap between trigger and reaction. The entire skill of self-regulation is widening that gap by a few seconds—a breath, a sip of water, a walk to the window before you reply. Mr. Sakhre would still have been stubborn. But the tears at the gate needed Vaishnavi to react, and the pause is where you take that choice back.

    3. Protect your relationships as fiercely as your deadlines

    Vaishnavi guarded her output obsessively and let her relationships take the collateral damage of every outburst. Great work builds credibility; emotional stability lets people trust you with power. You need both. Demand excellence—but demand it in a way people can stand next to.

    This is precisely the work I do inside organisations. In my signature leadership programs and across corporate training topics like emotional intelligence and self-regulation, we take high performers like Vaishnavi and rebuild the sagging side of their kite—before it costs them the promotion they've already earned on merit. Her story sits alongside Govind's and Sumit's in the opening chapter of the book; together, the three of them map every way a talented career can quietly stall.

    The Real Lesson

    Vaishnavi gave her company fifteen years of brilliant work and it wasn't enough—not because the world is unfair, but because a kite doesn't fly on one strong side. Bosses will forgive a missed deadline. They will not hand a team to someone who might cry at the gate every few months. Results get you noticed. Emotional balance gets you trusted. And in India Inc., as everywhere, it's the trusted who rise. Look honestly at your own kite and ask: which string needs attention before it snaps in the wind?

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    Avinash Chate

    TEDx Speaker · Founder, The Future Corporate · Author of Stars at India Inc.

    Avinash has trained the Indian Army, BRO, RBI, BARC, JSW Steel and 1000+ corporate leaders across India. His work focuses on leadership, emotional intelligence and behavioural training rooted in Indian values and modern business needs.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Why do high performers with a temper get passed over for promotion?

    Because organisations promote people they trust to lead humans, not just projects. No matter how good your work is, bosses can handle mistakes but they can't handle meltdowns. A person who can erupt anytime is seen as unpredictable, and unpredictable people are rarely trusted with a team.

    What is EQ on Avinash Chate's Winning Kite framework?

    EQ (Emotional Intelligence) is the left side of The Winning Kite - how you handle pressure, manage emotions and stay grounded. The kite has four sides: Success at the top, EQ on the left, RQ on the right, and PQ (Productivity) at the bottom. Success = EQ + PQ + RQ. You rise on balance, not strength alone.

    Can a short temper at work actually be fixed?

    Yes. EQ is a skill, not a fixed trait. With emotional awareness, a pause between trigger and reaction, and consistent practice, even a person who is 'brilliant but explosive' can rebuild the weak side of their kite. Awareness is the first step - you cannot manage what you refuse to see.

    Is delivering great results not enough for a leadership role?

    No. Excellence without emotional maturity is incomplete. Leadership is not only about output - it is about stability, empathy and influence. Companies don't need managers who burn bright; they need leaders who sustain light. Results get you noticed; emotional balance gets you trusted.

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