I worked with a guy from South Africa & I was in a meeting with him and a lady and he was giving her negative feedback and I could see her getting more & more emotional & the guy from SA had no idea he was upsetting her until she started crying. Most unemotional, cold person I had ever met.
I’ve worked as manager of small groups of people over the years, and sometimes, it’s okay to be stone hearted if certain facts need to be made plain.
The trick is keep from conditioning one’s self to enjoy being stone hearted with out any attempt to negotiate, because then, it’s not so much about trying to train or educate the other worker, it’s more about the manager enjoying that power struggle, and needing to ‘prove’ to himself and those present that he, as the manager can jolly well crack the whip whenever he pleases, his workers will be expected to jump.