You don’t really need to be the smartest person on the planet to be successful. Skills and personality play an important role in the success of an entrepreneur. Emotional intelligence is one such trait that successful entrepreneurs vouch on. Emotional intelligence has arisen on the scene over the most recent couple of years as the secret to success in the business world. Nowadays many organizations look for this quality while employing their leadership team.

What is emotional intelligence?

It is the ability to recognize and understand your own emotions, as well as others. On a practical level, individuals with emotional intelligence are able to manage their own emotions, help others manage theirs, and channelize those emotions to the best into work. People who are emotionally intelligent are said to be more empathetic. 

They are good at understanding another person’s perspective and seeing problems from alternate points of view, which can help them with tackling problems. These characteristics commonly make them magnificent, regarded communicators. Emotional intelligence is a highly prized and incredibly useful quality that every entrepreneur should have. 

“If your emotional abilities aren’t in hand, if you don’t have self-awareness, if you are not able to manage your distressing emotions, if you can’t have empathy and have effective relationships, then no matter how smart you are, you are not going to get very far.” – Daniel Goleman

The impact of Emotional Intelligence on Entrepreneurship

Improved self-awareness

As an entrepreneur you should know where you stand emotionally. Because it will allow you to distinguish and invigoratingly express your own emotions and you will be more cautious about your emotions going crazy and distorting your perception. You can only keep control of your feelings when you are aware of your emotions and understand how they affect  you in your everyday work. Improved self-awareness will enhance your decision making and helps you avoid impulsive decision-making.

Become a more effective communicator

It’s hard to have a profound conversation with people if you don’t empathize with them. On the off chance that you can’t understand the feelings of others, communication is more onerous and less effective overall. Entrepreneurs with high emotional intelligence can use empathy, critical thinking, and social abilities to concoct solutions, make good connections, and eventually, win people over.

Learn to understand people better

Relationship management and social awareness are essential outward-facing parts of emotional intelligence, particularly in terms of the consumer relationship. 

After all, business conversations are vital to networking and bringing deals to a close. Obviously, such discussions are genuinely compelling only when you comprehend the problem areas of the individual you are talking with. Being real and honest in your discussions – conceding, for instance, when you don’t have the foggiest idea about the appropriate response – may seem like fundamental tips. However, they are crucial for building compatibility and empathy with sales possibilities. 

Consumers will open up to you after you show some empathy to them. They will be ready to share their experiences. Because of this, you can acquire key insights, permitting you to tweak your sales pitch or better modify your products and services to meet consumers’ needs. Once you set these key components in the palace, higher sales results are sure to follow.

Relationship management and social awareness become the most important factor when you are building your company’s team. Emotional intelligence will help you to set up a positive culture that urges employees to give their best effort.

Better control over emotions 

Entrepreneurship is not a cakewalk. The path to successful entrepreneurship will have many obstructions and entrepreneurs will manage with everything from troublesome consumers to failed launches and difficult conversations. You can’t control all that occurs, however on the off chance that you have high emotional intelligence, you can improve at recognizing your feelings in troublesome situations without stuffing them down or breaking-out at an inappropriate time. Having the ability to control your feelings is key when talking with investors and other important partners to your business. 

For example, once a co-founder of a startup got into a heated argument with an investor, then started to persuade for his firing. Later he/she had no choice left but to agree to the investor’s condition to save the relationship. And the investor’s condition was that the co-founder should consult a counselor to work on his/her emotional intelligence, then only the investor will think about continuing the relationship.

“Emotional self-awareness is the building block of the next fundamental emotional intelligence: being able to shake off a bad mood.” – Daniel Goleman

Unite the team through enhanced leadership

Regardless of whether you are in the very early phases of building a business, you are most likely thinking ahead to when you will have a team working for you. Leaders having high EI bring out the best in their employees. It’s the base for developing respect, a united vision, and good team spirit. Which thus leads to improved efficiency. It is especially crucial for entrepreneurs managing and retaining remote employees. Since the global pandemic, many people work remotely. Emotional intelligence is important for leaders who want their employees to be productive away from a centralized workplace.

How to improve your emotional intelligence

Now that you know how important emotional intelligence is to your business success. Here are a few ways you can do daily to improve your emotional intelligence and get the ball rolling.  

1. Read books – Reading about others’ success stories can help you know what steps you need to take to reach your goals.
2. Practice empathy – During your regular discussions with colleagues, friends, and family, practice empathy. Really listen to what is being said and audit your self-perception accordingly. We often tend to steer the discussions in a particular direction, rather than listening carefully and responding with empathy. 
3. Consult to counselor – Keeping a track of your emotional intelligence progress on your own is difficult as there are a lot of other things as an entrepreneur you have to keep up to. Consulting with a counselor can help as they will set benchmarks, assist you to identify your emotions, and assess how you are doing on an ongoing basis. Don’t shy to ask for help — having someone on your side makes the process much simpler and you will be most likely to succeed.