Benefits of Emotional Intelligence: Why It Means Everything For Small Business Success

Have you ever watched someone who graduated top of their class, who was extremely intelligent, become a failure, over and over again in buisness? And how about those other people with moderate intelligence literally building empires and changing the very face of the world in the process?

How about Henry Ford? He never went on to secondary school or college. In fact, Ford dropped out of school at the age of 15, yet went on to amass a fortune and forever change the world in a huge way. You may be wondering how this works and what the benefits of emotional intelligence are for you and your business...right? Here is the deal...

A lot of success has absolutely nothing to do with standard intelligence but rather with what's called Emotional Intelligence (EI). Emotional intelligence, according to Merriam Webster, "describes the ability, capacity, skill or, in the case of the trait, to identify, assess, and manage the emotions of one's self, of others, and of groups."

Or put in layman's terms, emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize, understand and work with your own emotions and the emotions of others. Other benefits of emotional intelligence include higher levels of intuition, compassion, empathy and the ability to analyze these emotions successfully. Since business is all about relationships, these factors can make or break a small business owner's success.

For example, negotiation often takes the ability to listen, to understand where a person is coming from, to put yourself in their shoes so to speak, and then to come up with a creative solution that results in a win/win for both parties. This can't be accomplished with book knowledge alone - it requires emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence also helps you understand, anticipate and navigate the expectations of those around you. This is helpful when dealing with customers, prospects, vendors, business associates and even employees and contractors. If you can help the people around you feel appreciated by anticipating their expectations and managing them before they've even realized, then you're way ahead of the game.

For example, if you're able to discern that your particular target audience has a longing to belong and expects or hopes that your business may help them feel that way, then you can create strategies to cater to this, such as starting a membership site.

The Benefits Of Emotional Intelligence in regards to conducting business are too numerous to name. I have mentioned many above already, but here are a few more for your consideration. Ask yourself where you fit it? What do you do well and where can you improve?

* Deal better with conflicts * Solve problems quicker * Offer better customer service * Hire the best people for the job * Trust your business instincts and intuition * Listen to others, understand them, and make them feel appreciated * Control your reactions to challenges, and stay positive when mistakes happen * Market to your customer because you're better able to empathize with them * Write better, more emotionally driven, content * Connect with potential partners and build business relationships

How To Increase Your Emotional Intelligence

Many people think that your intelligence level, whether it's standard IQ or emotional intelligence, is something you're born with and that cannot be improved. That is simply not true! All it takes to improve your emotional intelligence is a desire to do so. Start paying attention to how people behave, how you behave and react and try to put yourself in other people's shoes. Learning to empathize is perhaps the best way to begin to boost your own emotional intelligence, and it makes a huge difference in how you do business.

Take some time to analyze your business relationships according to the many benefits of emotional intelligence I have listed in this article. Chart your own progress. You could even spend one week on each factor you wish to improve upon. You can do it, and since the benefits of emotional intelligence are so important to your success inbusiness I would get started immediately!

Comments? Questions? Email Here

© HowtoAdvice.com

How to Advice .com