Why is emotional intelligence important for entrepreneurs?
Today we are going to talk about The importance of emotional intelligence for entrepreneurs, but What is emotional intelligence? Psychologist Daniel Goleman defines it as “the ability to recognize our own feelings, the feelings of others, to motivate ourselves and to properly manage the relationships we have with others and with ourselves.” Emotional intelligence It is not linked to the IQ, and the brightest intellectual people are not necessarily the most successful, either in business or in their private lives. Research carried out worldwide by The Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations, yielded a surprising result linked to our Success Ratio: 23% of the time, success is due to our intellectual abilities, while 77% to our emotional attitudes.
Emotions influence our performance
“Our decisions and actions depend so much — and sometimes more — on our feelings. We have overestimated the importance of purely rational aspects (everything that IQ measures) but, for better or worse, in those moments when we are carried away by emotions, our intelligence is frankly overwhelmed,” says Goleman. The results of his study indicated that the proportion of emotional intelligence abilities was twice as important as an ingredient of outstanding performance than technical skills and abilities related to the intellectual quotient. Therefore, personal performance is directly affected by emotions and feelings. In addition, a study conducted by TalentSmart concluded that 90% of the highest-performing employees had high values in terms of emotional intelligence. Goleman defines the thrills such as feelings that affect one's own thoughts, psychological states, biological states and will to act. The human being feels before thinking and acting, but it is possible to learn to control responses to feelings and, consequently, to modify behavior. This means that Emotional intelligence is not innate and we all have the potential to improve it throughout our lives, learning from our personal and professional experiences.
The importance of emotional intelligence in business success
Leadership researcher Lyle Spencer conducted a study whose objective was to identify the characteristics of people with the best results as leaders. To this end, it identified those whose revenues and profitability for the company were between 10 and 15 percent of maximum results. The results of this research determined that there is a high correlation between the effectiveness of star leaders and emotional intelligence competencies. Around 85 percent of the competencies that differentiate outstanding leaders from average leaders belong to the domain of emotional intelligence. Therefore, their strength does not lie in any technical or cognitive ability, but in competencies such as self-awareness, empathy, initiative, the ability to promote change and work as a team, self-confidence, etc.
Emotional intelligence in entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is not easy and, on many occasions, being able to control one's emotions and not letting oneself be carried away by impulses will be essential to achieve our goals. Entrepreneurs often experience situations of stress and constant challenges, in which the best thing to do is to avoid being carried away by emotions. Also, when working in a group, care must be taken to identify and respect the emotions of other people. Act like good leaders and properly orienting the team will greatly help to maintain the group's performance and achieve the established objectives. In conclusion, emotional intelligence is a key factor when it comes to entrepreneurship, since it will facilitate decision-making, it will positively affect our motivation and our performance and that of the people around us and will guide us towards success.Are you able to recognize your emotions and those of others? Do you properly manage your relationships with others and with yourself? Do you think you need to work on improving these capabilities?
