Emotional Intelligence: The Secret of Successful Entrepreneurship

Abstract

The Entrepreneurship is the process of designing launching and running a new business , which is often initially a small business.The people who create this businesses are called Enterpreneur. It is redolent with the passion, energy, and creativity dascribed to the men and women who forge new business ventures by discovering, generating, and stimulating opportunity. Because of the mystique surrounding the popular image of entrepreneurs, they have been the focus of much academic investigation over the last three decades. Researchers have tried to unlock the secrets of successful entrepreneurs, classify their personality types, and explore their cognitive processing, but with disappointing and often contradictory results. In light of these weak results, This fundamental area of emotional intelligence consists of the nonverbal reception and expression of emotion. The capacity to translate feelings into appropriate visual representations, such as facial expressions and other nonverbal gestures, and to accurately interpret those expressions in others, is a fundamental underpinning of emotional intelligence.

For entrepreneurs, the ability to understand and accurately express nonverbal emotions as well as interpret the emotional expressions of others is extremely important for a number of reasons. Creativity is construed as the ability to cognitively construct an idea or concept inspired by emotions. For entrepreneurs, the capacity to be creative is fundamental to the survival of the venture; hence, the ability to formulate original ideas triggered by emotions is of the utmost importance. he third branch of emotional intelligence is understanding emotions (Mayer & Salovey, 1997).

The ability to comprehend one’s own emotional messages and those being conveyed by others comprises the basic precept of this branch of emotional intelligence. Once the accurate discernment of an emotional message has occurred, the capacity to make rational judgments about those messages needs to be in place in order to assure that an appropriate response follows. In other words, this branch deals with the capacity to discern emotional information about interpersonal interactions, follow the transitions from one emotion to another, and process verbal information regarding emotions. For the entrepreneur, the ability to understand emotions assists in enhancing interpersonal relations in numerous ways. For example, the ability to accurately comprehend the emotional messages .being conveyed by potential clie’nts can help entrepreneurs to modify their behavior in order to more comprehensively address clients’ needs.

Emotional Intelligence (EI):

Capacity and ability of individuals persons to recognize his own emotions and others emotions and also between different feelings and label them appropriately, use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior, and manage and/or adjust emotions to adapt depend upon the environments or achieve individual goal.  .It is also called as Emotional leadership (EL), Emotional quotient (EQ) and Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EIQ).In the light of increasing evidence surrounding the vital role that emotions play in facilitating the success of emerging ventures, savvy entrepreneurs may find it beneficial to begin enhancing their capacity to understand and manage both their own emotions as well as the emotions of others. In current management practice , these interpersonal awareness skills are collectively known as emotional intelligence.

Definition:

According to Peter Salovey and John Mayer “Emotional intelligence is the ability to monitor one’s own and other people’s emotions, to discriminate between different emotions and label them appropriately, and to use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior’ . Currently, there are three main models of EI:

1. Ability model
2. Mixed model
3. Trait model

The ability-based model views emotions as useful sources of information that help one to make sense of and navigate the social environment The model proposes that individuals vary in their ability to process information of an emotional nature and in their ability to relate emotional processing to a wider cognition. This ability is seen to manifest itself in certain adaptive behaviors.The mixed model introduced by Daniel Goleman , focuses on EI as a wide array of competencies and skills that drive leadership performance. Following are the five main EI constructs (for more details see ‘What Makes A Leader’ by Daniel Goleman).

1. Self-awareness
2. Self-regulation
3. Social skill
4. Empathy
5. Motivation

Trait model constellation of emotional self-perceptions located at the lower levels of personality. In lay terms, trait EI refers to an individual’s self-perceptions of their emotional abilities. It is measured by self report which is opposed to the ability based model which refers to actual abilities, which have proven highly resistant to scientific measurement. Following are the measurement of Emotional Intelligence of successful Entrepreneur.

• Self-awareness

Knowing where you stand emotionally can be very helpful as an entrepreneur. Being able to identify and healthfully express your own emotions is a buffer against your emotions running wild and distorting your perception. Improving your emotional intelligence can help you make better decisions.

• More effective communication

It’s difficult to have a deep conversation with someone if you don’t empathize with them. If you can’t identify with the emotions of others, communication is more difficult and less effective overall. Entrepreneurs with high emotional intelligence can leverage empathy, problem-solving, and social skills to come up with solutions, create strong relationships, and ultimately, win people over.

• Better control over emotions

Entrepreneurship is no walk in the park. There will be many, many, roadblocks on the path to success, and entrepreneurs will have to deal with everything from angry customers or difficult clients to disappointing launches and difficult conversations. You can’t control everything that happens, but if you have high emotional intelligence, you can get better at acknowledging your emotions in difficult situations without stuffing them down or erupting at an inappropriate time.Being able to control your emotions is key when communicating with investors and other important allies to your business. One team of co-founders found this out the hard way when one of them got into a heated argument with an investor, who then started to lobby for his firing.  The only way he could save the relationship? The investor told him: “Look, I’ll consider continuing the relationship under one condition: You need to talk to a coach to work on your emotional intelligence.”

• Identifying customer needs more effectively

Getting inside your customer’s head can be more difficult than you might think. It’s easy to make assumptions about what your audience wants, but the best way to identify customer needs is to use a combination of data and direct communication with customers about their experiences.  If you’re able to empathize with your customers, you’ll see where you can improve your product to better suit their needs. Or, you’ll be able to find new ways to market more effectively to your audience.

• Unifying the team through enhanced leadership

Even if you’re still in the very early stages of building a business, you’re probably thinking ahead to when you’ll have a team working for you. Emotionally intelligent leaders bring out the best in their employees. It’s the foundation for cultivating respect, a unified vision, and good morale, which, in turn, leads to improved productivity. This is especially important for entrepreneurs who lead remote teams —40 percent of workers now telecommute consistently. Emotional intelligence is crucial for leaders who need their employees to be productive away from a centralized office.

Self Assessment of Emotional Intelligence :

For each statement below, decide which response best indicates your attitude or position – your level of agreement with the statement. Tick the number from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) which best describes your perception.

This instrument measures four domains of emotional intelligence:

1. Empathic response
2. Mood regulation
3. Interpersonal skills
4. Self-awareness.

To calculate your score, add up the numbers that you ticked. The interpretations of your score are found below.

96 – 120: You perceive yourself to be highly emotionally intelligent. You see yourself as readily able to regulate your emotions, sense the emotions of others, and you feel at home in social situations.Talent smart has tested the habits of high emotional intelligent.

72 – 95: You perceive yourself as moderately emotionally intelligent. You can regulate your emotions in most situations, tend to sense others’ emotions accurately, and feel comfortable in social situations most of the time. You are self-aware most of the time.

48 – 71: You perceive yourself to be somewhat emotionally intelligent. You sometimes regulate your emotions, at times you sense the emotions of others, and sometimes you feel comfortable in social situations. You are somewhat self-aware.

24 – 47: You do not perceive yourself to be very emotionally intelligent. You tend not to regulate your emotions, tend not to sense the emotions of others and tend not to feel comfortable in social situations. You may not be very self-aware.

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