By Ashley Preen

March 10, 2016

Is emotional intelligence the key to business success?

Some people can work really hard their whole lives but never get anywhere. Whatever they do, they never reach their potential.

And then there are those for whom everything seems to always go right. They have the perfect job or business, and they are always happy in their personal lives.

What the second group of people have is high emotional intelligence – emotional intelligence is basically the ability to properly understand emotions of yourself as well as the emotions of others.

You can use this skill to solve problems better and think of new ideas. Here is why people with high emotional intelligence are more likely to succeed in business.

They don’t get stressed out so much

Constantly thinking and worrying about work and your business is not the key to a happy life. Being stressed means you are less able to make decisions in your personal life or in business. People with high emotional intelligence know how to separate their home and work life so that they are happier in both parts of their lives.

They are more positive people

People with high emotional intelligence look for opportunities in life rather than worrying about all the things that could go wrong. Business is all about finding opportunities, so this is obviously a great quality to have.

They work hard, but not too hard

People with high emotional intelligence know how much work they can take on while maintaining peak performance. They know that there is no point in taking on too much work if it only means they will not be able to do it all at the best of their abilities.

They know their limitations

People with high emotional intelligence can be honest with themselves, which is great for analysing what they are good and bad at, allowing them to focus on their strengths while looking for ways to improve their weaknesses.

They understand people

A big part of building a successful business is making meaningful connections with other people and businesses. Luckily for those with high emotional intelligence their understanding of thoughts and emotions of others is a great help in building the relationships needed for business success.

They understand that mistakes are learning opportunities

Everybody makes mistakes, but what makes those with high emotional intelligence stand out is that they understand that the mistakes they make are an opportunity to learn and improve. It is often said that failures lead to business success later on, so the ability to learn from these failures is very beneficial.