Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is a key element to success in business

People do business with people they trust and like.

Any successful business and/or career is built in relationship with others. Understanding how people work, what makes them tick, and how to effectively motivate and inspire those around you is essential to any business endeavor, and every satisfying relationship.

“The definition of leadership has been changing, and an emphasis on emotional intelligence has emerged,” explains Jeff Moss, CEO and Co-Founder at Focus7 Shot, in a recent interview with Forbes. “[EQ] has become recognized for its correlation to success in work and personal life, to motivation and to overall well-being. In business, high-EQ people have become desirable to employers.”

Some of the most successful and influential people in history have had high emotional intelligence, such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Ursula Burns (Xerox), and more.

What is Emotional Intelligence?
Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize, understand and manage personal feelings and emotions, as well as those of others. According to psychologist Daniel Goleman, emotional intelligence has the following five components:

1. Self-Awareness:  Recognizing and understanding your own strengths and weaknesses, your emotions and moods, and the effects these things have on other people.
2. Self-Regulation: Rather than being controlled by emotions and impulses, an emotionally intelligent person can control impulses and emotional responses.
3. Internal Motivation: High EQ people are self-motivated, pursuing personal goals for reasons of self-development and self-gratification, rather than money, titles, external praise or esteem.
4. Empathy:  Empathy involves recognizing, understanding and feeling the emotions of others. Robert F. Kennedy, for example, was so moved that he shifted his political priorities, upon being exposed to the suffering of African Americans, to address their needs.
5. People Skills:  Emotionally intelligent people:
   easily build trust and respect with others.
   manage relationships well and build effective networks
   they avoid power struggles and deceitfulness
   generate deep bonds and genuine, non-competitive friendships.