Note: Emotional Intelligence (“EI”) is the belief that our ability to channel and control our emotions will have a direct effect on our success. I came across an article on inc.com by my connection Justin Bariso and I wanted to add my 2 cents, from a LinkedIn currency perspective, to make this concept, as expanded upon in his great article, fit the audience here. Every day for the next 13 business days I will offer how, and where, and especially why, you should take advantage of his article’s teaching on your LinkedIn profile page. Thank you, Justin for agreeing to my offering further comments.
Forgive and forget
Negative feelings about a business deal that went bad and personalizing it to actions you may later regret is not a good use of time, energy or brain cells. Nor LinkedIn.
We all get stiffed or left at the altar. It’s part of entrepreneurship EI to move on, and if forgiveness is not in you for the situation at hand, forget and be energetic towards the next opportunity that comes your way.
Yes, I can get snarky when I do not get back 49% to the at least 51% I give to a business relationship. I know how to handle my clients based on personal interactions. And yes, some relationships do not pan out as I hoped, due to a number of variables. And I may be at fault in that calculation too.
Or if I make a mistake or misrepresent something, I try my damnedest to make it work, even if it costs me money or face. Apologies are real and it’s apparent in my voice, not the “I’m sorry” of today’s bland, insincere customer service.
Infrequently when I lose a client, from time to time they come back, as in one situation where they were promised one credit card rate and when that was not delivered, they re-approached to me and I made it all as easy as possible to restart.
So sniping at them when they were leaving, even though I knew the rate they were promised was underwater, would have been a fundamental error and loss of the client forever.
I ensure my uncomfortable negotiation discussions are professional, and not personalized, no matter what I get back for the other party. Nothing for me to later apologize for (see #9 in this series).
I try very hard not to spit poorly chosen words to eat later or transmit emotions to pretend later they never spewed over the receiver.
I said “try.” This part of my EI is worth continued practice to get as perfect as I can.
I’ll bet you know what I mean from your experience.
