Emotional Intelligence Test: Know Your EQ Score for #Entrepreneur# Success

An #entrepreneur# is at the helm of an organization; you not only run the entire process but are also the face and brains for it. Your motivation levels, empathy and determination, define the culture of the firm you are creating.

Having a better understanding of your own cognitive abilities will help you upskill and become a better leader. And there’s no better way of getting this understanding than through emotional intelligence!

What is Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is the ability of a person to understand their own emotions as well as of those around them. People with a high degree of emotional intelligence can recognize what they are feeling and control those emotions in a way that is beneficial for them.

They can also do the same for the people around them, meaning they can empathize with the feelings of others and leverage that understanding into getting things done their way.

In today’s world, emotional intelligence is the focus of many companies and is often considered the most significant factor contributing to a leader’s success. So what factors of an emotionally intelligent person make him a successful leader?

Does emotional intelligence make you a better leader?

An emotionally intelligent person, by definition, is self-aware, highly motivated, empathetic, socially skilled, and autonomously regulated. So let’s look at how each of these factors helps them in the professional world.

Self- awareness:

Self-awareness means someone is in control of both their qualities and flaws. They understand the areas they’re lacking and can work on that better than people who are not as emotionally intelligent. This clear picture allows them to be one step ahead of the average person and makes them humble leaders.

Highly motivated

This one is a no-brainer. Emotional intelligence results in a person knowing what their goals are and being highly motivated as a result. With a clear goal in mind, they can map out the path that they, as well as their firm, need to follow to achieve those goals. The proper visions and motivation to achieve it also ends up adding to their leadership acumen.

Empathetic

As stated earlier, an emotionally intelligent person is not only able to keep their own emotions in check but is also aware of the needs and wants of those who work under him. This ability, in a leader, means the employees feel heard and seen and will be more loyal as a result.

Self- regulated

Keeping your emotions in check means recognizing when you need a break, when you have been slacking too much, and when it’s time to act differently. As a result, they can recognize their own behavioral issues without the need for external intervention. This means that, as leaders, they will never fly off the handle or lose their humility.

Measuring Emotional Intelligence

Given the many benefits of knowing and understanding your emotional intelligence, it has become increasingly popular to take tests to measure your emotional intelligence. These tests mostly ask you questions about your habits and cognitive practices.

However, they also involve some activities actually to test and validate your responses. In the end, you get an assessment that helps you know what your Emotional Intelligence score is.

There are three categories of tests to know your emotional intelligence.

Self-report

The first is a self-report. Since self-awareness is an essential factor of emotional intelligence, a self-report is often the most convenient way to test a person’s personality traits such as social skills, empathy, confidence, etc.

However, the biggest problem with using self-reports as a text of someone’s emotional intelligence is that it can either be too boastful or self-deprecating to give accurate results. Hence, we move on to the second method: Other Report.

Other report

This is based on the evaluation of other people around you. As an emotionally intelligent person, you have strong leadership and empathy skills, as already explained.

So, if people around you don’t think you possess those skills, it is unlikely that you are actually emotionally intelligent.
Observer ratings are a common way to conduct an other report. In this method, people like colleagues or peers are given a set of questions about you. Questions are usually about your personality and people skills.

However, this method is again prone to certain biases. For example, one person could rate you low in all the questions, while your ratings might be very high for another person. Again, this could be either due to unfamiliarity or biases against or in favor of a person.

Ability test

Hence, to erase these biases, we trust the third method the most. This method is called the Ability Test. Since emotional intelligence is a set of skills and abilities, we should be able to test them through quantitative methods.

The MULTIFACTOR EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE SCALE (MEIS) is one such ability test that has been widely accredited for being the best method to score your Emotional intelligence. It has 12 different sub-tests to gauge your ability to identify, use, manage, and understand emotions.

Developed by Dr. Jack Mayer, Dr. Peter Salovey, and Dr. David Caruso, it comes highly recommended by experts, and we surely think you should give it a try!
How does EQ help in becoming a good #entrepreneur#?


We have already explained how emotional intelligence makes you a good leader. But how does knowing your score make you a good #entrepreneur# ? A recent study by the Strategic Entrepreneurship journal found that EQ is actually more important than mental ability in defining your success as an #entrepreneur#.
While mental ability is your acumen to solve problems, being logical and being savvy with data, EQ measures how well you can deal with emotions and feelings. For decades, one’s mental ability has been credited for their strong leadership skills and overall business acumen.
However, this meta-analysis of 65000 business owners has found that that might only be true in traditional workplace settings. In a regular workplace, you must know how to crunch numbers and learn fast to succeed and become a leader.
However, for an entrepreneurship, the most critical tool in his arsenal is his emotional ability. This is because the setting of an entrepreneurship is quite different from traditional businesses.

You are building from the ground up, which means there’s a lot of uncertainty, unchartered territory and uneven trajectories in your way. Your business might be soaring one day and come crashing down the next.
In situations like these, you need someone level-headed to steer the ship. Someone with a high EQ would know how to control their own emotional responses and gauge the emotions of others.
The co-authors in the study, Reagan and Allen, were both entrepreneurs who had witnessed how it was their EQ and not their mental capabilities that had guided them to success in their respected entrepreneurship.
They saw this in many of their peers, too, and decided to test the theory through a meta-analysis of 40 existing studies that had already been conducted on businesses owners and entrepreneurs.

The combined number of people under observation came up to 65000, and the results were in stark contrast to what had been previously believed.
They found that while both mental ability and EQ were hugely important for business owners, their impact on success wasn’t proportional. Instead, EQ explains 80.1% of the variance in entrepreneurship success, while cognitive abilities only account for about 10.9%.

This, according to the authors, is because of the unique setting that an entrepreneurship works in. The importance of people skills and building long-lasting relationships is much higher than in traditional workplaces, evoking a need for socially likable people to manage their emotions properly.
Due to these contextual differences, the authors concluded that someone with a high EQ is much more likely to succeed as an #entrepreneur#.

The most important implication of the study is that you don’t need to be the smartest person in the room to be a successful #entrepreneur#; you just need to be the most emotionally intelligent!

More ways how EQ helps entrepreneurs

Other than this study, various researchers have penned down reasons why EQ is so important for entrepreneurs. Here, we list down a few:

It leads to better communication

As someone with a high EQ, you can empathize with others and practice better listening skills. This means that when you want to deliver your messages as a business owner, you will have a clear and succinct line of communication with your team.

Whether the news is good or bad, people have a higher chance of confiding in you if you have a higher EQ. This means that your organization can be built on a foundation of trust with a free flow of ideas.

A better understanding of customer needs

The communication doesn't just end with the internal team. A good #entrepreneur# also needs to get into the customer's head by use of good communication tactics. Doing so undoubtedly requires someone who is social and has a better handle on emotions.
This skill can lead you to identify the need for a product well in advance and build exactly what the customer desires.

Better ability to pitch your product

Pitching your product to potential investors and shareholders is one of the most important tasks of an #entrepreneur# . In the world of venture capitalism, everyone is fighting for a limited amount of funds, and almost everyone has the data to back themselves up.

What will set you apart is your ability to connect directly with the investor and build a long-term relationship.

Build better, more unified teams

Somebody at the helm of the organization also needs to make sure that they are hiring the right culture fit for the organization.

As we stated above, people with a high EQ have a better understanding of cultural requirements and can gauge people's abilities better. This means that all you need is to match those two skills to build a team that works well together and works well for the organization.

Can EQ be improved?

In an interview with PsyPost’s Beth Rogen, Jared S. Allen explained that while his study places great emphasis on the existence of EQ for an entrepreneur’s success, it did not imply that EQ only has to be natural. In fact, he stressed that EQ could be improved over time if one puts in the right kind of effort.
In his interview, while talking about the transferability of EQ skills, he says:
“For example, skills such as building business networks, creativity and opportunity recognition, becoming more coachable, and enacting adaptive responses to unpredictable events, could be developed in aspiring entrepreneurs. Also, while our results suggest the impact of general mental ability on entrepreneurial success is small compared to the effects of emotional intelligence, entrepreneurial success is still affected by general mental ability.”
Improving EQ for a better career


Just like learning new languages, playing a new instrument, or training in acting or singing, EQ can also be bettered through training. The best way to improve EQ is to read and to listen.

You must actively practice consciousness. Stay in touch with your own emotions and of others around you by hearing about their experiences and learning from great minds of the past.

Of the few other things you can do, talking to a mentor and putting yourself in situations where your interpersonal skills are tested, are top of the list. With the right attitude and vigor, anyone can learn to be more emotionally intelligent, and, as the article shows, it can take you a long way in your career.

If you want to become an #entrepreneur# , we highly suggest going through this article and taking your first step towards that journey (Source: https://www.psypost.org emotional intelligence -08/2021)

We hope this can help you learn the importance and eventually improve your EQ. Remember that your mind has more power than you think, and every skill is learnable if you try hard enough!

Media Contact
Name: Robert Moment
Email: Robert@HighEmotionalIntelligence.com
Website: www.HighEmotionalIntelligence.com
Location: Arlington
State: Virginia

About the Author
Robert Moment is a results-driven certified social + emotional intelligence coach and trainer and certified peak performance coach and author.
Robert specializes in helping entrepreneurs overcome imposter syndrome using the power of high emotional intelligence coaching to be your authentic self, living inspired doing what you love scaling to a 6 or 7 figure business.

Robert is certified to deliver The Social + Emotional Intelligence Profile-Self (SEIP) ® Assessment, the most comprehensive, scientifically validated, and statistically reliable instrument on the market and review the results with clients and create a comprehensive developmental action plan. This includes the self and 360-versions as well as workplace and adult editions.

Schedule your FREE 15 minute Transformation coaching call. No sales pitch. No fluff. This call will bring you clarity to your mind, and peace to your heart about life and the future of your business.

Visit https://HighEmotionalIntelligence.com
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