Are You Smart? Q&A With Author Harvey Deutschendorf

        

Entrepreneurs and family business owners are taught to focus their time and attention on business and technical skills to succeed. What's missing are the skills necessary to develop emotional intelligence. Leading with emotional intelligence is critical to improving productivity and creating high performing teams. I interviewed Harvey Deutschendorf, author of The Other Kind of Smart, to learn more about why developing emotional intelligence makes entrepreneurs smart.

DM: Why should entrepreneurs care about emotional intelligence? Shouldn't our priorities be learning to sell, project management, strategic planning? What's the value of developing emotional intelligence?


HD: You must have good positive working relationships to really succeed. To do that, you have to become self-aware of how you come across to other people. You also have to become aware of other people's needs and desires. You have to learn how to bridge the gap between those two interests, yours and theirs. You also have to be a good listener. People need to feel like they've been heard and understood. If they don't feel that way, it will impact your working relationships.

DM: What about entrepreneurs who don't work in teams? Perhaps they're serial entrepreneurs who hire competent managers to run their businesses and are not involved in the day to day operations? What does developing emotional intelligence have to do with them?

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