Personally, it is Business

That great line from The Godfather, “It’s nothing personal Sonny, it’s strictly business,” may be an outdated mindset/philosophy to continue to engage in, considering the social media era we live in today. Consumers and clients want to know you on a personal level—just a lil bit.

It might be time to relax that ideology. Building relationships is important to building your brand, thus, business relationships are indeed personal. Having rapport among your colleagues, your team, and potential clients; learning of their needs and goals, require personalization.

Human interaction and exchanges have to move beyond the World Wide Web, text messages and emails. I find it interesting that networking events are usually held around happy hour. It’s a relaxed environment to let down the business guard and bring your personality to the forefront. When you’re networking you’re establishing a personal relationship before it becomes a business relationship.

Lead from Within.

Heart base leaders understand that leading from within not only recognizes your clients’ and colleagues’ needs and goals, but it also adds value to your business model. In your own business or profession, you bring your personal self to the role. Your dedication, your discipline. Who you bring to every meeting, to every conference call, to every email response, is you on a personal level. Your self-awareness and self-regulation, what motivates you, having empathy for others, and having good social skills are the emotional intelligence rubric. Those are personal traits incorporated within your business. So you see, there is much to be said about business being personal.

People are an important part of business. Becoming emotionally intelligent allows us to see clients, colleagues and team members not just as numbers or employees but as people.

Sorry Godfather…personally, it is business.

Be great…the world needs more of that!

-Gillian