This guest article from YourTango was written by Maud Purcell. 

Running a successful business in our current economic climate takes more than just an excellent product or service. If you’re a business owner, one of the most important changes you can make is to run your business with greater “Emotional Intelligence” (EI). EI is a term popularized by Psychologist Daniel Goleman who defines it as “…the capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves and for managing emotions well in ourselves and our relationships.”

The notion that using our emotions intelligently could have an impact on the bottom line is relatively new. According to The Institute for Health and Human Potential, research tracking over 160 high performance individuals across a wide variety of industries revealed that EI was two times more important in creating excellence than are intellect and expertise alone. In fact, the use of EI in business significantly impacts return on sales, revenue growth and overall profitability.

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