To become a successful businessman, it’s not entirely about skills and hard work. Still, the success of any business is mainly due to the personality of the person who runs it. Imagine having the most incredible, innovative business idea but a highly toxic nature. Who will be willing to work for you and do business with you? Ideas and innovation matters, but personality traits matter too. Clients or employees have to deal with you as a person before they are convinced of your business plan or product/service. If your toxic personality repels most of your customers and people who work for you, you may not be able to manage all the business chores single-handedly. It will eventually cost your business a great deal of time and money.
As a business owner, it’s vital to understand that you wield a significant influence over your company. And obviously, you should strive to make a good influence. Your personality traits directly impact on making or breaking your business. Your communication skills and how you interact with others, including your business partners, employees, clients, and regulatory authorities, have a lot to do with your business success. You can either be projecting the personality traits that will entice people to work with you and build your company or consider finding another job or another service provider.
Let me share a small yet powerful story that shows how a person’s personality traits can cost them business. Recently, I visited a wristwatch store to buy a gift for my dearest friend. It was a well-known branded store of expensive and exquisite wristwatches. Upon entering the store, I met a young man in charge of the sales department. We all know that the one mandatory thing for sales personnel is to have a pleasant personality and a welcoming attitude. Still, unfortunately, I discovered that this very young man greatly lacked this personality trait (I’m assuming that he must be competent and technically qualified for this job).
How? Let me share. When I asked him the wristwatch price I was interested in, his reply was not encouraging. He had a not-too-welcoming countenance on his face. Initially, I ignored this thing and kept looking for a wristwatch I could buy as a gift. I could notice that he was getting irritated and annoyed because I was inquiring about one watch after another. When I tried to compare multiple watches to reach a good decision, his cold attitude made me furious because he greatly lacked the right customer care attitude.
I immediately left the branded store and walked into another nearby not so exquisite wristwatch store, where I was welcomed with a big, warm smile that got my heart melting. I was given due attention and was helped by the sales personnel in making the right choice. Although this store itself wasn’t that great and impressive, the customer care attitude and welcoming personality of the head of the sales department was so great that I was persuaded to make a purchase there.
The moral of this story is simple! One lousy personality trait, an unwelcoming and rude attitude, in this case, can negatively affect your business. It is crucial for everyone, from employer to employee and customer to seller, to have good, healthy, and encouraging personality traits reflected in their behaviors. It is imperative to respond to your work, carry out your daily and challenging tasks, attention to detail, etc., as they all depend on what personality traits you possess.
1. Low Emotional Intelligence
You must have heard about IQ level and its importance to success, but let’s discuss EQ, one’s emotional intelligence indicator. Having low emotional intelligence is undoubtedly lethal for any business. It adversely affects everyone around, clients, customers, and authorities alike. IQ is about handling memory and analytical aspects of life, whereas EQ helps you appreciate others and comprehend what motivates or discourages them. A strong EQ is mandatory to work cooperatively with a group and create cohesion for better results.
2.Constant Sarcasm
A bit of sarcasm is healthy and fun at times, but constant sarcastic commenting creates a toxic environment where no one is happy and comfortable. People take constant sarcasm as an attempt to belittle others. No one enjoys taking backhanded comments from their employer. Not all, but a few leaders think that passing sarcastic comments make them look cool and clever.
If you are among those unfortunate people, think again! Sarcasm will never let you score points but make you look arrogant, bitter, and angry. It’s the worst personality trait to possess if you are a business owner or even a manager. Being kind is the most beneficial thing you can do for yourself and your business. You should be treating everyone, both employees and clients, with a high level of respect and decorum.
3. Stubbornness
Business is full of unexpected changes and challenges. Your ability to think on your feet while being open to ideas and suggestions is crucial to any business’s success. Being too rigid in decision-making is not a pleasant and healthy personality trait to succeed as a business owner. Having stubbornness inadvertently limits your options by keeping you from making quick adjustments as and when needed. Inflexibility in personality affects business adversely and makes you a difficult person to manage and work with.
A stubborn person feels they gave the best ideas, and they don’t need to listen to anyone’s suggestion, so they often push aside new ideas coming from others. Wanting to be at the helm of affairs in your business, believing you have the best and ultimate decision-making abilities will ruin your company. Every successful business needs to exercise flexibility, which comes from the person’s personality running the business.
4. Lacking Follow Through-
Flaky leadership and failed promises damage your credibility with those you work with. In order to maintain your stature and earn respect, you need to learn how to follow through and follow up effectively. A person who lacks following through is not considered dependable. For a successful business, you need to build trust and mutual respect with employees and customers alike.
Having low emotional intelligence is detrimental to communication skills. It tarnishes one’s credibility. It also makes people around you feel less confident in you and your abilities. Emotionally intelligent people are aware of their own emotions and the needs and feelings of people around them. Business owners having good EQ helps better manage working relationships and social situations and enables them to regulate their emotions according to the need of the case.
5 Impatience
Patience is a golden personality trait vital to business success and an overall healthy and happy life. People who lack the patience to step back and contemplate the bigger picture can never become successful. Exercise patience and try to make a balance between aggression and reservation. Impatience can lead to making snap decisions that are destructive to any business.
6. Being A Control Freak
Being a control freak hinders your ability to make good decisions. A control freak can quickly become overwhelmed by their sense of perfectionism. They get frustrated when things don’t go as intended or planned. Embracing the unpredictable instead of freaking to control everything is a great way to go.
7. Lacking Empathy
It’s okay to feel cynical sometimes, but permanently lacking empathy is a toxic personality trait that corrupts everything in personal and professional life. Lacking compassion makes you look defensive, unsupportive, and unreliable. To run a successful company or business, you need to show that you care and understand your clients and employees. This awesome personality trait creates a supportive atmosphere that draws people in for a profitable deal.
8. Closed-Mindedness
Closed-minded people never accept their responsibility but tend to point fingers at others when something goes wrong. Your business will thrive if you are open to hearing other’s suggestions and perspectives with an open mind. It is hard to swallow your ego, but narrow-mindedness will cost your business big time.
9.Being Pessimist
If you’re constantly complaining and being a pessimist, you will not bring your business down. You will not only become unproductive yourself, but you will drive everyone else away.
10. Managing with Fear
Fear is toxic to businesses. If you are like those leaders who use fear-based tactics to control others and wish to keep everyone on edge, you need to change your behavior. Successful businesses strive to create a happy, healthy, and pleasant atmosphere with no hint of fear, which comes from the business owner’s personality.
If you embody any or all of the above-mentioned dreadful personality traits, strive to change them before they cost you your business.
