By James Runde
- Harvard Business Review
- September
26, 2016
 |
| James Runde of Morgan Stanley Prominent Marquette alumnus |
Early in your
career — whether it’s in banking, law, consulting or accounting — you will
discover that all of your colleagues are as smart and hard working as you.
You’ll learn that the key to being successful must be something else. Over my
40-year banking career, I’ve learned that the critical distinguishing factor
for advancing in the professional services is emotional intelligence (EQ).
Without EQ, it’s likely that you will be your firm’s “best-kept secret” — not
recognized, not appreciated, not promoted and, often, not properly compensated.
Developing EQ is just as pertinent for the recent graduate who is starting out,
as it is for the seasoned veteran.
Emotional
intelligence is the ability to monitor your own and other people’s emotions, to
distinguish between different emotions and label them appropriately, and to use
this information to guide your thinking and behavior. According to a 2013 study by American Express, EQ is one of the
biggest predictors of performance in the workplace and a strong driver of leadership and personal
excellence. As Daniel Goleman wrote in HBR in 1998, “Without it,
a person can have the best training in the world, an incisive, analytical mind,
and an endless supply of smart ideas, but he still won’t make a great leader.”
Emotional
intelligence matters even more today. A complex and global business environment
requires stronger communication across multiple boundaries, and the rise of big
data means clients put more value on customized insight and integrity.
But in order to
strengthen your emotional intelligence, you have to know what it is. EQ is more
than charisma or personality. It is exhibited in adaptability, collegiality,
and empathy — and it is practiced through listening, remaining calm and
resilient in the face of problems, valuing and helping colleagues, and
connecting and empathizing with clients. I’ve found that, in the workplace, it
is about your relationships:
- Your
relationship with yourself (self-awareness/adaptability)
- Your
relationships with your colleagues (collegiality/collaboration)
- Your
relationships with your clients (empathy)
Self-Awareness/Adaptability
Self-awareness is
your ability to understand your strengths and weaknesses and to recognize your
emotions and how they affect your thoughts and behavior. Self-awareness is a
critical component of EQ because it is what helps you to adapt to the array of
different bosses, colleagues, clients, working styles, and personalities that
you will encounter throughout your career.
As you move up the
corporate ladder, you will also need to adapt to different roles and
responsibilities. What made you a great processor will not make you a great
producer. So in order to be successful you will need to be self-aware,
flexible, and open to new ideas, projects, and people. This will help you grow
your expertise and connections, and you’ll be more prepared for future
responsibilities, such as bringing in new business.
The best thing you
can do early in your career is decide to prioritize your adaptability. Ask your
boss and your network for feedback about your self-knowledge and your ability
to be flexible in dealing with change. Read influential books that can help you
hone your self-awareness, such as How to Win Friends and Influence People
by Dale Carnegie and The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki.
Collegiality/Collaboration
Collaboration is
essential in professional services firms because most work is done in teams.
The industry is even becoming more collaborative, as teams become global and
diverse and the workplace becomes more virtual. There are now larger teams —
comprised of people across functions and industries — trying to solve
increasingly complex client problems.
In order to
succeed in a professional services firm today, you need to work well with your
colleagues so that the entire team succeeds. Performance reviews emphasize firm
and team contribution rather than individual performance. I have seen many examples
of people being penalized for acting as a lone wolf instead of a good team
player when covering clients or trying to provide client solutions. Team
members have to respect each other’s abilities and perspectives.
You can improve
your teamwork skills by helping team mates (even on projects that you’re not
formally assigned to), carefully managing conflicts or disagreements, building
your network, and not keeping score. The best litmus test of your ability to
work with others is whether others are eager to work with you.
Empathy
Empathy is
understanding what others are feeling, either because you have experienced it
yourself or have actively tried to put yourself in their shoes. Empathy allows
you to build trust with your clients—and this is the most challenging and
underappreciated part of any job in the professional services industry.
People starting
out their careers tend to think that finding answers is the most important part
of the job. But while we are in the solutions business, finding the right
solution is often not what holds us back. Experience has taught me that if a
client tells me the problem, we will always come up with a thoughtful response.
The real challenge is getting the client to tell you the problem.
If I was not asked
to compete for an assignment by an existing client, it was usually not because
the client did not know me or because I was not capable. I missed the business
because the client never gave me a shot at solving their problem. Either the
client did not think of calling me or did not trust me enough to share what was
on their mind. The key to winning business is getting the client to trust or
like you enough that they will tell you what issues are worrying them.
Building a
relationship of trust can take years, but it pays dividends. For years, I
worked with one client on a mergers and acquisition concept that never
materialized. But over that time I gained the client’s confidence because I
listened and was reliable. That client, United Parcel Service, ultimately
awarded our firm with the lead-underwriting role in the largest initial public
offering in history at that time.
So how do you
build client trust like this? You have to focus on listening. And I have
observed two types of listeners: those who listen to respond and those who
listen to listen. Let’s call the former the Encyclopedia and the latter the
Empathizer. The Encyclopedia listens waiting to interrupt and tries to upstage
the client with knowledge; he leaves the meeting proud of the wisdom or advice
he imparted. The Empathizer listens to understand issues, asks questions
to “peel the onion,” and make the client comfortable and willing to share real
concerns. The Empathizer leaves the meeting with the client asking for help on
a specific assignment.
Using EQ to Advance
Your Career
The process of
excelling early in your career involves realizing that while brains and hard
work got you in the door, you now have to focus on learning from others and
being the best at adapting, collaborating, and listening.
Let’s look at
networking — a key skill that requires all three components of emotional
intelligence: self-awareness, collaboration, and empathy. Self awareness helps
you recognize networking candidates and opportunities and adjust your approach
as needed. Reciprocity leads you to give more than you take, as you have to be
patient when it comes to the benefits of networking. And being able to
cultivate trust and integrity with your network helps you form deep connections
with a broad group of people who care about your success and well being.
While networking
can be beneficial at any point in one’s career, it can especially help young
professionals find sponsors who can change their career trajectories.
Networking is key to identifying new opportunities and advancing your career.
It is like holding multiple lottery tickets — it can help transform you from
being relatively unknown in your firm to being a well-known contributor with a
diversified career portfolio, multiple advocates, and a range of opportunities.
Most of the best
tips I received throughout my career came from acquaintances in my network
rather than from people with whom I was close. So don’t wait until you need
something to build your network. Take a long-term view. You want to cultivate
networking relationships over time, so that they will be there when you need
them.
Networking is just
one example. EQ as a core skill matters now more than ever, because work has
changed in ways that favor emotional competence and soft skills If you can
develop these traits — self-awareness and adaptability, collaboration, and
empathy — early on, you’ll be able to set yourself apart from your peers and
build a life and career that is successful and satisfying.
James
Runde is the author of the book UNEQUALED: Tips for Building aSuccessful Career Through Emotional Intelligence (Wiley). He is the
longest-serving investment banker at a single U.S. firm, having spent over 40
years at Morgan Stanley, where he was appointed vice chairman.
View his Wikipedia page at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_A._Runde
View the HBR article at: https://hbr.org/2016/09/why-young-bankers-lawyers-and-consultants-need-emotional-intelligence
