What do you do if your emotional intelligence skills are lacking in a venture capital career?

Assessing your Emotional Intelligence (EI) level is crucial for personal and professional growth. EI encompasses self-awareness, self-regulation, social awareness, and relationship management. Reflect on your ability to recognize and understand your own emotions, manage stress effectively, empathize with others, and navigate social situations adeptly.

My favorite mechanism for assessing your EI level is performing the "beer test" on yourself. Before I make any investment, I conduct the "beer test" with founders. By this, I mean if I don't want to have a beer with you, I probably don't want to invest in you, regardless of how amazing the tech or market opportunity is. Having a beer, mocktail, etc., with someone is how you are able to assess the intangible qualities of a person that are demonstrated in dialogue, personality traits, demeanor, etc. I would ask yourself, "Would I want to have a beer with someone with my personality?" and assess how you engage in fruitful intellectual dialogue and how your colleagues perceive you, and don't be afraid to ask how founders/investors perceive you!

Better way to have an objective assessment of your emotional intelligence (EI) level is to get in touch with an HR professional and undergo a comprehensive psychometric analysis. Based on the recommendations of the expert, you need to take steps to build a reasonably desirable EI quotient. A desirable EI quotient includes empathy, rationality, a discerning attitude, excellence in mental health, and so on.

The best way to learn EI is through interactions with the founders who have pitched to you. I always strive to ensure that within the first thirty seconds of a call, I break down any nerves by starting with a humorous one-liner or a fun introduction to our firm using movie references or asking, "How are you really doing?". This immediately makes the engagement more friendly and not transactional, and most importantly, it allows me to see who the founders are as human beings. It's always awesome after every pitch when I get founder follow-up messages that appreciate the quality of the interaction and still want to be friends or connected even if we don't invest!

Easiest way to practice EI is to ask pertinent questions. It is heartening to see that several experts have written on the art of asking right questions. Besides, train your mind to emit empathy whenever necessary; your reaction to the circumstances should be socially compliant; praise generously wherever deemed fit; have a grateful attitude to the peers and subordinates; stay away from rumours; never participate in gossips and negative talks; never raise your pitch irrespective of your anger. A little practice on these points will make you rich in EI quotient within no time.

The largest room in the universe is the room for improvement. Never stop learning, as learning is growing. Invest in yourself by enrolling in short term to medium term skill based programmes. Use SM and other platforms for constant building up your skill set and domain knowledge. Besides, keep networking with better people to seek and ensure growth.