How can you handle difficult conversations with investors?

Here are my recommendations for having courageous conversations while using EI: Prepare a few bullet points you want to cover. Use a pen and paper to take notes Truly listen to understand You are seeking to understand the other person's point of view. Allow the person uninterrupted time to finish. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Be calm, direct and respectful Use I statements when possible Be prepared to not have a conclusion. Remember you are seeking consensus, not a win.

Everything is energy. Even difficult conversations with investors. Visualise and embody the desired outcome before you step into the conversation. What is your absolute best desired outcome? How do you want to feel when you step out the meeting? How do you want the energy to be? Move with this, breath with this. Raise your own energy so that energy can flow in the meeting. Embody the conversation and the energy that flows through you will open up your heart, your life force. So you can speak and connect from an honest, authentic, open place. And the more you can speak your truth and what it really is you want. The more you allow yourself to open the more the person in front of you will open.

The development of emotional intelligence enables us to lower our walls of resistance, judgement and attachment to outcome. The “safer environment” our mirror neurons sense leads to higher levels of trust and engagement which helps to turn challenges into opportunities.

I agree with this point since, if you approach an investor, you should be able to articulate a clear strategy for how things should unfold. Having this mindset and approach in life will not only help you two have a symbiotic relationship but also help you as the conversation starter receive the funds and develop a good trust and working relationship with the investor. And, as is customary, trust is all that is required for a firm to thrive.

Having a clear vision of what you want, what it will take to accomplish it, and the details involved will help you plan your words effectively. This will also assist you in being accurate and focused when you communicate your arguments. This not only helps you avoid becoming sidetracked, but it also builds investor trust by allowing them to see and understand that their investment will be placed into something more helpful and will provide meaningful and profitable benefits.

It is important to remember you are not your company. Doing what is best for your company might often be at odds with what is right or what feels good for you. Are you reacting as an individual or as the steward of the firm. If it is the former, ask yourself why this conversation is hard for you personally? What are you struggling to reconcile? Why is this conversation causing you angst? Then, look at the conversation from the company perspective. Ladder up to your company's purpose, values, and strategy. Use these as your compass in the conversation. You will often gain clarity and lower the emotions.

One of the tools I found super useful is knowing how emotions show up in my body. Does my chest get restricted? Do I have trouble speaking? Does my heart beat faster? Am I cold or hot in any area? Being able to notice them more easily helps us become aware of them during the conversation and direct our breath in a way that affects those sensations and our posture

Navigating intense emotions during a heated conversation, where one's sense of dignity and pride are at stake, while simultaneously upholding moral values and showing respect for investors or elders, poses a formidable challenge one can encounters. Mastering the art of maintaining composure and articulating oneself professionally is a gradual process that requires careful attention. There is no manual or guide to teach these, as anyone faces this challenge through their unique lens of experience. However, it is crucial to strategize every aspect of any conversation, leaving no detail unattended. If any emotion threatens to consume you, I encourage you to take a step back for a moment, and then resume the discourse with a refreshed mindset.

Agency and the freedom comes from learning to move through our ego-based fears rather than being controlled by them. Agency and freedom are created as we learn how to stop giving away our energy to others. We need to commit to doing the emotional labor these behavioral changes will require. Our journey begins by developing a strong EMOTIONAL connection to the Vision of our desired result. We can take back our power by accepting responsibility for each choice we make along the way. The trait all emotionally intelligent leaders have in common is the ongoing emotional labor they practice that creates the agency and freedom for themselves and those they serve.

We are on the brink of burnout and have adopted emotional suppression as an immediate strategy to cope with work and daily life. However, constantly repressing emotions can lead to significant wear and tear, harm health, distance relationships, and compromise both professional and personal performance. The healthier approach is to cultivate emotional awareness, learning to relate more harmoniously with our feelings.

What others say or do is never about you, it’s about them, their reality. Hearing is listening to what is said. Listening is hearing what isn’t said. Next time someone criticizes or blames you, instead of defending your ego, do nothing. Let their remarks simply wash over you. Allow the false self-image your ego has created to remain diminished. Become aware of the uncomfortable feeling this is creating. You have begun the process of separating yourself from your ego. The truth is you have not been diminished. By becoming vulnerable you are discovering your invulnerability. The false image your ego has created of who you think you are is being gradually replaced by who you really are, an inspirational, emotionally intelligent leader.

Active listening is a true skill, and a very powerful one. It goes further than hearing what is being said, but it involves truly caring about what is being said and meeting your stakeholder where they are in the conversation. Repeating key phrases back, or mirroring their language can have a similar impact.

Active listening is the most powerful tool one can use. It is the magic trick, the one that will get you to achieve what you want. Top tool in negotiation. Listening enables understanding, not from our perspective but from the interlocutor’s inner world’s perspective. Cannot get any deeper than that. What happens next is rapport. Rapport is at the basis of any successful relationships.

Active listening means both listening to the explicit message and the implicit message. Both messages are important to be aware of. If the implicit message has an aggressive tone it's important to be aware of that and how you might tend to react. Being aware of it, you can intentionally choose to refocus on the explicit message. That way you won't get sidetracked with defensive banter that sabotages the negotiation. In the long run, the investor may be relieved that you stayed on track and were able to keep the eye on the pie. As @Phil Johnson MBL says that what they are saying (implicitly or explicitly) when it has emotion attached to it is really not your business.

Active listening can mean listening to both the implicit and the explicit message that is being communicated. Being able to interpret the investors implicit message, which usually has more of an emotional undertone, can help you to understand them better, develop better rapport and to respond to them in a way that they are more likely to be able to receive it. I had a client who was caught up in her own insecurities that were activated during her client interactions. She had gotten feedback from her boss that her responses didn't seem to match the client's communicated needs. After my client did a deep dive with me on her own issues, she was able to nail her responses to her clients and create a feeling of being heard with her clients.

Psychology helps a lot with this dilemma. I faced numerous versions of founder-investor conflicts where interests differed and founders felt pressured by investors. One of the most frequent scenarios is when the investor wants to change the company's strategy or direction. Be confident. Investors are more likely to invest in founders who are confident and who believe in their vision. Even if you are feeling nervous, try to project an air of confidence. This will make the investor more likely to trust you and support your vision.

Na gest?o de times, a comunica??o clara e aberta é a base do sucesso. Evitar ruídos e mal-entendidos é essencial para alcan?ar resultados extraordinários. Uma comunica??o eficaz promove o alinhamento, a colabora??o e a compreens?o mútua. é a chave para construir relacionamentos sólidos e estimular um ambiente de confian?a e produtividade. Invista na comunica??o transparente e fortale?a seu time. Aprimore sua comunica??o e alcance o máximo potencial do seu time. Invista em treinamentos e práticas que promovam a clareza e a abertura na comunica??o.

An investor wants to feel valued and wants to feel their contribution to the company goals matters. Directly acknowledging their ideas and input as valuable is crucial and being transparent with them about any internal goals that may preclude the exact direction they are suggesting is crucial. Ultimately you both share the same goal of having a successful company. Sharing the reasons that you can't go in that direction is key. Also, giving them positive feedback about an aspect of their idea and opening it up for discussion about other ways the company may be able to successfully attain that goal, is brilliant. It's about the relationship. We all want to feel valued.

I had a client who was a senior level professional who had many interactions with investors and was usually activated and defensive. When he was able to resolve his own past personal issues from dysfunctional relationships, he was able to develop a more socratic manner of talking out loud about the ideas and goals, sharing his own thought process and engaging the investor in more of a creative process which facilitated a solid plan and greater buy in from the investor. Remember, when you find yourself reacting emotionally and not thinking as clearly, it is about your own issues, possibly past experiences that were not resolved. Even knowing that can help you to redirect back to your more competent present self.

The followup, and follow through is so important. My own experience is that often if I don't hear back from a prospect, my immediate reaction is that they are not interested. Time and time again I have learned that more often than not, they are just busy. Apparently, they have more things to do than just getting back to me. Funny that. With regards to a thank you, I have had the greatest success in sending a little something that is original, creative, and relevant to the offering or product. Can often be a tipping point in your favor. Make it personal and personalised.

Chances are that if your investor came across aggressively they were reacting to their own insecurities. When you follow up with them respectfully, you are more likely to get their buy in because you are ignoring their faults and showing that you value them. It's like an implicit message to them that you know that nobody is perfect, you aren't judging them. The follow up message is crucial. My clients are often afraid to follow up. They want to avoid it and hope it goes away. Their own self-doubt often prevents them from completing this deal. I tell them to put themselves in the investor's shoes and think about what they would want from the person. This exercise is a no brainer and leads to people taking action. Follow up accomplished.

As a psychotherapist who works with professional women, I help them develop their own emotional intelligence. They learn how to recognize their emotions and to be able to see where they come from and how to manage them. Doing EMDR therapy with them, they are able to release emotions from past upsetting experiences and begin to be more in the here and now at work and everywhere in their lives. Emotional intelligence can change your entire experience of yourself and your job. When my client resolve the past stuff, they really become unstoppable in their lives. We are all emotional beings and the sooner we learn the abc's of emotions the more successful we will be all around.

Handling tough investor conversations is a crucial skill for entrepreneurs and leaders. With emotional intelligence which means understanding and managing your emotions while empathizing with theirs can help. Self-awareness and regulation help you stay composed. Empathy and active listening enable you to grasp their concerns. Social awareness helps read their emotions and adjust your approach. Build positive relationships, frame issues positively, and provide emotional support when needed. This approach fosters trust and improves the effectiveness of challenging discussions. Here are a few pointers ?? Practice Self-Awareness ??Self-Regulation ??Empathy ??Active Listening ??Social Awareness ??Relationship Management ??Positive Framing

In a similar incident recently I was called upon to give a feedback (aka query) on how a product packaging fault was handled. Firstly, in my submission I looked at the bigger picture by recognizing that our shared interest and goal is for bussiness success; then I humbly and clearly stated the measures that were taken within the operational circumstances to mitigate the problem. Really, such difficult interactions with Investors, or Funds Managers require emotional intelligence as not to fall into the unproductive dichotomy of 'we vs them', hence better handled in a sincere collaborative spirit that eschew cover ups and blames, but rather elicit continuous learning and improvement for the good of all parties.