How emotional is your business? Or you as a business leader?

The best way to engage emotionally, in life I mean, is to just be yourself. You can just sense when someone’s being authentic can’t you? And when you do sense sincerity in a person, you warm to them. And they warm to you. Well, I think there’s a lot to be said for this approach in business as well. Being emotional. It builds trust. Here’s how it works.

All businesses are – at least in part – emotional. It’s just that some businesses allow themselves to be more emotional than others.

It could be argued that every business should allow themselves to be unashamedly emotional. They should be themselves at all times. No pretence. No posturing.

Why? Because if a business is not emotional. It cannot connect properly. And if a business cannot connect properly. It cannot build proper relationships. And if a business cannot build proper relationships, that business will eventually die. It’s pretty compelling when you think about it like that.

Be Emotional.

But what does being an openly emotional business mean? Two things.

1. Have an Opinion. Show you care. Show what matters to you. Express yourself. And do this knowing that not everybody will agree with you. Because in many ways – that’s the point. No great business or brand is for everybody.
2. Be Real. Be vulnerable. Show your imperfections. They know you’re not perfect – so show them you know they know. Talk about your journey, talk about your learnings and even your mistakes. This definitely connects more. It’ll get you more respect,too.

It’s a balance though. Too schmaltzy is no good either. Make us care. But don’t make us sick.

And it is worth mentioning again that you are not trying to get everyone to connect emotionally. That’s impossible. Pin down what you want to do as a business that actually matters. And who you want it to matter to. Then connect emotionally with them.

Audience.

The last thing I’ll say on this is how to identify your audience, in the context of being emotional. One fundamental consideration is not just to define them demographically. Define them instead by how they think. By mindset. Choose to talk to, influence and connect emotionally with a set of people that think similarly. As opposed to a set of people that fit together by some increasingly arbitrary descriptor such as age or gender. You’ll build better and more enduring relationships that way.

Emotional.

So be emotional. Unashamedly so. And connect.