Rational and Emotional Attributes – The Relationship Version

Background

In my research and preparation for the creation of this blog, I came across the interesting concept of two types of attributes, that are vital when it comes to the subject of personal branding: rational attributes and emotional attributes.

Personal Branding describes rational attributes as qualities that people trust in you; whether that be an education from a reputable institution in your respective field, certifications acquired, previous work experience.  Simply put its generally these things that puts your name in the hat to be considered for a particular job industry.

Emotional attributes are the qualities that make people want to be around you as a person, going beyond the qualification on paper.  For example, management and peers like when an employee is a team player, is empathic, affable, a great listener, and takes a proactive approach to engendering a better workplace.

These attributes together: Rational and Emotional, represents an individual’s make-up, his or her personal brand, and the more ways an individual can improve and capitalize on those attributes, the better their chances of achieving their overall goals.

My experience in corporate America and in the classroom has reaffirmed the importance of these attributes in the workplace, specifically, emotional attributes.  Let’s face it in 2017, nearly every major job sector is highly competitive in nature, with every potential candidate being qualified in regards to rational attributes.  In the accounting field, nearly everyone at the intermediate accounting level and above has a CPA, or MBA, or has some level of continued education; therefore, social intelligence becomes a critical factor for advancement.

This next quote comes from one of my term papers I completed for my Master’s program, relating to interpersonal skills:

“Lussier and Kimball (2009) explains that “In a Gallup survey conducted for the Wall Street Journal, 782 top executives in 282 large corporations were asked, “What are the most important traits for success as a supervisor? . . . The executives in the Gallup poll listed integrity, industriousness and the ability to get along with people as the three most important traits of successful managers.”

Note that these executive did not even list education or business acumen in their top three, but industriousness and ability to get along with others, emotional attributes, were among the highest characteristics needed for a successful supervisor.

Relationships

Shortly after I had learned about these attributes and shared this information with a few of peers, it dawned on me that these attributes not only apply within the workplace, but in our relationships as well.  In your adolescent and 20’s the prospect of being with an attractive 8, 9, or Dime dominates much of your thought process.  While the prospect of walking to my apartment door, with keys in one hand and the Dime of my dreams in the other hand sounds appealing, one has to understand that being attractive is merely a woman “getting her foot in the door”.

Being insanely attractive is a rational attribute, gentlemen . . . nothing more than that.

As you get older you will realize that beautiful women come and go all the time.  Many men can attest to the fact they’ve approached or have had many beautiful come in and out of their lives, and phone numbers of said beautiful women go in and eventually deleted from call logs.

Emotional attributes are what takes a woman to the next level; much like a prospective employer wants to see proactive team members, a man must also examine how invested a woman is in furthering the relationship.

Will she reach out to you if it’s been a few days since you two have last spoken?  Is it always up to you, to initiate an outing? If she is headed your way, will she ask if you need her to pick up something as she heads towards your place? These are just a couple of small illustrations of someone being proactive in a relationship.

I can’t tell you how many times, I have put time and effort in women who had no interest in maintaining a relationship, but only maintain what I had to offer.  The warning signs were there, but I choose to overlook them.

So the next time you are out with the next 8-9-Dime, ask yourself “is she genuinely interested in what I have to say?”, is she engaged and responsive to your advances? Or is she looking at her phone?  Planning the rest of her evening after she gets rid of you, collecting her meal much like a disgruntled worker shows up just for the check?

 

Weather Your Storm, Maintain Inner Reign -E