Twelve and a Half: Leveraging the Emotional Ingredients Necessary for Business Success is a book written by Gary Vaynerchuk and published in 2021. The book is based on Gary Vaynerchuk’s personal experiences, and explores the twelve essential emotional skills that he believes are necessary for business success.
The book provides practical advice and guidance on how to develop these emotional skills, as well as how to use them to better navigate the business world.
Accountability
The fact or condition of being accountable; responsibility
The greatest misconception is that avoiding accountability will lead to happiness when, in reality, the reverse is true.
Leaders need to mix kind candor with accountability. Too much accountability can give way to entitlement and resentment down the road for both managers and employees.
Real-Life Scenarios where these Emotional Ingredients help
- Negotiating a raise
- Getting your boss to recognize your efforts
- Watching your colleague get a promotion over you
- Confronting a business partner who stole from you
- Voicing mental health concerns at work
- Improving your team’s enthusiasm, drive, and overall performance
- Being thrust into a management position unexpectedly
- Staying ahead of the curve with new innovations
- Deciding whether to stay at a job or pursue a side hustle full-time
Ambition
A strong desire to do or achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work.
People tend to have an unhealthy relationship with ambition partly because they use it as a cover-up for their insecurities.
Gary Vee:
Life is a joy when you have good relationships with your ambitions. I wake up every morning and chase my dream, yet I’m so not in need of achieving it. It’s a beautiful blend of conviction and humility. I fully believe I’ll make it, yet I don’t need to make it.
Optimism
Hopefulness and confidence about the future or the successful outcome of something.
Optimism is a word that has become controversial in some ways. There’s a misconception that it means the same thing as delusion.
Choosing optimism over pessimism is, at the end of the day, wildly practical. It doesn’t mean being naive or blind to the downsides in business or in life.
Kindness
The quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.
For me, it’s about being kind to those who have put me in a difficult position. Being kind is easy when it’s easy. Being kind when you’re under pressure is tough.
The strongest person is someone who’s able to deploy kindness in the face of the opposite.
You can be kind, be candid, and hold your ground all at the same time.
3 Big Ideas from Twelve and a half
- Twelve and a half by Gary Vee explores how emotional intelligence helps you succeed
- The growth potential of most businesses is limited by the emotional intelligence of their leaders.
- Kindness without candor creates entitlement
Big Ideas Expanded
The bias toward short-term metrics can also make emotional intelligence a “nice to have” rather than a requirement. It creates a scenario in which a leader looks the other way when one employee makes everyone else in the office miserable, just because that employee happens to be bringing in the most revenue.
The strongest person is someone who’s able to deploy kindness in the face of the opposite.
Technical skills are a distant second to mastering soft skills.
Self-Awareness
Conscious knowledge of one’s own character, feelings, motives, and desires.
Self-awareness has a close relationship with self-love and self-acceptance. It’s one thing to be self-aware. It’s another thing to look in the mirror and say, “Hey, you’re not good at X.”
The best part of acknowledging your weaknesses is that you can then start navigating around them. For example, I don’t have the work ethic to put up a painting on a wall, because I don’t like doing it. So, I’ll find someone else to do it.
Curiosity
Curiosity is the strong desire to know or learn something.
The word curiosity is underrated in our society. It feels fluffy, academic, and childish, but I believe it’s one of the most important characteristics for success in business.
Curiosity mixed with empathy can lead to intuition.
The two words that stand out to me in the definition of curiosity are strong and learn. To maximize the value of curiosity, you need a strong work ethic. You need a strong desire to continue learning, no matter how much you’ve accomplished.
Patience
The capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.
When you have a good relationship with time, the pressure is lifted and you can do so much more.
Insecurity festers without the fertilizer of patience.
When you don’t enjoy the process, you become more vulnerable to burnout.
When you’re patient as a leader, you can give your employees room to grow and develop over time.
Tenacity
The quality or fact of being very determined; determination
If you want to be successful in anything, I do believe that tenacity is essential. However, it should never come at the expense of your peace of mind and happiness.
Burnout is a physical or mental collapse caused by overwork or stress. Tenacity is determination.
Empathy
The ability to understand and share the feelings of another.
Gary Vee:
I deploy empathy and kindness against hate because I know it takes more strength to be empathetic.
When you can feel what another is feeling, you develop an extraordinary ability to manipulate human beings. I believe it’s the ultimate superpower.
Conviction
A firmly held belief or opinion
Stating your convictions out loud is a vulnerability. You might be wrong.
Conviction is the north star that keeps you on track, helping you be tenacious throughout your journey, despite the inevitable difficulties.
Humility
A modest or low view of one’s own importance; humbleness.
Humility is a requirement if you want to cultivate a lasting positive reputation and leave an admirable legacy.
It’s one of the most attractive traits human beings can have.
Let me ask you this question: Would you want to have the people who know you the least think you’re the best, and the people who know you the best think you’re the worst? I genuinely believe this is a question most people need to ask themselves.
The Emotional Ingredients: Gratitude
Gratitude is the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.
If you’re truly grateful for what you have instead of being envious of what you don’t have, you’ll be a dominant force in business and, way more important, in life.
