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How Athletic Stardom Propelled Stephen Orso Into Early Business Success

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Stephen Orso operates from a unique perspective, one of athletic and business excellence. Growing up, Stephen was a baseball phenom, the next great knuckleballer, if you will. Stephen spent his entire youth training, competing, and excelling at all sports, but mainly at elite level baseball. Stephen’s unique talent secured him personal training sessions with knuckleball great RA Dickey as well as a spot on the University of Maryland’s Division 1 baseball team. In order to perfect such a unique and complicated pitch, as well as be recruited to an elite university for this talent, Stephen had to crack a notoriously complicated technique as well as outwork his competition. Stephen translated this propensity to outwork and out-succeed his competition when he entered the business world.

Not only did Stephen learn useful habits from his athletic career, he received massive amounts of wisdom about the value of hard work and how to succeed in the business world from his family. Stephen’s grandfather was a bricklayer in Bensonhurst Brooklyn; Stephen’s father worked two jobs to put himself through St. John’s University, graduated valedictorian, went on to Columbia business school and to become an incredibly successful banker. Stephen has both hard work and success in his bones. Stephen’s father facilitated many early business experiences for him, setting Stephen up to be a serial entrepreneur since he was 17 years old. At that young age, Stephen negotiated a deal with one of the largest sports memorabilia dealers in the world, JL Sports, for his personal sports memorabilia company. This was just another fix for Stephen’s addiction to success.

As Stephen got older, he entrenched himself more and more into the business world building on his skills and history. “I’ve always been committed to trying to optimize health. I could have never made it as far as I did in baseball without be very careful about what I put into my body,” Stephen commented. This is why Stephen’s investment portfolio includes many health conscious, as well as profit producing, companies. Stephen’s been a long-time investor in Barely Bread, an artisan quality bread company that is certified non-gmo, gluten-free, paleo. As an investor, Stephen was ahead of the curve with high quality yet health conscious food products. Stephen is also an investor in Flow Water, an 100% naturally alkaline spring water company, making him co-investors with Gwyneth Paltrow and Shawn Mendes. “Both of these companies make profits while helping people live healthier lives. That’s something I can agree with,” Stephen remarked when asked about his health conscious investments.

Stephen likes to diversify his portfolio, which is why he is also invested in film and television. He’s producing a new mini series focusing on fine dining, influential chefs, and unique food creations. This project has actually received some recent press in the London Daily Post. Despite being a newcomer to film and tv, Stephen’s experience investing in the food & beverage industry as well as his business acumen all but guarantees his future triumphs in the culinary & health film world. Stephen has never had a reason to doubt his ability to take on a new challenge, outwork others, and succeed with flying colors, so why would he stop now?

The idea of Bigtime Daily landed this engineer cum journalist from a multi-national company to the digital avenue. Matthew brought life to this idea and rendered all that was necessary to create an interactive and attractive platform for the readers. Apart from managing the platform, he also contributes his expertise in business niche.

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Business

The Ultimate Guide to the Essential Social Skills in Business

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Effective communication and strong relationships are essential for success in the workplace. One factor that can greatly influence these qualities is emotional intelligence, often abbreviated as EQ. EQ refers to the ability to identify, understand, and manage one’s own emotions, as well as the emotions of others. Research has shown that individuals with high levels of EQ are better equipped to handle stress, communicate effectively, and work collaboratively with others (Chamorro-Premuzic & Sanger, 2016).

Research has consistently shown that emotional intelligence (EQ) is an important predictor of job performance and success in the workplace. EQ is comprised of a set of skills that allow individuals to recognize, understand, and regulate their own emotions, as well as the emotions of others. In addition, individuals with high EQ are better able to communicate effectively, build relationships, and navigate complex social situations. As a result, they are often viewed as effective leaders and collaborators, and are more likely to achieve their personal and professional goals.

In fact, a number of studies have demonstrated the significant impact that EQ has on job performance and success. For example, one study of 85 upper-level managers found that those with higher EQ scores were rated as more effective leaders by their subordinates (Law, Wong, & Song, 2004). Another study of 151 employees found that those with higher EQ were more likely to be promoted within their organization over a five-year period (Carmeli, Brueller, & Dutton, 2009). These findings highlight the importance of EQ in the workplace and suggest that developing these skills can lead to significant benefits for both individuals and organizations.

According to a study conducted by TalentSmart, a leading provider of EQ assessments, EQ is responsible for 58% of success in all job types (Bradberry & Greaves, 2009). In contrast, IQ only accounts for about 4% of success in the workplace. This suggests that EQ is a crucial skill set for individuals in any professional field. Fortunately, EQ is a skill that can be developed and honed over time with practice and awareness.

There are several key components of EQ that are particularly important for success in the workplace. These include: 

Self-Regulation: This refers to your capacity to recognize and control your emotions. Sometimes treating them when they arise may be necessary. Understanding how to manage your anger is essential. However, it can also cover how to control the feelings you’ll experience.

Self-Awareness: This implies recognizing and understanding your own feelings. Do noisy places make you nervous? Do other people talking over you make you angry? Knowing these truths about yourself shows that you are working on your self-awareness. Being conscious of yourself is necessary for this phase, which can be more complex than it sounds.

Socialization: This category focuses on your capacity to manage social interactions and direct relationships. It doesn’t entail dominating others but knowing how to work with others to achieve your goals. This could entail presenting your ideas to coworkers, leading a team, or resolving a personal disagreement.

Motivation: Strong motivators include external forces like money, status, or suffering. Internal motivation, however, plays a significant role in Goleman’s concept. By doing so, you demonstrate your ability to control your cause and initiate or continue initiatives of your own volition rather than in response to external demands.

Empathy: It’s equally critical to be sensitive to others’ feelings. This may entail learning to identify different emotional states in individuals — for example, can you tell the difference between someone at ease and someone anxious? — but it also requires comprehension of how other people may react to their current situation. Empathy is one of the essential traits in business and business leadership.

A thought leader in this space, Michael Ventura has built a career advising organizations on the importance of emotional intelligence in the workplace. In his book, Applied Empathy, Ventura highlights the value of empathy in business and provides strategies for developing and applying this skill set. With two decades of experience as a leader, facilitator, and educator, Ventura’s work has made impact in with prestigious institutions such as Princeton University and the United Nations as well as corporate clients such as Google and Nike.

Through his work, Ventura advises leaders to focus on the development of EQ in order to help individuals improve their communication, collaboration, and leadership skills, ultimately leading to greater success in the workplace. Experts like Ventura continue to support the growing body of research on the value of EQ in business, and the evidence that organizations who invest in the EQ of their teams help to create a more empathetic and successful professional environment.

And it’s worth noting that EQ isn’t just important for individual success in the workplace, but also for overall organizational success. A study by the Center for Creative Leadership found that EQ was a better predictor of success than IQ or technical skills in the workplace, and that teams with higher levels of EQ tend to be more effective and productive (Boyatzis, Goleman, & Rhee, 1999). By cultivating a culture of empathy and emotional intelligence, organizations can improve their overall performance and create a more positive work environment for their employees.

In conclusion, emotional intelligence is a crucial component of success in the workplace, and individuals and organizations alike should prioritize the development of these skills. The ones that do not only develop a leading edge in their category, but also become a meaningful place to work for their teams. And in today’s rapidly changing talent landscape, the retention of highly capable, emotionally intelligent leaders is one of the greatest keys to unlocking success.

References:

Boyatzis, R. E., Goleman, D., & Rhee, K. S. (1999). Clustering competence in emotional intelligence: Insights from the emotional competence inventory (ECI). In R. Bar-On & J. D. A. Parker (Eds.), Handbook of emotional intelligence (pp. 343-362). Jossey-Bass.

Bradberry, T., & Greaves, J. (2009). Emotional intelligence 2.0. TalentSmart.

Chamorro-Premuzic, T., & Sanger, M. N. (2016). Does employee happiness matter? Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, 3(2), 168-191.

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