I wonder why we don’t think emotions belong in business. We give it lip-service, but when it boils right down to it, we throw the baby (emotions) out with the bathwater in the name of efficiency or effectiveness.

Most visionaries succeed by being emotionally extreme. This does not mean degrading business things that require mental gears by throwing emotion at it, but using emotion strategically to affect areas that prosper with emotional intelligence laced through them.

I believe that if we were more open to the overall intelligence of emotions in business, and more willing to use them as a strategy and use them in our discussions, without pause or judgment, that business owners would be happier, as would their staff and clients.

There are definite challenges when embracing this approach. Here are some practices that can help, if you are above average with intuition or your EQ is high:

1) Play name that feeling. The feelings you pick up on are your materials, so being able to distinguish one piece of "inventory" from another is something to master, i.e. Is that anger? Is that fear? etc.... Once you can identify each type, then work on the why of the emotion, and craft new solutions to deal with them, which will lead you to achieving what you want.

2) Accept that part of your job is to take it for the team, with "it" being the “feelings” end of things. When you are feeling "it", you will have your clearest visions. We envision best when we experience difficulties. This means you will have “down” days. But remember, before you pity yourself, that your analytical co-horts take "it" for the team when something needs to be "thought out to death"—when they could be sleeping.

3) Keep "Oh the Places You'll Go" by Dr. Seuss nearby. The point of the book is to accept life's hills and valleys. Embracing the point of his book will help your mental game and improve your physical life by allowing you to accept the low moments and the emotions you, your clients, and your co-workers have every week no differently than you accept your happy days.

4) Master the process of detachment. Buddhists have cornered the market on it. When you detach from the emotion, watching a scenario play out like a movie, you use the power of distance to keep the emotional hurt away. When you master detachment, you create win-win solutions since you are minimizing your competitive responses.

Anger, excitement, sadness, happiness are simply a part of life, which like it or not, includes business. Learning how to use your emotions as a tool is just as important as learning how to use a piece of technology.