Receptivity has to do with keeping your mind open and fertile to ideas that can benefit both you and the greater good. The harsh reality in business is that you are only as good as your last interaction or transaction. Whether it is with a co-worker, superior, subordinate, or customer. So, how do you increase your receptivity quotient to where you are more relationally effective? At the end of the day, our effectiveness comes down to how well we relate to others. When we think about the measure of someone’s intelligence, it doesn’t just come down to their mental horsepower it’s more of a combination between our Emotional Quotient (EQ) and our Intelligence Quotient (IQ), and the balancing thereof.
Increasing your receptivity quotient is about making yourself more relatable and interesting to those you encounter, and the quicker you forge an effective connection with another, the more successful you will be. Raising your receptivity quotient involves becoming more of a “Student of the game.” This requires opening your mind and realizing that everyone on this planet has something to teach you. It also requires a high level of awareness and humility. I call this mental sponging. Wherever you go and whoever you meet, remain open to the deeper message that such encounters reveal and teach you about yourself and the world around you.
As part of being a student of the game, I recommend reading books, and not books that are fluff reading. I’m talking about books that challenge you, stretch your mind, and stimulate growth. Back in the early 80’s, I had a seemingly random encounter with an individual in the mall. He and I immediately connected on ideas for self-growth and self-actualization. He suggested that our encounter was anything but random and that there was a greater, more serendipitous aspect to us meeting. He had my attention.
From there, he introduced me to deeper meaning literature that elicited a self-awakening of sorts. After diving into the books, he had suggested, I had an epiphanic moment in which I realized I had been doing nothing more than scratching the surface up to that point. As a result, I became an avid reader, and the more I read the more knowledgeable I became on a variety of topics and ideas. Since then, I have read well over six hundred books and have authored four books of my own: Driven with Heart, Be the SPARK, Say Hello, and It’s Never too Late, but Don’t wait! By keeping your mind open and receptive, you never know who may have a life-changing message for you. If you want to grow and succeed as an individual or company, receptivity is a must.
