Qualities needed to be a good business person

So what qualities do you need to be a good business person? I list them in my order of importance. I could always be wrong.

1. Lack of fear of failure. Are you happy to correct someone, politely, if they say something that you know to be wrong or do you avoid doing so in case it might embarrass you? Do you get worried about being corrected or rebuffed yourself? Do you hate asking people for things in case they refuse you? Are you anxious about loss of face (yours)? If you avoid difficult situations because they worry you, you fear failure. Remember that if you never fail, you never succeed.
I'm certainly not suggesting that you should go through life setting up a series of confrontations. Generally, it is better to avoid them. But I am concerned about why you avoid them. If the reason is your own view of yourself, then you have a problem.

2. Courage. This is the other side of fear of failure, but it is more. The classic definition of courage is “grace under pressure”. In business, as in most walks of life, you are often under pressure. There are times when you are clear about the right course of action, even though others, perhaps the majority, hold different views. You must listen to other people's views and take account of them but having done so you must make up your own mind, take action and be prepared for the consequences.
Courage is not a false bravado. Doing silly things is not courageous. It is stupid. Rudyard Kipling wrote:
"If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you..."
He goes on to define what constitutes a satisfactory person. It is someone with courage.

3. Being alert. You hear colleagues talk about opportunities “presenting themselves”, as though they were young ladies going to their first dance. Opportunities do not “present themselves”. They are there all the time, all around. They have to be observed, analysed, considered and, in the end, grasped.
The only way to see opportunity is to keep awake, be alert. Watch what is going on. Relate it to your own situation, abilities, assets and resources. About each bit of information you receive ask yourself “Is it an opportunity for me?”

4. Emotional intelligence. Much of business is about people — those who will work for you; those for whom you work; those you will trade with; those who will buy your goods and services. Dealing with them all intelligently is not rocket science but you know as well as I do how few people treat others in a way calculated to get the best out of them. My e-mail inbox is full of messages from those who have been treated to a lack of emotional intelligence.
Emotional intelligence requires you to think about the other person, to put yourself in their position and to understand what makes them tick. If you can do that, you can trade with them, successfully, happily and in a way that makes life tolerable. A serious lack of emotional intelligence guarantees failure sooner or later.

5. Numeracy. Lots of businessmen can’t even read or write. All of them can add. A quick facility with figures is second nature to the good businessman. It’s easy to develop. Turn lots of figures that you come across every day into percentages, other currencies or some other way of saying the same figure. Thinking in percentages is an excellent way to increase your numeracy. Once you have started to do it you will find it easy.
Clever? No, I don’t think a businessman has to be specially clever, just very, very bright.