Emotional intelligence, growth mindset, and grit

15th July 2026 |   Antti Soini

How does possessing these qualities shape the culture, behaviour, and performance of account executives in a high-performing enterprise sales team?

This research investigates the intangible psychological attributes of eight account executives (AEs) within SAP Sweden’s sales organisation, with a specific focus on three core traits: emotional intelligence (EQ), growth mindset, and grit. Although these constructs have been widely explored in academic literature (Duckworth, 2016; Dweck, 2017; Goleman, 1995), their direct application and correlation to sales performance and customer satisfaction will be useful for my leadership and how we coach and develop our salespeople at SAP. Internally, SAP often refers to the concept of a “cloud mindset” as an informal indicator of the qualities required to thrive in modern enterprise sales, distinct from traditional transactional software selling. However, this notion currently lacks a formal definition. A central aim of this research is to clarify what this mindset entails, how it manifests behaviourally, and more importantly how can it be developed, and supported within the organisation.