Five Reasons Why Increasing Emotional Intelligence Is the Key To Scaling beyond 1M EQ coach and business strategist Rick William shares five science backed strategies on how to increase your emotional intelligence, so that you can scale your business

With the new launch Gary Vaynerchuk's new book Twelve & a Half "Leveraging the emotional ingredients necessary for business success", in the past individuals have been taught that emotional intelligence is a "nice to have" in business, not a requirement. But soft skills can actually accelerate your business success from 1 million to 100 million, best selling author and investor Gary Vaynerchuk argues.

Emotional intelligence is an underestimated skill in the business world. Possessing high EQ allows people to connect more deeply with people and in order to scale any business, it is important to understand humans at their core. A higher EQ means that you can perceive your customer's needs and wants more effectively, which allows you to better solve their pain and fulfil their desires. This philosophy is at the root of Rick William's work, the British entrepreneur that now focuses solely on helping entrepreneurs expand their emotional capacity and find a deeper fulfilment in life, relationships, and business.

Rick William shared some ways entrepreneurs can cultivate more emotional intelligence in order to scale their businesses. "The first and most important step in this process is to establish a connection with your emotional world" shared William, "increasing the awareness of what's going on inside emotionally, allows us to deepen the relationship with ourselves first, then we can expand that to others."

William coaches entrepreneurs that are trying to expand their business in a more purposeful way and he believes developing the skill of EQ is the key to real and sustainable growth. "Just like you can learn the skill-set needed to create and run a business, you can also build the skill-set needed to relate deeper with yourself, thus with others." Choosing to scale a business increases your commitment to your customers and in order to establish a strong foundation that allows exponential growth, your values need to be aligned to your most authentic self.

Rick William takes his clients through a transformative process in order to increase their EQ. He believes that when you speak to people from your most authentic self, you speak to their heart and people can feel that. "I use all the tools necessary when working with my clients whether that's working with the breath and nervous system or utilising technology such as Neurofeedback which has been proven in multiple studies to increase EQ & IQ", he says.

"First I have my clients connect with their emotions and fully feel them. From here we incorporate the body through somatic breathwork, this brings awareness back to the body and helps them connect deeply to themselves. My job is to help them make the "unconscious' conscious. We know the heart has 40,000+ neurons, and most people would say they can feel someone when they are speaking from their heart. My job is to connect the leaders I work with back to their heart space so that they can create and lead from there. This ripples of the "inner work" are not just seen in our business and profits but they can also be experienced in our most intimate relationships, William further adds.

Luckily, there are science backed tools that you can put into practice now to increase your EQ. William shared three ways in which you can cultivate this skill:

Breathing: Become more aware of your breathing patterns and remember to take deep breaths throughout the day. This allows your nervous system to regulate. Try a 1-4-2 breathing pattern three times a day, whilst breathing into your physical heart space. (E.g 2 seconds in, 8 second hold, 4 second exhale) a yale study has shown the effects of increased social connection in students in a recent study.

Watching fiction: Alongside building your selfawareness, you can increase your "otherness awareness" (your awareness of others) by watching fiction research has shown that watching fiction alone improves people's ability to read the thoughts and feelings of other people, a skill known as emotional intelligence. If you want to take this a level further, try watching your favourite series without the sound on, then play it back to see if you were able to read the subtle facial cues and gestures of the scene.

Naming emotions: Listen to your body and name your emotions. In a study out of UCLA, Dr. Matthew D. Lieberman found the subjects who put feelings into words made sadness, anger, and pain less intense. By naming these feelings and emotions, We move the activity from from the amygdala to the prefrontal cortex. Helping us make better decisions.

Sleep: Get a great night's sleep tonight, research indicates that sleep and emotions are closely linked. For example a recent study showed sleep deprivation was associated with diminished emotional expressivity in social interactions. Try getting 7-8 hours each night.

Journaling: More and more research has proven that writing, especially about stressful events can serve as a form of catharsis, providing numerous benefits on individuals' emotional health.

The next step is to take this practice back to the workplace. Observe gestures and body displays and start to mentally note what emotions you think are present.