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When Sony was looking for a new chairman, they
had plenty of qualified candidates. But they
shocked the world and picked Howard Stringer,
the first ever non-Japanese to run the media
giant.
Why? Because they found him to be the most
“likeable”.
That is according to the author of a new book
entitled
The Likeability Factor.
Stringer is “funny, he’s irreverent, he’s
playful,” Tim Sanders, the book’s author, said in a
recent Time interview. “In the end, he won the
hearts of the Japanese executives at Sony.
That’s why they gave him the crown, much to the
surprise of the world.”
Sanders’s book is a guide in how to boost your
“L” Factor: that is make you more likable. His
website has a fun test you can take to find
out your current likeability rating. Boosting your “L”
factor, the author says is the key to connecting
better with colleagues and clients and thereby
gaining success.
At Speechworks, our experience is that the best
communicators are the ones who find a way to
connect with their listeners in some simple
human way. Put simply, the best communicators
find a way to make people like them.
Sanders breaks down likeability into four
factors:
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Friendliness: are you nice?
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Relevance: do you find ways to connect with
the needs of others?
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Empathy: can you feel other people’s pain?
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Realness: do you come across as genuine or
phony?
So if you want to communicate effectively and
succeed in business, remember what your mom might
have told you: “It’s nice to be nice.”
At Speechworks we help our clients learn how to
communicate in a way that connects and
persuades. If you’re interested in becoming a
great communicator give us a call at
404-266-0888 or check out our website at
www.speechworks.net |
