The Likeability Factor

I am currently reading a book by Tim Sanders called "The Likeability Factor" and it is a really interesting book. Tim takes part in various studies and research and finds the importance and rather crucial need for individuals to find their "L Factor". He talks about how most organizations and individuals focus solely on productivity and efficiency, but they are forgetting the importance of Likeability.

The Likeability Factor by Tim Sanders

Here is some of the interesting research gathered on the topic:

1) Doctors give more time to patients they like and less to those they don't. According to 1984 University of California study: "A physician attribution survey was administered to 93 physicians. [They] also viewed videotapes demonstrating patients with three combinations of likeability and competence. There were significant differences in treatment, depending on the characteristics of the patient: the likeable and competent... patients would be encouraged to significantly more often to telephone and to return more frequently for follow-up than would the unlikeable competent or likeable incompentent patients.

2) A Columbia University study by Melinda Tamkins shows that success in the workplace is guaranteed not by what or whom you know but by your popularity. In her study, Tamkins found that "popular workers were seen as trustworthy, motivated, serious, decisive and hardworking and were recommended for fast-track promotion and gernerous pay increases. Their less-liked colleagues were perceived as arrogant, conniving and manipulative. Pay rises and promotions were ruled out regardless of their academic background or professional qualifications."

3) A 2000 study by Yale University and the Center for Socialization and Development-Berlin concluded that "people, unlike animals, gain success not by aggressive b by being nice. The research found that the most successful leaders, from CEOs to PTA presidents, all treated their subordinates with respect and made genuine attempts to be liked. Their approach garnered support and led to greater success."

4) In 1977 author Dulin Kelly wrote in the court preparation trade publication Voir Dire: "One item that keeps reappearing in cases tried or settled, is the likeability factor. If your client is a likeable person, this characteristic will in all likelihood affect the outcome of your case."

5) In You've Got Be Believed to Be Heard, author Bert Decker points out that George Gallup has conducted a personality factor poll to every presidential election since 1960. Only one of three factors- issues, party affiliation, and likeability-has been a consisten prognosticator of the final election result: likeability.

6) In 1992 Dr. Phillip Noll of the University of Toronto surveyed a representative sample of fifty married and divorced couples and concluded that one of the primary elements of marital success is likeability. Easygoing, likeable people have one-half the divorce rate of the general population. When both parties are congenial, the risk of divorce is reduced by an additional 50 percent.


Tim Sanders states, "Likeability is more than important, it's more than practical, it's more than appealing. Likeability may well be the deciding factor in every competition you'll ever enter.

*The information above is from page 30-31 in Tim Sanders' book "The Likeability Factor".