Like is Nothing to Hide

Instagram may hide your likes, but you can still be likable (in real life).

It won’t depend on how cute your picture is, how connected you are or some algorithm you don’t control. It’ll start with understanding one another; finding common ground. Identifying and living qualities like helpfulness, honesty, empathy, sharing, gratitude and, uh, smiling. Things you control.

Few things business can do today matter more than improving the customer experience, right? If so, we can start with learning to be likable at work. Feeling good about the people you work with and being likable leads to better everything.

You know the axiom, “people do business with people they like.”

That said, leaders need to spend time developing the likability of their people. Being likable is good business, and it makes things more buyable. Customers are smart. They feel the tension when staff isn’t getting along. "Gosh,” they think, “if they don't like one another why should I like them?" No like, no sale.

Employees are smart, too. They know when leaders don’t like one another, “Why should I care about or get along with others? The boss doesn’t.” For some it’s hard to show that they like. For others, the struggle is likability. But let’s like freely, even the hard to like.

Like is nothing to hide.