Last week I became president of Texchange, a local association of Technology entrepreneurs and executives. At our June event we had Tim Sanders, formerly of Broadcast.com, Yahoo, author of "Love: The Killer App", and more recently "The Likeability Factor". He spoke to a June audience of 130 entrepreneurs and shared some sobering statistics, research, and recommendations. Thanks to Josh Toub at BluefishGroup and Secretary of Techange, I can share these notes for you. [Note: if you are an Austin-based technology entrepreneur or in a Austin-based startup, email me to join].
- Biology behind increased importance of emotion in business and everyday life
- The amygdala (part of brain in charge of emotion) has grown ~1% in the lat 35 years
- Makes liking the people you do business with much more important than it once was
- EVP
- When Tim evaluates a company to invest in or do business with, he evaluates three things:
- What is the emotional value proposition
- What is the emotional cost of ownership
- What is the emotional compensation plan
- Did research at Yahoo about the essance of loyalty--it's all about emotional attraction
- In life, the "likability factor" is almost always the tie break
- "Every presidential election since 1976 has been won by the likability factor."
- What is likability?
- Not about charimsa
- Not about being popular
- It's about reciprocity, not attraction
- Emotional Attraction (EA) & Leadership
- An emotionally attractive salesperson will gross 40% more than a neutral person
- 3 benefits:
- Reduced risk
- Doctors who smile are much less likely to get sued
- Statistically, people do not sue people who are nice to them
- Discussed video screening for malpractice insurance coverage; nice people have 10-65% fewer suits
- Attract & retain young people
- Motivators for young people (decision criteria when evaluating job opportunities):
- 1. Experience, culture, how you can be influenced by supervisors
- 2. Challenging work
- 3. Compensation
- EA leads to more innovation
- Brain leverage capacity averages ~10%, but there are fluctuations
- Can drop 70% in the presence of cortisol, a stress hormone
- DHEA enzyme is produced when you are in a positive mood; this can increase B.L.C. up to 300% à 30% BLC when you are in a good mood
- Consistency is paramount for being likable. Much more important than your personality.
- 7 rules for a business:
- 1. Must have an emotional comp. plan.
- Take home dignity, hope, etc. along w/ your pay
- Compensate supervisors (up to 30%) based on emotional state of direct reports
- 2. Stop the “chicken little” people
- Negativity is a disease
- Only way to overcome crisis is by saying “I have”—not “I don’t have”
- Story: “If you send a chicken little email, he prints it out, stamps it “chicken little” and hangs it in the lobby”
- SWA will suspend employees based on attitude
- Google poaching story: YAHOO = “You all have other options”
- Culture (def): Set of values that create a system of control [Not sure I got this one right –Josh]
- 3. Stop hiring T.O. This leads to “horizontal turnover” (causes peers to leave) which, although less well understood and less recognized, is much worse than vertical turnover.
- 4. Hire people for fit, not for talent. The first interviewer should only judge fit.
- 5. Cutback hours; outlaw overtime.
- Hours 42-70 are bad time management.
- 50%+ of bugs introduced after hour #45
- 6. Manage moods like a P&L.
- Show happiness on a dashboard.
- 7. Let the sunshine in. It is proven that natural light and foliage improve mood and productivity.
- Pyramid diagram: Friendliness (bottom) -> Relevance -> Empathy -> Realness
- Friendliness
- “Gatekeeper effect.” If you think someone does not like you, you turn off. “Friend or foe?”
- Friendliness is a communications phenomenon.
- Friendliness advice:
- 1. Smile back.
- 55% of friendliness cues come from facial expression. 38% from tone and 7% from verbal. To be friendly, try to meet in person or at least pick up the phone. Email is evil.
- When interviewing, candidates must smile back at the receptionist or they are out of there.
- 2. Learn email etiquette.
- Email has been ranked the #2 factor in causing workplace frustration.
- 4 rule around email:
- 1. Email is appropriate for yes, hello, and communicating harmless info. Don’t say ‘no’ over email. Pick up the phone.
- 2. Managers should not email direct reports at times when the manager would not pick up the phone and call the person. No late night emails.
- 3. Never use “reply to all.”
- 4. Leave the safety on when you are mad. 80% of nastygrams are replies.
- 5. Keep it short. “If it can’t fit in the preview pane, pick up the phone.”
- Relevance
- All about how you relate—developing an interest w/ someone’s passion
- Trust is a two-way street
- Learn your coworkers passions à good team building exercise.
- Empathy
- The key to empathy is deep and powerless listening.
- Emotion faces from http://timsanders.com/7faces
- Powerless listening
- We often try to fix problems when we listen. That is powerless listening. Stop it. Just listen.
- Say “I’m sorry you feel that way.”
- Do not say “Yes, but…”
- Learn how to make yourself emotionally available and appreciate people’s feelings
- Advice:
- 1. Show up at meetings you agree to attend, and don’t bring your phone. When you agree to a meeting, you are agreeing to giving your time. Don’t multitask.
- 2. Promise paid; promise kept.
- Obsess about promise keeping, especially with direct reports.
- “Execution and accountability are the most likable things you can do in your life.”
- Realness
- Mastering friendliness, relevance, and empathy makes you real.