But what can we do right that will get everyone to like us? And what are we doing wrong that causes people around us to not like us?
My advice to my students, when they start out in the industry, is to first get their peers and their bosses to warm up to them. I tell them they can do this by making intelligent conversation, by asking questions, by being assertive in a nice way, by showing an active interest in what's happening around them, by being lively. Of course, I am taking for granted that they are also good workers.
Now here's Jeff Haden writing in Inc. magazine about how you can make a good impression and how you can get people to genuinely like you. Haden has compiled a list of things that highly likeable people do and suggests you learn from them.
Haden says remarkably likeable people...
...lose the power pose (see picture below and read up about it in Haden's column)
...embrace the power of touch
...whip out their social jiu-jitsu
...whip out something genuine
...ask for nothing
..."close" genuinely
Read this highly relevant article in its entirety here: "6 Habits of Remarkably Likable People".
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| LOSING THE POWER POSE: BILL CLINTON GREETING NELSON MANDELA. |
- Inc. styles itself as a magazine for entrepreneurs and business owners, but there is lots of interesting stuff on the website that will also appeal to people who are neither. Check out, for example, "9 Daily Habits That Will Make You Happier" and "10 Things Extraordinary People Say Every Day". And, also, "6 Things Really Productive People Do" — this last piece is a must-read, I feel, for the many young people I know who find time-management to be their biggest problem.
- Speaking of time-management, here's a pertinent post by author and former Wall Street Journal coulmnist Alexandra Levit: "5 Work Habits to Break Today", including "being 10 minutes late for everything".
