Like Ability Factor by Tim Sanders

After seeing him speak in March, I've become a big fan of Tim Sanders, leadership coach at Yahoo! His book Love is the Killer App was a best seller and The Like Ability Factor will be another hit. I've burned through 141 pages since opening the delivery package from Barnes and Noble Booksellers on Thursday. This book is another difference maker.

The resonant fact is this: More than anyone thing, your likeability factor (L-factor), is key to your relationship results. I can speak to the L-factor and how it relates to a career in real estate as I know first hand when my L-factor is high my results are desireable. I know when it's low and the results follow right along down the scale. On page 132 Tim writes "Think a better you, not a brand-new you." You raise your L-factor by improving the four elements of likeability: friendliness, relevance, empathy, and realness.

Sounds simple enough...the challenge is to make those changes stick. Old habits can be changed with consistency. I'm a work in progress and commited to following Tim's suggestions. I like Tim's use of a quote from Thomas Edison "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." Who can argue with Thomas Edison?

Tim Sanders credits bundles of studies in business, education, and politics to support his point that likeability is more than relevant to achieving a rewarding life. Success is personally defined and rewards of improving our L-factor include: health, wealth, relationships, security...you define a reward. The L-factor is directly related to your level of reward.

Tim uses the metaphor of driving a car on an isolated road to make his point. As you cruise along you hit the first stop light, friendliness. If you aren't friendly you can't move on.

The next light is relevance. Find a way to be relevant to someone and you continue down the road.

The third light is empathy. Tim shows us the difference between sympathy and empathy. Be able to sense another person's feelings and you get the green light.

One last stop light is realness. This is a dandy. Lots of times we can easily be friendly, relevant, and empathetic but realness can't be faked for long. Eventually true colors show.

That's a summary, time to see what my new styles my wife brought home from the mall. I better be REAL friendly myself right now.

With $23.00 U.S. you can be on your way to improving your L-factor and achieving your life's dreams. Enjoy.

Peace
Tom