You Need the Like Factor (Published in Management Today, May 2009)

In the MT interview referring to Ken Clarke, Andrew Saunders uses words such as 'natural communicator' 'good on the telly' and 'sounding like a human being. Roger Ailes, the communication coach to Presidents Reagan and Bush Snr, once wrote - "The silver bullet in business and politics is the like factor. All things being equal, we are more likely to vote for people we feel we like." And I believe the public quite like Ken Clarke.

So what's 'like' got to do with anything? Surely we're going to vote for the policies not the person? Somehow I don't think so! What so many politicians tend to forget is that we voters are humans and the thing about humans is; they'll always be driven by their emotions not their logic. We let our heart rule our head all the time. If we decide that we don't like someone then we have a heck of a job believing anything they say. How well our politicians and business leaders score on the 'likeability factor' is going to influence whether we believe them or not.

Likeability is about being human; it's about displaying warmth. Barack Obama is likable, John McCain less so. Being known as the 'Prince of Darkness' doesn't suggest too many human characteristics or warmth in Peter Mandelson.

Warren Buffet, Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, once said, "I've walked away from some great deals because I didn't like the people I was dealing with."

The public are finding it hard to differentiate between Labour and Tory policies; so they may just walk away and towards the party they do 'like'