What you really need to succeed?

The most important skill you need to succeed that they don't even teach at business schools?

The Carnegie Institute of Technology did some fascinating research that revealed that 85% of your success is attributeable to 'human engineering skill;s.    That's a fancy way of saying, people skills.  The remaining 15% relates to your technical knowledge.   IQ is not all that important, in that you can have an average IQ and as long as your acquire great people skills you are 85% of the way there.  Fascinating!

So what are the people skills we are talking about?

* Likeability
* Persuasion skills
* Negotiation skills
* Communication skills
* Leadership skills

Why is likeability at the top of the list?

Because when you win the business with the best price, product or service, you risk losing the business to someone else with a better price, product or service.   However when the client really likes you, then you have to really screw up before they will take their business elsewhere.  We all want to do business with people we like even if they don't have the best price, product or service.  Research has proven that people will pay more to deal with someone they like.   Isn't that amazing?  So I'm thinking.....why don't business schools teach likeability?

Lucky for you I have done a ton of research into likeability.    And I'm always happy to share, so come back here for the good stuff....