Truth: Jet Fuel for Your Career

14	Nov
	2013

Social Capitalist

Likability is the key to success in the workplace, according to the bestselling author of Likeonomics: The Unexpected Truth Behind Earning Trust, Influencing Behavior, and Inspiring Action, Rohit Bhargava. Since likability is a broad concept, he has narrowed it down to five principles: Truth, Relevance, Unselfishness, Simplicity and Timing, or TRUST.
During his Social Capitalist interview we asked Rohit to explain what he means by “truth,” in terms of how he defines likability. Here’s what he had to say:

So if you think about the situations when we see people … when we see the rags-to-riches story, whether it’s in real life or in entertainment, there’s a framework for that story. Usually, the framework is based on someone having a meaningful point of view and telling truth to empower at some moment. And that moment becomes the point in their career when they stand for something instead of standing for nothing.

Those are the people who go from this level all the way up. They’re not the people who stay the same. So if your primary goal is to stay employed, that’s different from advancing and doing something great. In the real world, the sad fact is you can be a “yes person,” you can kiss somebody’s butt and you can maintain a job, and as long as you do what you’re told, you can probably hold on to that job.

But for a lot of people, and especially people listening today, just keeping a job and staying in the same place year after year is not enough: We need something else. We need to be motivated. We need to feel excited. We need to advance. We want to go further. So what I’m really talking about is, “How do you advance and get further instead of staying in the same place?” That’s what I wanted to try to help people get.”

To read the full transcript of Rohit's Social Capitalist interview, click here. To listen to this and other Social Capitalist podcasts, download them at iTunes.