18 How to Sell Yourself
that likability is more important than competence. Teachers need
to learn this. Preachers need to learn this. Trial lawyers and their
witnesses need to learn this. Ordinary people in every walk of life
need to learn this. You and I need to learn this to be successful.
Be your likable self
If I perceive you to be competent, you are competent as far as
I’m concerned. If I perceive you to be likable, you are. It’s that
simple.
Go back to the 1996 election. Bill Clinton wasn’t scoring high
on trustworthiness, but Bob Dole didn’t display a single iota of
likability. He needed an intravenous feeding of charisma. Conse-
quently, Clinton was elected. He really didn’t win—Dole lost. Sure,
Dole got votes, but they were the votes of Orthodox Republicans
and people who despised Clinton.
The same principle was true in the two elections before that.
Bill Clinton didn’t win—George Bush lost.
Bush didn’t win in 1988—Michael Dukakis lost.
Ronald Reagan won twice. Why? A vast majority of non-com-
mitted voters liked him. It’s true and it’s simple: We elect the
person we like more, or dislike less.
Why the 2000 election was a draw
Neither candidate had a greater likability factor than the other.
If George W. Bush had made his speeches and debate pre-
sentations the way he talked to the folks in the assisted-living fa-
cilities or the kids in 5th grade classrooms, he’d have won hands
down. If Al Gore had delivered his presentations the way he pre-
sented his concession speech, he’d be president.
The private versus the public image
Just about everyone I’ve ever trained who has been “up close
and personal” with any one of the recent presidential candidates
insisted that they were great one-on-one or in small social groups
of friends and supporters.
I heard it about Bob Dole.