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4. Likability
The world of commerce is regulated. Government, independent watchdog
groups, and the media play a large role in a company’s growth. If you are
perceived as a good actor, a good citizen, caring about the country, its
citizens, your workers, the people in your supply chain that get you the
product, you have created a barrier against bad publicity. In the words of
Silicon Valley marketer Tom Hayes, who did just that for Applied Materials,
“When the news is negative, you want to be perceived as a good company to
which a bad thing has happened.” Image matters, a lot. Perception is a
company’s reality. That makes the importance of being likeable, even cute,
the fourth factor in the T Algorithm.
Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer were neither likable nor cute. In fact, the
room got brighter whenever they left it. So, when Microsoft achieved a
certain level of influence, district attorneys and regulators woke up one
morning all over Europe and decided the easiest way to the governor’s
mansion, or Parliament, was to go after the Wizards of Redmond. The less
likeable a company, the sooner the regulatory intervention—antitrust,
antiprivacy—as questions about its supply chain or any manner of rational
concerns are irrationally selected and applied. We are under the general
illusion this process is more thoughtfully examined and based on some sort of
equity or the law. Not true: the law decides the outcome, but the rush, or lack
thereof, to drag companies into court is subjective. And that opinion is
largely based on how nice or chastened the company is perceived to be.
If you remember, the feds went after Intel Corp. at the same time they went
after Microsoft—both for monopolistic behavior. Intel’s CEO Andrew Grove
was one of the scariest figures in American industry. Yet, when the feds came
calling, Andy did one of the biggest mea culpas in business history. He all
but flung himself on the mercy of the SEC … and was forgiven. Meanwhile,
Bill Gates, a far less intimidating figure, decided to play tough with the feds
—and ten years later was viewed as having fallen from grace.
Google is a whole lot cuter than Microsoft. And Sergey and Larry are more
likable than Bill and Steve. Immigrants, nice-looking guys, a great story.
Marissa Mayer: very compelling. Wisconsin, engineer, blonde, future
Vogue
photo feature. It’s no accident Google sent Ms. Mayer to Senate hearings to
opine regarding the slaughter of newspapers at the hands of Google … Oops,
I mean the future. When faced with tough questions like “How is the fourth
estate going to survive if Google kills the newspaper classified business?”
Ms. Mayer responded: “It’s still early.”
8
Early? It was the two-minute
warning in the fourth quarter for newspapers. The gray-haired senators ate it
up.
Who wants to be the insurance salesman elected to Congress (the most
prevalent career of the House of Representatives)
9
who raises his hand and
says, “I’m the guy who does NOT get it. I don’t like Apple.” Apple is the
largest tax avoider in the history of U.S. business,
10
but Apple is hip, and
everyone wants to be friends with the cool kid. Same with Amazon, because
e-commerce is hip and cool vs. lame and old, traditional retail. In March
2017 Amazon decided to pay sales tax in every state.
11
Here’s a company
now worth more than Walmart that until 2014 was only paying state sales tax
in five states. The benefit of the subsidy has eclipsed $1 billion. Did Amazon
need a $1 billion government subsidy? By purposefully managing their
business at breakeven, Amazon has built a firm approaching half a trillion
dollars in value, that has paid little corporate income tax.
Facebook: Nobody wants to be seen as a company not on board with
Facebook. Old CEOs want to put Mark Zuckerberg on stage with his hoodie.
It doesn’t matter that he is neither charming nor a good speaker—he’s the
equivalent of skinny jeans and makes every company that tries on Facebook
look younger. Sheryl Sandberg also has been key—she’s hugely likable, and
is seen as the archetype of the modern, successful woman: “Hey everybody!
Lean in!”
Facebook has not come under the same scrutiny as Microsoft because it’s
more likable. Most recently, Facebook has attempted to skirt responsibility
for fake news, claiming it’s “not a media company, but a platform.” Hiding
behind freedom of speech and a word, Facebook may have committed
involuntary manslaughter of the truth on an unprecedented scale.
It’s good to be prom queen.
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