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Likeonomics Lib/E: The Unexpected Truth Behind Earning Trust, Influencing Behavior, and Inspiring Action
People decide who to trust, what advice to heed, and which individuals to forge personal or transactional relationships with based on a simple metric of believability. Success, in turn, comes from understanding one basic principle: how to be more trusted. Likeonomics offers a new vision of a world beyond Facebook where personal relationships, likeability, brutal honesty, extreme simplicity, and basic humanity are behind everything from multi-million dollar mergers to record-breaking product sales. There is a real ROI to likeability, and exactly how big it is will amaze you.
Likeonomics provides real-world case studies of brands and individuals that have used these principles to become wildly successful, including:
- An iconic technology brand that awakened a revolution among their employees by standing for something bigger than their products
- A Portuguese singer who used YouTube to rack up more than 30 million views and launch her professional career. A regional team of financial advisors that went from being last in the nation among 176 branches to first, and stayed there for 13 of the next 15 years
- A tiny professional sports talent agent who achieved the impossible by landing the #1 drafted player in the NFL draft as a client through the power of relationships
- Author Rohit Bhargava is a founding member of the world's largest group of social media strategists at Ogilvy, where he has led marketing strategy for clients including Intel, Pepsi, Lenovo, Seiko, Unilever, and dozens of other large companies
With Likeonomics as a guide, readers will get unconventional advice on how to stand out in a good way, avoid the hype and strategic traps of social media, and appeal to customers in a way that secures your company as a trusted and believable resource.
Likeonomics provides real-world case studies of brands and individuals that have used these principles to become wildly successful, including:
- An iconic technology brand that awakened a revolution among their employees by standing for something bigger than their products
- A Portuguese singer who used YouTube to rack up more than 30 million views and launch her professional career. A regional team of financial advisors that went from being last in the nation among 176 branches to first, and stayed there for 13 of the next 15 years
- A tiny professional sports talent agent who achieved the impossible by landing the #1 drafted player in the NFL draft as a client through the power of relationships
- Author Rohit Bhargava is a founding member of the world's largest group of social media strategists at Ogilvy, where he has led marketing strategy for clients including Intel, Pepsi, Lenovo, Seiko, Unilever, and dozens of other large companies
With Likeonomics as a guide, readers will get unconventional advice on how to stand out in a good way, avoid the hype and strategic traps of social media, and appeal to customers in a way that secures your company as a trusted and believable resource.
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First published April 25, 2012
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About the author
Rohit Bhargava
30 books180 followersRohit Bhargava is a leading authority on marketing, trends and innovation. He is the founder of the Non-Obvious Company and is widely considered one of the most entertaining and original keynote speakers on marketing disruption and innovation in the world. He is the #1 WSJ and USA TODAY bestselling author of eight books on topics as wide ranging as the future of business, building a human brand with personality, and how to create a more diverse and inclusive world. Rohit is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University and writes a monthly column for GQ Brazil. He is married and lives with his wife and two boys in the Washington DC area, loves the Olympics and actively hates cauliflower.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
January 28, 2013
Bhargava made a convincing point. It is about how much people like us. It is not only who we know, it also about how much they know about us and how much they like us. It is the relationships we make that provide us better opportunities to achieve our goals. The first impression that people get from meeting you for the first time can mean a dream come true. Even for a few moments of a meeting or the slightest perception people make about us can mean the future we may be looking for. An idea or product can go farther in achieving success if somebody else promotes it to others who knows more about the promoter than they know about the product. It is the connections we make with people that make them prefer us and those things we value. Prefer people first, then the product they are associated with. The best application of the ideas in the book is in the promotion or marketing of a product or idea. An invention can only go so far if the promoter is found trustworthy and connected with the people who should accept the invention and willing to make every effort to endorse or embrace what it promises. If that connection exists, everything will eventually fall into the right places. This is how the trusts we achieve from others evolved. With trust, comes loyalty. This is the basis of how the power of the "word of mouth" can be most effective.
The storytelling skills of Bhargava is admirable and convincing. I particularly love the story he shared about the success of Dale Carnegie. It's amazing how stories can communicate the real intent of a book. Buy this book. You'll love it.
The storytelling skills of Bhargava is admirable and convincing. I particularly love the story he shared about the success of Dale Carnegie. It's amazing how stories can communicate the real intent of a book. Buy this book. You'll love it.
July 11, 2012
Full disclosure: I work with Rohit. While I was given an autographed copy of his book, it wasn't the reason that I read it.
To be clear: this book is not about how brands 'earn more likes' on Facebook. What Rohit is trying to get to are some overarching values that companies should embrace to be successful. Values that have a bit more relevance in today's environment, where consumers have more control and voice around a brand's reputation and identity.
Throughout, Rohit offers some excellent examples of companies that have embraced one or another of the values he's identified. And he does it in a breezy, easy-to-read voice.
If I have a nit, it would be toward the practical application of the principals that he suggests. How does a company embrace, internalize and operationalize likability? Maybe that's for the sequel.
To be clear: this book is not about how brands 'earn more likes' on Facebook. What Rohit is trying to get to are some overarching values that companies should embrace to be successful. Values that have a bit more relevance in today's environment, where consumers have more control and voice around a brand's reputation and identity.
Throughout, Rohit offers some excellent examples of companies that have embraced one or another of the values he's identified. And he does it in a breezy, easy-to-read voice.
If I have a nit, it would be toward the practical application of the principals that he suggests. How does a company embrace, internalize and operationalize likability? Maybe that's for the sequel.
September 16, 2017
Some good, short case studies here, but the premise of the book basically? Duh.
May 19, 2025
Better than expected. Read this when I wanted to get into sales. Honestly a cool book. Would recommend.
November 19, 2012
Likenomics has accomplished something many business and marketing books haven't: it taught me something completely new. Any time an author uses the word "trust," I'm skeptical. The thinking is typically too superficial or cerebral to actually put to use. Not so with this book.
In plain English @RohitBhargava shows how being likable isn't the same as being nice, why your business must bridge the "likability gap," and believe it or not, ways to make your company more likable.
Give Likenomics a read. I think you'll, well, like it.
In plain English @RohitBhargava shows how being likable isn't the same as being nice, why your business must bridge the "likability gap," and believe it or not, ways to make your company more likable.
Give Likenomics a read. I think you'll, well, like it.
May 2, 2013
Likeonomics: content of this book is great, but it could be cut in half. First half talks about why likeability is important (as if it wasn't already obvious).
Second half outlines the 5 principles to being likeable: T.R.U.S.T. - Telling the (T)ruth, being (R)elevant and meaningful within the right context, being (U)nselfishness by communicating empathy, (S)implicity though communicating clear core concepts and natural language, and being (T)imely.
That's the book in a nutshell. Now you don't have to read it.
Second half outlines the 5 principles to being likeable: T.R.U.S.T. - Telling the (T)ruth, being (R)elevant and meaningful within the right context, being (U)nselfishness by communicating empathy, (S)implicity though communicating clear core concepts and natural language, and being (T)imely.
That's the book in a nutshell. Now you don't have to read it.
January 5, 2022
A good, fast read about why people buy what they buy and follow who they follow. A lot of this I've read before in other business books but it is worth a quick read if you're still using the term "networking" and you didn't know that likable doctors don't get sued. I know for a fact that I've gotten out of tickets by telling the cops a joke, so its basic common sense blown up on a large scale. However, when SEO // click-through // yadda-yadda-yadda take over "how well your x is performing in the marketplace" it is worth remembering (with helpful examples) why being nice still matters.
June 12, 2012
Being likable is just as, if not more, important than being good at what you do. Also, being likable doesn't necessarily mean you're nice.
Also, and this is the second book that's made this mistake, Chris Anderson of WIRED and writer of Free: The Future of a Radical Price and TED's Chris Anderson ARE NOT THE SAME PERSON.
Book was good, but if you've been paying attention the past few years, all the stories are old.
Also, and this is the second book that's made this mistake, Chris Anderson of WIRED and writer of Free: The Future of a Radical Price and TED's Chris Anderson ARE NOT THE SAME PERSON.
Book was good, but if you've been paying attention the past few years, all the stories are old.
February 19, 2014
Full of commonsense ideas and truths from the beginning, but my highlighter really got busy with the last two chapters on Simplicity and Timing. There's also a serendipitous addition of relevant and interesting trivia. Definitely worth a read.
August 30, 2016
Well written Rohit!
I truly enjoyed your style and most importantly content regarding such an important topic!
I truly enjoyed your style and most importantly content regarding such an important topic!
February 21, 2015
Very good book. Of course people that are well-liked have a better life. This book makes that case very well.
March 11, 2016
The book was entertaining and there are some good stories in it, but his conclusions based on those stories seemed a little forced.
July 15, 2014
TRUST! Simple to understand and digest. Puts forth a convincing argument about likeability.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews