People should NOT like you

I want everyone to like me. It’s my Achilles heel.

I wish I didn’t care about people who don’t like me and instead could simply focus on those who do. But I worry. Did I say the wrong thing? Did I act the wrong way?

Most non profits want everyone to like them too. It’s their Achilles heel. We can’t say that or we might upset [insert person, foundation, institution here]. That seems a little too inflammatory. Can we tone it down a bit?

The thing I wish that non profits and I could learn is that anyone with a point of view is going to have detractors — people who don’t like them. Focusing on the haters is a complete waste of time. If you satisfy the haters, you don’t have a point of view. If you don’t have a point of view, you can’t build a tribe of people who share it.

Instead of worrying about the haters, we should focus on those who applaud our point of view, who stand with us and are emboldened by our words and our actions.

One of my favorite bloggers — Erika Napoletano — has this down pat. She’s a brilliant writer and marketer. She’s got a foul mouth that she’s not afraid to use. She makes fun of herself — like when she ran with the joke when Facebook’s recommendation tool likened her to a porn star.

It’s time to move beyond our high school mind sets. We need to flip the framework. It’s when people don’t like us that we win!