Psychologist John Gottman can observe a married couple for fifteen minutes and predict with 95 percent accuracy whether they will divorce within five years.
How does he do it? Body language? Eye contact? Whether or not they hold hands? Nope. He listens to what they say to each other, and then counts the ratio of positive to negative comments. That’s it. Couples with fewer than five positives for every negative are headed for disaster.
For a truly good marriage, the ratio needs to be 20 positive comments for every negative one.
Businesses are alot like marriages in this way. Focus on maintaining a good 5-to-1 ratio with customers and colleagues, or disaster looms. And if you want truly great relationships in your business—and who doesn’t?—aim even higher, How about 20-to-1!
Roxanne Emmerich