How important is the ability to relate to people?

Question

Is it more important than looks, intelligence, or rich parents? What are your opinions and insights about this topic?

Answer 1

it is the key to a happy and successfull life. looks, intelligence and money mean nothing if you cannot get along with and relate to family ,friends and co workers. success and the ability to relate to people go hand in hand. think about it...you could be a genius appling for a job as a dishwasher but if you are dislikable, forget it. a great looking woman is going to be alone her whole life if she is doesn't know how to relate to people. being liked by your fellow human being is the cornerstone to success...

Answer 2

Hmmm Good Question, makes me think.

I think that understanding others is more important than looks or rich parents. I think that that and intelligence are even, and each ability works together.

You see, when people learn about each other, intelligence is gained. But it takes intelligence to learn about each other.

I think that if the ability to understand each other was more common, our world would be quite different. I don't think war would be entirely gone, but the world would certainly be more peaceful.

Now as for looks and rich parents... I know its cliched, but its true: beauty is only skin deep. My friend once said that if it weren't eyes, it wouldn't matter what anyone looks like. But I disagree. We judge each other using sight and mind. People don't look at a person and see a personality. They see an image. Rich parents, or wealth in general, also plays a part in a persons image.

People will always judge before they get to know a person. Its our nature.

I hope this is enough detail to cover the points I'm trying to get across... (Sorry for any spelling/grammar errors)

Answer 3

I think it's really important. I think the ability to relate and intelligence go hand in hand. Without either one, people wouldn't really enjoy your company. In most jobs, you might need to be approachable [personality-wise] since you need to interact with other people [probably to get them to buy more things. Hahaha.]. But I think it's more important than rich parents and looks; although I think intelligence should be at the same level as relating to people. If you weren't that smart, and you talk to people, what would you talk with them about? I don't know really. That's what I think though. :]

Answer 4

Very important, and not necessarily related to intelligence. (Definitely not related to rich parents or looks!) Some people do have a difficulty in this area, though, and need to work on at least presenting a civil or neutral approach. People tend to judge others the first time they meet them.

Answer 5

Some positions in the working world reward intelligence, looks, or money above all else. In such positions, you can afford to put those assets to work and otherwise play the diva with people and not have to worry about relating to them, and expect highly-paid handlers to smooth your way for you and handle your people problems for you. For example, some high-tech positions require the skills of a brilliant specialist, and such specialists are so rare that it's acceptable if the specialist has terrible people skills. The main thing is that you don't promote the specialist into any positions that require him to handle people.

But those positions are a rarity. Most positions require at least an ability to relate to other people without creating unnecessary conflict. Supervisory positions (people-handling positions) are obviously going to require substantial ability to relate to people (in one form or another).

Same in the non-working world. If you're rich, brilliant, and wealthy, maybe you can get away with being an utter heel to your spouse and everyone around you. But people can only put up with so much, and even the richest and most beautiful actresses and actors tend to see a lot of turnover in their spouses and friends when they have no people skills.

Just as a tangent, I wrote an answer elsewhere to a question about how to be assertive without being aggressive. I described the position of a middle-level manager to make my point and show how assertiveness and aggressiveness are played out. The position of a middle-level manager is very rules-based, and as such it's not necessarily the best example of “relating to people.” But if you honestly don't understand the importance of being able to interact with people, you might want to read my answer there. There's a lot of self-discipline involved in interacting with people in today's workplace, and until you make it to the top and can survive on intelligence, looks, or money alone, you'll need to learn some of that self-discipline. Here's the link:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AoNuLem4IZTG.6IY1KlaNsLsy6IX?qid=20060716142810AAKGl0G

Answer 6

Relating to people is very important. You tend to gravitate towards others that are more like yourself, had similar experiences. It would be hard for someone very rich to understand how working flipping hamburgers for a living isn't a great job. People that are good listeners do well. Nothing wrong with being intelligent, or rich. You got to "know your audience," if you are a scientist and try to talk about quantum physics to a someone who cleans toilets for a living (I do incidentally), don't be too surprised if they avoid you. Try to find a common core of experience with them.

Answer 7

The ability to relate 2 others is one of the most overlooked and underrated aspects of a person's personality. Condescension, arrogance and intolerance R by-products of its' absence. The ability to relate make looks, intelligence and heredity even more appealing! (Princess Di)

Answer 8

Honey, relating to people is 90% of life. If you can master this young you will have a HUGE advantage. People today are so self centered. If you can relate to them they will really appreciate you and you will move upward in society. I wish I had been more able to relate to people. I live in San Francisco and if I had known I would have been so gay/alt/vegan/lesbian friendly. Not that I am not friendly to those groups, I AM, but I would have been so much more vocal about it if I'd known how much it means.

Answer 9

It is very important. Relating to people is all about knowing the limits and boundaries of our perspective in persuing or connecting to others.

With out this, we are bound to miss judge peoples perspective, based on how we see them.

Relating is part of relation. We can't relate to people without knowing about them or having a connetion with them.

Answer 10

if you cant relate to people i dont think youll be very successful unless you have really good looks or filthy rich parents. very intelligent can be successful but they are more likely to be if they can communicate and relate to others around them.