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The protagonist in the movie The Hunger Games is heading for an event where only one person will return alive. She receives two important bits of advice which seemingly have nothing to do with defending herself in a fight:

• Be likable.
• Be memorable.

The movie is well made and seems horrifyingly real. For many co-workers, and perhaps even you, every day seems like the Hunger Games. No one dies, but the psychological bruises accumulate on a daily basis. While it is important to have tangible skills to survive and excel in the modern workplace, most people are in the survival mode. There is no energy left to be likable or be memorable.

The armchair psychologist will observe that it is not reasonable to expect those in the first level of Maslow’s hierarchy to behave as if they are in the fourth or fifth level. Is that true because the data tells us so? Or is it true because that has become the Golem effect?

If even faced by the most catastrophic event of your life, why is it so hard to try and be likable and memorable? I don’t claim it is easy, I am just curious.