Does Relate-ability Lead to Ratings?

Have you been there? Have you been in Conan O'Brien's shoes? Minus the $40 million payout for leaving, can you relate to what's happened to him the last two weeks?

After seven months as the host of The Tonight Show, Conan was asked to give up his dream job so Jay Leno, who held it before him and performed very well, could have it back. 

Has something like that happened to you?

Have you ever been passed up for a promotion, even though you were the most qualified? Have you ever felt like your boss set you up to fail instead of succeed? Have you ever felt unappreciated or embarrassed by your organization?

I suspect many people can relate to Conan's situation and have tuned in to see how he'd handle it.

Since he's been expressing his dismay at the situation, people continue to tune in to his show. Just last Friday night, his ratings were 50% higher than a typical Friday and near the level of his biggest competitor, David Letterman. His ratings are up 80% in the highly desired young adult category.

Conan's ratings are soaring.

Is there a correlation between Conan's relate-ability and his show's ratings? Is there a correlation between how people feel about Leno and his show's performance? (I wonder why the network didn't realize a main reason Leno was successful at 10:30pm was because of convenience v. relate-ability, but that's a different article.) 

There is probably a correlation between relate-ability and performance in your office.

Keep your promises and set your people up for success, and you'll meet the minimum standard of relate-ability.