Breaking the Thought Leadershit Cycle
Break the cycle The point of these last emails is to provoke you and push you to question yourself what’s going on. Also, to give you some places, resources and people I’ve found that —if you take the path of making something remarkable— might help you. Remember, leadership begins with building trust. So show up with something meaningful. Show up to help, but not to give [general] advice. How can you better serve your audience? What can you bring to them that will make it worth their while?…
I’m A Thought-Leader
Now that the Leadershit part is off my system, we can talk about Thoughts today. You do produce thoughts —as opposed to… everybody else? Right… “I’m A Thought-Leader” Are you, really? Calling yourself a “thought leader” (or that you produce thought leadership) is presumptuous and means you have no agency. Most of the self-proclaimed thought-leaders sound (and feel) like this. (It’s a 4-min inspiring presentation by Pat Kelly) Just because you write/publish, it doesn’t mean your thinking…
Gaps
Most people think you need to fit-in and blend-in, but actually you need to stand out, like a square in a world of circles. You don’t need to find product-market fits. ???? You need to find product-market GAPS.
Price tags
Andy’s at a department store, looking for some things to buy and saw this mic… that didn’t have a price. Approached one of the sellers and asked for help. – Andy: “Excuse me. This mic doesn’t have a price…” – Seller: “It does have a price. It doesn’t have a price tag.” :V It’s funny. The same happens when you stop billing by the hour. – Prospect: “What’s your hourly rate?” – You: “I don’t have one.” – Prospect: “So you don’t have a price?” – You: “I do have a price for you. Just not…
Perks of parenthood
Perks of having a two-year-old in kindergarten: you can get sick out of the blue. ???? Jonathan Stark sent this email: No people, no problems. Well, here i am (people) with a problem. ???? I’ll get back to you later on or tomorrow. For now, rest and lots of liquid. Here’s the thing though: Are you taking care of yourself and pausing? Things will be there when you’re back from that pause.Remember, there will be more dives (post from friend of the list and daily writer James Turner)
Resistance
When you’re leading, you’ll hit resistance. That’s only natural. Even when the ones you’re leading fall under the innovators part of the curve [innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, laggards], not all of them will have the same risk tolerance. When they feel threatened, they’ll fight with nails and teeth to not break “that tiny part of the new status quo”. Here’s the thing: How do you build buy-in quicker?In 2 steps: Create a system for them to thrive. Build demand. A…
2 rich cousins
After yesterday’s message (on the response from Samsung to Apple re: their new tablets), this reply by fellow daily emailer Wes Wheless from The Lightbulb summarized the feeling: “It feels like two rich cousins fighting in public” Spot on. Besides the comms and whether or not the message went through in their ads, the overall feeling is the same: it’s all about them. And when you (and your business) focus and react to what the competition is doing right or wrong, you’re missing the mark. It’s…
A reputation business
You C*NT
How many times have you told yourself you CAN’T do something? Because… You don’t have experience. You don’t know how to do that. It’s not how things work. Who are you to do that? You might fail. You have a reputation. You don’t have a reputation. You have to take care of your brand. You don’t have a brand to take care of. You’re not ready. You’re too small. You’re too big. You’re too young. You’re too old. … Those are valid reasons. However, are they really true? Let me pose you a challenge:…
Red flags
When you see red flags in a prospect or a potential project, call them out. You have 2 options: Saying yes and move forward. Knowing what you’re trading off —and what you’re giving up: being at your best, or… Saying no and move forward. Knowing that when you’re at your best, you can help best. Letting go of what seems like a big or interesting opportunity is hard (and easier said than done), YET think of this: if you get to say no, you get to be in charge of your next step. Seeing red flags…