Stop pitching and trying to convince people. Show up with your prospects to see if there’s a fit, with your willingness to help them see something they don’t see yet.

To be a “thought leader”, they say you need to be authentic, original and come up with new, innovative, disruptive ideas that no one has ever said before. That you

What’s that even supposed to mean: soft skills? Next-level thought leadershit? As you can feel, I have an itch with the term “soft skills”. What’s “soft” about… leadership? communication? empathy?

Sometimes you need time to regroup. Do it with intention. That beats busy-ness. Always.

“There are enough real questions and issues to solve – let’s not solve problems that don’t exist [like stop calling soft skills, something else].” That was a reply to Soft

“We don’t do transactional, we do relationship with our clients.” Everything is transactional. They have different depths, dynamics and trade-offs. Are some business relationship something more, though? And here comes

It’s all about deciding —yes, making a choice where you have the power— where the focus of your business is. Short-term v long-term Serving v service What is v What

Even if you don’t see yourself as THE expert, or the authority to be listened to in the work you do with your clients, THEY DO. Doing what they need

Some say “You need to choose an enemy. This way you and yours will rally together and will make your brand meaningful. ‘Look at Patagonia. They fight climate change.'” Well

Here’s another example of the downside of “choosing an enemy”: introducing animosity. Fabian Geyrhalter Do you want to rally people up? Or to get them ready to war? One is

It’s not about taking a stand against something —an enemy/monster— to change it. Does it help? Absolutely. It’s about defining what you see in a future without that enemy/monster. Reason

What makes you stand out. Sure. Saying you have to be “original”, “authentic”, “focus on the experience” will do the job… of saying nothing, or put you in a place

In music, sampling is the act of taking one bit of a song/audio media and putting it to a different use from its first intended context. It can go from

“If I do a job in 30 minutes it’s because I spent 10 years learning how to do that in 30 minutes. You owe me for the years, not the

Internet connection problems. So here’s a great article by Tim Williams on the same subject of expertise. 🙂 Getting Paid for Years – Ignition Group.

If you’re focused on what you’re going to say next. On how to make your argument more solid. On how your point is the valid (and true) one. No matter

To Sting, the essence of all music is surprise. Sting. Interview w/ Rick Beato. And in business, it goes the same way: the essence of all (meaningful) business is surprise.

“While the client always wants to level the playing field and compare “apples to apples,” your job is to be an orange. Do everything you can to show why you’re

Friend-of-the-list and daily emailer Kevin Freidberg sent this message “Teach the game in reverse”. And I read “Teach the game in verse”, which also makes absolute sense, since his writing

Not behaving like the expert can take many forms. One of them: trying to avoid pushback, arguments, or resistance in your relationship with clients. It can hurt you more than