An Email Players subscriber (not sure he wants me naming him) asks:
…you suggest positioning as a Leader of your market instead of as an expert. What are the practical differences between those two positions? What can I do to be perceived more as leading my market? Doing daily emails certainly makes an impact on my market but I suspect they currently see me more on the expert side of the spectrum.
It’s more of a state of mind than a series of how-to steps.
When I think of an “expert” I think of the guy who can tell you about 300+ ways to have the sex, but can’t get a date on Saturday night with a pocket full of $100 bills and if his life depends on it.
Everyone is an “expert” nowadays.
And they are all easily ignored.
So in opinion and experience:
Yes, first & foremost, be there every day, that alone can move mountains.
But much better than reading about leadership in emails like this is to study great leaders. You can learn far more from books, documentaries, and observations about great Leaders than you will reading someone else’s writings about leadership – including my own here. Especially since a lot of it can’t really be taught, and can only be gotten via grinding experience plus observed, thought about, extracted, worked in to your way of life and doing business from others..
Some books I have found helpful are books from and/or bios about guys like:
* George Washington
* Andrew Jackson
* Steve Jobs
* Walt Disney
* Douglas MacArthur
* Arnold Schwartnxljdudgger
* Sylvester Stallone
* Frank Capra
* Fred Rogers
* The late Pastor Arnold Murray
* The old Mad Man ad agency founders like Ogilvy and Leo Burnett
* The story behind how Kurt Russell stealth-directed the movie “Tombstone”
Also check out books that talk about various leaders and what they did like The Rise & Fall of Ancient Egypt, 33 Strategies of War, Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, Rules for Radicals, and definitely the books of Exodus, Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1& 2 Kings, and the Gospel of John from the Bible.
In the latter, especially read where Jesus washes the feet of His disciples.
It’s Leadership at its highest level.
And also realize this:
With some of these resources – or others you find – a lot of it is learning what NOT to do.
Especially seeing choices you might ordinarily do thinking it’s the right thing to do, but is the opposite.
Finally:
Don’t ask me for specific titles/authors or where to find them.
Doing your own due diligence, reading reviews, asking around, spending time vetting & curating… figuring things out… is part of the process of discovery.
And don’t be a lazy bum and rely on so-called AI.
Not only will “Cliffs Notes” summaries do you zero good with this, but most of the crap it spits out is far from reliable, horribly sourced, and misses even the most basic nuance where all the real lessons are embedded within.
So there’s your marching orders if you choose to accept them.
But just pick one resource/person to study above that sounds good and start there.
Then another…
Then another…
And another, and another, and yet another…
Until you start imbibing – consciously and unconsciously – how great leaders, kings, and rulers thoughts, made decisions, and achieved their goals and/or totally screwed everything up even when everything was handed to them on a silver platter.
Yes, in a lot of cases you learn as many what “not” to do lessons.
But those can be even more invaluable.
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Ben Settle
