I heard Matt Church on a podcast recently addressing people who make their living from their thoughts. He calls them “Thought Leaders”. Matt made a simple but profound observation – that thought leaders can no longer simply give information. Maybe 20 years ago expert knowledge alone was enough to make a great living as a speaker/trainer/mentor. But that’s a tough road since the internet made vast amounts of specialised information available to everyone, free, instantly, in their lounge room.

So where does your value lie? As a coach, speaker and (soon-to-be) author myself… what do I offer that someone can’t get for free on Google?

Three things-

1. Engagement. I need to engage my audience with the right information; capturing their attention, focusing their direction, appealing to their vision.

2. Relevance. I add value to people’s lives when I help connect them to the information that’s relevant to them. In a sea of data, what do they need to know?

3. Meaning. And then I help them understand the meaning of that revelation to their own situation.

So as a leader, next time you’re presenting your thoughts can I suggest you run it through that matrix? Does this truly engage my audience? Am I making the content far more relevant to them? Am I adding significant meaning?

If not, I’m dispensable

I was speaking with someone this week who told me about an experiment that two life coaches initiated. They agreed to speak to each other how they speak to themselves, so every time they thought or said something towards themselves, they said it to the other person instead. The experiment only lasted until lunch when they both broke down crying and apologised for what they’d said.

I’m convinced that most of us are far more destructive, negative and even vindictive towards ourselves than we could ever be towards another person and expect them to stay a friend. The trouble is we can’t get away from ourselves like we would from a person who made us feel stupid every time we made a mistake, who pointed out our every flaw, or who kept a record of every failure in order to remind us when we could least afford discouragement. I do that to myself. I am known for being encouraging to other people, and yet I say, out loud, “You idiot, Paul” if I make a mistake.

I can be my own worst enemy. An ever-present critic. One definition the dictionary gives for “critic” is, “someone who frequently finds fault or makes harsh and unfair judgments “. On the other hand I can also choose to focus on my strengths and not just my weaknesses. To be an ever-present encourager.

So if, like me, you tend to be harsh with yourself then this week try an experiment with me. Every time you are aware of saying or consciously thinking something critical towards yourself-

1. Write it on a piece of paper
2. Sign it “The Critic”, then
3. Scrunch up the paper and throw it in the bin, and then
4. Encourage yourself.

I’d love your feedback.