Positioning Yourself for the Win

SUMMARY

Do you feel like you are being left behind and everybody else out there is visible, but no one can see you?

Whether you're in a career working for others, or in your practice or business, getting in front of the right people and being seen at the right time is really important.

So, stick with me because this week, I'm going to help you understand some shifts that you need to make so that that also happens for you.

So why do you feel where everybody else is being seen, but you’re not?

Well, just like everything you are dealing with, it starts in that IDENTITY area with you having a belief about yourself that could be true or not true. It's those limiting and false beliefs that you have about your own ability, whether it be feeling like an imposter or continually trying to get the approval of others. That's the biggest barrier to what I'm talking about today.

If you don't feel worthy of being seen, you won't.

Looking at your experience and the stories from your life, how could you use them to help others overcome those frustrations and fears and move towards those wants and aspirations?

You can go from (sometimes even perceived) invisibility to being someone that the right people see at the right time.

To do that, you need to become a thought leader.

A thought leader is seen as being a go-to person in that marketplace — in that area and discipline. So, when someone sees a problem, the dialogue that goes around that, and the available information, the thought goes to YOU as one of the people they need to consider talking to.

So that's going to take you from being invisible to in demand.

TRANSCRIPT

Do you feel like you are being left behind and everybody else out there is visible, but no one can see you?

Whether you're in a career working for others, or in your practice or business, getting in front of the right people and being seen at the right time is really important.

So, stick with me because this week, I'm going to help you understand some shifts that you need to make so that that also happens for you.

Hi, this is Grant Herbert, VUCA Leadership and Sustainable Performance Coach, and today, I want to continue our conversation in this area of our Professional Leadership skills by helping you to POSITION YOURSELF FOR THE WIN.

As I'm recording this morning, I'm about to watch the Super Bowl in America, and although what we’re going to talk about today has nothing to do with sports, I want you to think about the eyes that will be on that event today.

That didn't just happen. It's not left to chance. Whether it's a Taylor Swift opportunity, you follow one of those teams, or you're an advertiser, no matter what it is, you need to make sure that you get yourself to a position where people want to see you, and that will make this event today a very successful one.

By the way, there's actually a game of football that's going on at the same time, and sometimes I feel that the result of that sort of pales into insignificance a little bit. So, you need to make sure that your plan brings everything together so it's good for you, for those around you, and for the greater good.

So why do you feel this way sometimes — where everybody else is being seen, but you’re not?

Well, just like everything you are dealing with, it starts in that IDENTITY area with you having a belief about yourself that could be true or not true. It's those limiting and false beliefs that you have about your own ability, whether it be feeling like an imposter or continually trying to get the approval of others. That's the biggest barrier to what I'm talking about today.

If you don't feel worthy of being seen, you won't.

As we talk about the strategies and skills you need in this area of positioning, I want you to underpin that in your thinking and behaviour with everything you're learning and growing through in that area of identity.

The shift in this area of positioning is going from being invisible—where you feel like no one can see you — to being in-demand.

In-demand is not about more people wanting to have a piece of you, but being in demand means that you are in front of the right people at the right time, and it will open up opportunities for you. Whether or not this is in an employed situation where it's internally in the organisation you're working in, that the right people within your profession see you, you are seen in a certain way, and/or being in a practice where it’s not only about doing those same things but also having visibility in the marketplace.

The Super Bowl is a huge event in terms of advertising, and the only reason they can draw that advertising dollar is they guarantee eyes on the game. So, there are particular skills and strategies you can do to do that, so that you can make sure that (not necessarily that you've got billions of people watching you) you've got the right people to see you. They not only see you - they see what you bring as the answer to their problems at that moment.

When we talk in marketing, we talk about the four forces. The fears and the frustrations that people want to move away from and the wants and the aspirations that they have. Put yourself out there in a way that people not only see you but see that you are the person that's going to be able to take them on a journey from where they are, and what they want to move away from, to where they want to be.

To do that, you need to become a thought leader.

So, what's a thought leader?

From the way I understand it and from what has been taught to me, famous people are well-known, and academics know things, but more importantly, a thought leader is known for knowing a specific thing.

They're seen as being a go-to person in that marketplace — in that area and discipline. So, when someone sees a problem, the dialogue that goes around that, and the available information, the thought goes to YOU as one of the people they need to consider talking to.

So that's going to take you from being invisible to in demand.

Being “invisible” happens because many people do what you do. In fact, there's a perception out there in the marketplace that all people who do what you do it the same way. They tar you with the same brush, both in the negative things that they understand about that profession and the positive things. So, when you all look the same, you all sound the same, you all can do the same, you're not standing out.

There are two ways that you can stand out:

You can stand out in a bad way that's not going to help you, or you can stand out in a different way, which means that the things that you are saying are hitting where those people need to hear right now.

To do this, what I've learned to do over the years is to be a little bit of a disruptor. Instead of following a comfortable rhetoric, I follow a rhetoric that is authentic.

What I do to the best of my ability, because I'm not perfect and never will be, is I follow what I believe and stay true to that.

So once again, it’s working in that identity area, which is going from being conflicted to congruent; staying true to who you are is the number one key to being seen by the right people.

It's not a matter of copying, sounding, or being like others.

I know people do that because they see an area of success in someone else, and they go: “Well, if I emulate them and do what they do and talk about what they talk about, then people are going to see me as well.”

Unfortunately, that is sometimes done to the detriment of what you truly believe, and inauthenticity comes through.

People's BS meters are really good. Their “spidey senses” are up, and they're waiting for people to deceive them. They're looking for opportunities to distrust people all the time. This may sound sad, but that's how our world is right now, and the more volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous we get, the more it will escalate.

How do you get the right eyes on you?

Firstly, let's understand why we are sometimes not too concerned about the right eyes.

We just want eyes.

Once again, if that's feeding an unhealthy identity where you just want to be liked, you want to feel like you belong and you are good enough (I've done this in my career where it's just about getting on stages and opportunities for people to hear me, look at me and to lift my name up and make me feel good about myself); If that's the motive, then that too is going to be a shallow victory. It won't help you be who you want to be and get you to where you want to go.

So, it's a matter of looking at a motive that is one of serving others, and that is looking at the problems that your market, industry, and profession are facing, and being a part of the solution, standing up for what is going to help those people that you serve.

As I have said earlier, a thought leader is known for knowing something.

If you want to talk about literature, people think about William Shakespeare.

If you want to talk about inventions, people think of people like Isaac Newton.

So, it's being able to deposit a dialogue out in the world that people can relate to and line up as that solution to their problem.

How do you do that?

There are many ways that you could do it. This is not something to copy from other people. Do what feels good for you, but just do something.

It could be writing.

You might stand in front of a camera like I do.

You might speak on stage.

You might get out at seminars.

You might speak at local community groups.

You might interview others.

Whatever it is that you do, it just needs to be in a position where people can see you, hear you, go to you, and they can line that up with the solution to their problem.

Positioning yourself is having a set of skills that says:

“This is who I am, and this is how I can help you with it.”

And doing it so people can hear it, trust it, and see it as a solution to their problem.

What could you do this week to stand out from the crowd?

Think about that.

Think about how you could position yourself differently in your workplace, marketplace, and world.

When I work with people one-on-one with this, I like to ask them this question, and I paint a scenario first that says:

“If you had a 15-minute window, an opportunity to have every person who has a device that's connected to the internet listening and watching you for that 15 minutes, what is it that you would like to leave them with?"

Most people don't have an answer to that, and it takes them a bit of effort to think about that because it's about going beyond what you do now. No, it’s about what you stand for and what you want to serve them with. What's that higher-purpose message that you have?

Find that, and then look at who needs to hear that, who would serve, and who would help.

Looking at your experience and the stories from your life, how could you use them to help others overcome those frustrations and fears and move towards those wants and aspirations?

You can go from (sometimes even perceived) invisibility to being someone that the right people see at the right time.

Well, that's it from me for another week.

Join me again next week as we continue this journey through our Professional Leadership skills, where we look at productivity, and I help you manage what you can manage in your control.

I'll see you then.