The importance of being real...

I'm going to drop several of what I call 'real bombs' in this newsletter - they may make readers uncomfortable, though I'm hoping the truth is more important than the risk of offending some of you......

'Real bomb 1': In the world of sound bites that we now unfortunately live in, my ultimate goal is to not be on any social media platform.

Just to let you know, you heard me correctly because I was being real. This isn’t a gimmick or ploy to evoke sympathy or trolling.

Sure, the awareness-raising, positioning, and relationships that can be built on these platforms are great. I’ve been fortunate to have met hundreds of genuine difference-makers and my target audience through these platforms.

Particularly on LinkedIn, I’ve met several new friends and have also been fortunate to interact and get to know many people whom I want to serve.

For the past five years of creating the conditions to have honest conversations about the current state of leadership and how to support organizations to be future-ready and successfully navigate ongoing disruption, I'm clear and real about who I choose to serve on this path.

My ultimate goal is to serve 10-20 clients in the above environments and use those genuine, long-standing relationships to make impactful and sustainable differences to those clients, the work they do, and the impact they have on all around them.

'Real bomb 2': It’s the daily grind, the incessant white noise, the constant disingenuous ‘peddling of wares’ I see from those around me that saddens and increasingly frustrates me. You might think that’s just part of the territory, though I disagree.

How many of you agree and will be quietly (or not so quietly) nodding along with the following and you're fed up with:

1. People trying to sell to you, trying to tell you that you need to do it this way or that way
2. The majority of posts these days which seem designed to serve the algorithm and stay on its good side
3. The vacuous posts and those jumping on the bandwagon of what seems popular this week to post about, only to hop to the next popular post topic when the vanity metrics fizzle out
4. The fact that few people are talking about this, even though they know exactly what I’m talking about

Be honest - it’s time to wake up. The reason I mention this is because it dilutes the work of true difference-makers. In fact, how would you feel knowing that true difference is being made off of these platforms?

'Real bomb 3': A lot of people who I choose to serve aren’t buying from these platforms because they have to get to know you first and yet we seem to want to shortcut that process.

And that truly takes time. You can’t fake getting to know someone.

Sure, in the short term, you can, though it’s the long term I’m vested in. And if you’re a true difference maker, shouldn’t you also be interested in building long-term relationships?

I just submitted a statement of work to support a client with developing and delivering a 6-month program for their organization's emerging leaders - if I win the work, it will be because I have genuinely taken the time to get to know my client, understand their business, what motivates them and truly want to support them in developing their next generation of talent.

That's taken approximately 2.5 years to get to this point - please, please don't be fooled (like the Emperor) into believing there's a shortcut to delivering impactful and soul-enriching work for those you wish to serve because there isn't.

Through my thought leadership, I have met many other progressive thought leaders - like my friend John Spence . Here's what John recently had to say about completing the world's first learning program I developed that prepares organizations for the types of leadership capabilities future leaders will increasingly need.

I include this not to brag - a mutual colleague introduced John to me when I was exploring which publisher to use for my first book - no other agenda than wanting his perspective on publishers I was considering approaching.

That was 3 years ago and John has become one of those who genuinely supports my wider thought leadership because we built a genuine relationship.

'Real bomb 4': It's odd that very few of those ‘being sold to’ on this platform actually publicly engage with the person who’s trying to sell to them.

From some recent conversations behind the scenes, it also appears that some of the ‘biggest’ names in thought leadership think this is also odd.

And even more importantly than this, a number of the genuine conversations I’m having with my target audience also agree.

Some questions I'd encourage you to ponder on in relation to this:

1. Why don’t we ever seem to talk about this?
2. Why are these conversations being held behind the scenes? 
3. Why are people pretending that everything is fine, when behind the scenes it clearly isn’t?

'Real bomb 5': Despite what the snake oil salespeople and those trying to sell you something say, your target audience isn’t even necessarily liking your posts, resharing them, or openly ‘bragging’ about or endorsing on these platforms what (and when) they do eventually buy from you.

Why not?

Shouldn’t your clients and supporters want to openly brag about you? I’ve been fortunate to have actual clients and those I have served say some beautiful things about either working with me and/or my work. I feel blessed because of this and I never take that for granted.

Don’t you think it’s time that we change the way we engage with those we choose to serve?

I do - I’d love to hear your thoughts and perspectives on what I’ve covered in this newsletter.

Please feel free to share what we're doing here with those in your network who might benefit from it.

Thanks for reading this far. If you or your organization needs any help with preparing for the future, please email me at paul@paulmacleadership.com

Cheers

Paul Mac