You Don’t Have to Be in the Room to Gain Influence
Adrian Lurssen tells the story of when he went to see Nelson Mandela deliver an address in his home country of South Africa. He still draws upon the experience today, but in the most unusual context.
Co-founder of JD Supra, a digital media company that enables professionals to greatly increase their visibility by sharing their expertise online, Adrian recalls seeing firsthand as a child something he was not at all familiar with. Prior to Mandela’s oratory, there emerged on stage a man dressed in tribal attire, singing a song in a native dialect. Adrian leaned over to his father, who had brought Adrian to the event, and asked him what this man was doing or saying.
His father explained to Adrian, “That is Nelson Mandela’s praise singer. He has come out in advance of Mr. Mandela to tell the crowd how special Nelson is…to explain on Mr. Mandela’s behalf how wonderful his ideas and thoughts are, as soon to be expressed by the man himself. He’s literally singing his praises.”
[Now you know where that expression comes from, if you didn’t already.]
As Adrian recounts this tale to Jay Harrington and me on an episode of The Thought Leadership Project podcast, he likens this notion of a praise singer to how we considers thought leadership content to work on behalf of the expert that shares it.
What Does This Have to Do with Content?
In Adrian’s estimation — one I happen to share — thought leadership content serves in the capacity of being one’s praise singer. It exists out in the world to tell everyone how smart you are, what you know, what you think, what you can do, how you solve problems. “It sings your praises,” Adrian notes, “even when you’re not there in the room to do it yourself.”
This is the problem (and the potential) for expertise that remains locked in one’s own mind, protected from the world it can serve, and held close to the chest. Ideas and solutions are what the market is looking for, whether you’re in the room to peddle them or not.
You can’t be everywhere at once, but your thought leadership content literally can. If you trust the process, even when you can’t open a dashboard to witness firsthand vanity metrics and analytics, you’ll keep at it with the necessary discipline and optimism. Then, almost by magic, people start noticing. They start mentioning. They tell you they’ve been following along. That they hold you in high esteem. And, curiously, they or someone they know wants to hire you. Amazing how that works.
Unleash your praise singer. Generously share your ideas with the world. Let people know how wise and capable you are, just as a praise singer would do for you, were you the likes of Nelson Mandela himself.
It’s okay to sing your own praises, if that’s how you want to consider it. But when you’re sharing expertise and solving problems for others, that doesn’t come across as self-service. It gets received as thought leadership.
By the time you arrive “in the room” to make a pitch, close a sale, or entice a prospect, your praise singer will have done most of the work for you. And it’s entirely likely that the only person yet to come on stage will be you — not your competitors, the invisible and anonymous orators working without the benefit of a praise singer.