A daily email about monetizing and visualizing your corporate expertise. Give me ~1 minute a day, and I'll help you turn what you know into your most differentiated and lucrative asset.
💡 Do you look ignorant or elegant?
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Over the weekend, I checked out the premiere episode of Brené Brown and Adam Grant’s new podcast, The Curiosity Shop. (I reference these two often, as they’re the ones we think we’re supposed to emulate as thought leaders, when, spoiler, our thought leadership objective is actually much more approachable.) Much of the episode was clearing the air about a high-profile tiff between them a decade ago. But then it led to a discussion [min. 45:30 on audio, 49:00ish on YouTube] about their role as experts to simplify complex ideas into a form that others can quickly understand and apply to their own contexts. Sound familiar? Most interesting was Adam invoking an Oliver Wendell Holmes quote: “For the simplicity on this side of complexity, I wouldn’t give you a fig. But for the simplicity on the other side of complexity, for that, I would give you anything I have.” Adam’s interpretation of Holmes was even more concise: “There’s a difference between ignorant simplicity and elegant simplicity.” Boom. Adam continued: “Ignorant simplicity is naïve and it’s missing critical information. Elegant simplicity is capturing the nuance in few words or in a really well-drawn two-by-two diagram. It is really hard, but when you do it, it’s really sticky.” When I work with consultants to shape what’s in their head into something insightful, visual and portable to deploy and attract clients, this is exactly the path we go through. Simple —> complex —> simple. Ignorant —> elegant. On one hand, it would be pretty straightforward to interview you for 30 minutes and help you fish out a few high-level insight-ish soundbites to throw out into the market. But that sort of empty-calorie output always falls flat, because it’s too easy. Too reductive. Too, as Adam would call it, ignorant of the nuance you’ve actually gathered over decades in your domain. Instead, when we pull everything out of your head, lay it on the table, and embrace the complexity… …we come out the other side with something elegant - something visual - that may appear just as simple on the surface… ...but that is deep and durable enough to attract and engage your prospects time and again, while also doing great justice to the expertise you so tirelessly earned. It’s ok to aim for simple. That’s, in fact, the goal. But ignorantly or elegantly so - which will it be? 💡 -Wes P.S. Wanna learn more about turning your expertise visual together? Check out the explainer here. Surprise: it's visual. |
💡 The Lightbulb
A daily email about monetizing and visualizing your corporate expertise. Give me ~1 minute a day, and I'll help you turn what you know into your most differentiated and lucrative asset.