One of my earliest guilty-pleasure movies was Sylvester Stallone’s Demolition Man.

Released in 1994, but set in "San Angeles" in 2032, it’s a fish-out-of-water action movie where John Spartan, the old school cop, is frozen and brought back to serve and protect in the future.

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The film made some outlandish predictions about the state of the world (e.g. corporate consolidation has turned all restaurants into Taco Bells).

And other predictions that are certainly well on their way (e.g. regulated conservatism).

But one prediction that has been interesting to watch unfold IRL has been the adoption of driverless cars.

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In the film’s 2032, everyone has embraced the technology, which creates a net positive social gain of less traffic, fewer collisions, and reclaimed time.

In our 2025, we’re…not quite there yet, emotionally.

Even though there’s a growing general acceptance of the technology’s inevitability in theory, some high-visibility robotaxi accidents have instilled a reaction of:

“Yeah, but I’m not going to take that risk myself”.

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This dismissal is what happens with niching advice.

Hardly a new “technology”, a niche strategy has been reaping scale and margin benefits for specialists for hundreds if not thousands of years, in some form.

So, while we can all generally accept that the common business advice for soloists is to niche down…

When it comes to the individual actually taking that advice, just like the wariness of hopping in a robotaxi for the first time, we stop short.

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All of a sudden, the perceived individual risk is too high.

Even if empirical data shows the risk is relatively low, and the gain is quite high.

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So what, then — we’re at an impasse?

If we’re afraid of something, we just resist it?

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Well, here’s a break in the wall.

A recent J.D. Power study shows that trust in driverless technology (unsurprisingly) skyrockets after just one ride -- from 20% expressing confidence to 76%...

...demonstrating that even a deep emotional resistance can be quickly overcome by an early positive experience.

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So how can we apply this?

Well, unfortunately, you can’t take a 15-minute ride in your niche and become a believer instantly…

But with a small leap of faith, as small as changing your LinkedIn headline and content orientation...

...you’ll start to see the benefits unfold gradually:

• A “stranger” seeing and liking your niche-relevant post
• An inbound who heard your name mentioned on a podcast
• An invite to speak on that podcast, or at a conference for your specialty
• Consults booked from that speaking engagement
• and so on…

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Before you know it, you’ll wonder why you thought you were “playing it safe”…

When really, the safety came as a feature of the scary ride you were resisting.

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💡

-Wes