So You Want To Be A Visionary
- March 9, 2015
- Posted by: Rochelle
- Category: Big Idea, Marketing + Selling, Personal Brand
You’re at a cocktail party and a confident guy strolls over, drink in hand and introduces himself: “Hi, I’m Ted and I’m a visionary. What do you do?”
Happens all the time, right?
Of course not (and if it does, you need new friends).
So why are Twitter and LinkedIn bios littered with titles like “visionary”, “futurist” and “thought leader”?
Don’t get me wrong—those can be worthy titles and we can be rightly thrilled when someone refers to us that way.
But they are not titles we get to bestow upon ourselves.
We must SHOW that we’re worthy. And only then count on our tribe to draw the right conclusions.
Like say Steve Jobs or Richard Branson or Martha Stewart. They put more than a few miles in to create something remarkable.
But you don’t have to have gray hair to join them. Think Alexa von Tobel, Gabby Bernstein and Blake Mycoskie who are all busily dreaming up and DOING. The. Next. Big. Thing.
Not a one tells us they’re visionaries—they show us instead. They are in uniform out on the field, proving it every single day.
THAT’S what it takes to earn the title.
Wired as a visionary? Start earning the title by building your creds.
Share your vision with us—how do you see the world? What’s your “big idea” for your brand of change? Who do you want on the journey with you? How will we be better off by supporting your vision? Dare us to take action and cheer us on when we do.
Tell us (or better yet show us) your best stories—how you, your services, books or products are making an impact in your slice of the world. The more we relate to them, the faster we’ll see your genius. And if you can make your stories visual—images and video—we’ll love you all the more.
Connect with us as humans—help us feel like you care about what we’re working on and genuinely want to make our lives better. Speak our language and we’ll spread the word about you. We might even break the internet for you.
Just please don’t tell us you’re a visionary. Make us feel it. And we’ll be thrilled to tell the world on your behalf.
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WOW! (emphasis intended). I need to get ready for a meeting to prepare for a meeting and the message grabbed me. So on point. I see the visionary word used mostly by younger folks, or folks without much real experience.
I also prefer the testimonials from others. I employ several elevator speeches but always seek to differentiate myself. The interesting thing involves some of the big ideas I developed in policy areas may not always relate to the efforts at hand for a given client (the ideas just may not fit in any strategy to advance the interest of any client per se). Nevertheless I find my association with big ideas raise my profile, bolster my branding as a strategist who can both devise and advance policies…..
Thanks for your thoughts Corey! I actually have seen use of the visionary word across age brackets in social media, with no one category claiming it for their own. It’s an interesting phenomenon…
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for your call to return to sanity. You forgot “best selling author” and “international speaker.” 😉
🙂
Total agreement, Rochelle. Similarly, I note when people say, “I’m excited” or “It’s exciting” about something, and yet there is no energy or enthusiasm in their voice or expression. Don’t say you are excited, show it.