I just got off a video call with a friend who asked me how the coming explosion of AI-generated content is going to affect Thought Leaders. Will you as a Thought Leader be able to compete with the tsunami of cheap information that is going to be hitting your market? As my friend and I …
A lot of Thought Leaders (or wannabe Thought Leaders) have trouble making the turn from teaching to selling the products and services that their business provides. They get all tripped up, because they don’t want to come across as “salesy” or to have the audience feel like they’re being sold to. There is a way …
Have you ever noticed that in a lot of action movies, the villain is often a more interesting character than the hero? There’s a reason for that. People love to have a devil to fight. A blind shipyard worker named Eric Hoffer deeply studied mass movements, and he noted that the people who set off …
Here’s something that everyone loves and responds to: Stories. Everyone loves stories. They live vicariously through the characters in a story, they love to cheer for the heroes, and they especially love to hate the bad guys. You can use stories to provide proof — even with claims that are not supported by math or …
Welcome to another Manipulation Monday — an irregularly-published You Can Be A Thought Leader series on the one-on-one tactics of mass persuasion. Former FBI Agent Jack Schafer once wrote a book about the techniques FBI agents use to quickly befriend people and get them to open up to the agent. For FBI agents, building relationships …
I’m often asked, “Matt, O Wise One, what is the difference between Thought Leadership and content marketing?” “Pfft. You think I don’t know?” “No, it’s just that I don’t know…” They’re getting sort of confused by this point. That’s when I whip this one out… “One of the two things in your question is written …
Frank Capra was responsible for some of the best movies of the 1920’s, 30’s, and 40’s. Stuff like “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” “It Happened One Night,” and “It’s a Wonderful Life.” He gave us some of the best advice about not only movie-making, but also Thought Leadership, in his autobiography, “The Name Above The …
Are you sitting down? I hope so, because I’m going to share something that is scary. A quarter of American adults say they haven’t read a book (in any format) in the past year. Does that matter? Yes, but only if you want to be successful. “In my whole life, I have known no wise …
I’ve always loved that phrase. “Living rent-free in their head.” And as a Thought Leader, it’s an essential. What I mean when I say “live rent-free in their head” is that they’re thinking about you even when they’re not consuming your content or communications. When you’re doing it right, your followers are running everything about your …
NOTE: Between writing this article and publishing it, I’ve learned that, in response to the criticism from everyone — from Salman Rushdie to Queen Consort Camilla — the “classic” versions will still remain available from Penguin, alongside the newer Puffin versions. Point still stands. I’ve waited a week to see if maybe I could let …
I Can’t Avoid This Roald Dahl Situation Any Longer… Read More »