Labeling yourself

Before you order your next set of business cards, or update your LinkedIn profile, read this from Jim's Marketing Blog:

Visionary, thought leader, maverick or fool? You decide!

Posted: 21 Mar 2011 01:12 PM PDT

Over the past few hours alone, I have seen people using their online profiles to clearly indicate who they are.

• One lady called herself a visionary.
• A guy called himself a thought leader.
• Many referred to themselves as mavericks.

In each case, what the person thought they were doing, was elevating their status. Of course, in reality they were showing the world that they know nothing about the way that true visionaries, thought leaders or mavericks work.

In my experience, the people who actually possess the rare qualities, which these ill-informed people claim to have, do not have to tell us what they are. They earn the titles, which other people then use to describe them.

• Steve Jobs doesn’t call himself a visionary - We see it for ourselves, by what he does.
• Seth Godin doesn’t call himself a thought leader – We see it for ourselves, by what he does.
• Leo Laporte doesn’t call himself a maverick – We see it for ourselves, by what he does.

The bottom line: Just as trust is to be earned and not demanded, so are the rare attributes, which so many people readily claim for themselves online. People show us they are visionaries, thought leaders or mavericks by their actions – Not the labels they eagerly use in a poor attempt to impress others.

Photo: Jonny2love

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