There is an interesting phenomena that happens when you do a lot of speaking – you see a lot of other people speak. They can teach you a lot.

Over the years, it has become my preference to sit in the middle of the room – in the middle of the crowd – when someone else is presenting. Firstly, I learn a lot about their subject. Secondly, I learn a lot about what we, as attendees, like and don’t like.

Cue The Eye Rolls

And let me tell you, there is one big thing to avoid. It’s being the expert. It’s the speaker who says they are the expert, who gets eye rolls and yawns. You know the type: the social media expert, the small business guru, the corporate culture coach. Yawn. Yuck. Yawn. The turns people off. Every time.

In reality, there is no leading anybody. Leading is merely a perspective. If you believe that you are the the, people simply see a big fat ego.  I’m not the the, and you aren’t the the.  Nobody is. Want proof?

Ask one hundred people at random who the leading business expert is and you are libel to get one hundred different responses. And, I suspect, you won’t even hear “the small business guru’s” name in the mix.  Don’t it for any category, and the results will be the same.

Action Not Words

Don’t tell people how great you are. Let your actions prove it to them. Let them give you the title. Because when they give it to you, you are truly deserving of it.

As Margaret Thatcher taught us, “If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.”