Not long ago I was talking to one of our users to understand what she wanted to achieve building a personal brand.

She wanted to grow her consultancy practice. So she intended to start posting content under a consistent brand that would position her as a Thought Leader in her field, make her memorable, and become top of mind to her prospects.

However, she confessed the following:

“I must admit I struggle with the ‘thought leader’ role/ moniker… intellectually I get that it helps establish credibility and authority but at the same time it can feel so inauthentic. So I’ve mostly, other than the odd post, stalled on getting this part of the journey started.”

She had thought of everything.

• Her positioning.

• Her brand identity.

• Her ideal customer.

• Her content strategy.

And still, she was stuck.

Stuck in the fear of being, and feeling, inauthentic.

This fear is shared by many. Shared by most.

But you know who is not afraid of being inauthentic?

The very same charlatans and self-proclaimed “experts” she is afraid to sound like.

We see how their click-bait posts go viral despite providing very little to no value. We see right through their superficial claims and easy-to-consume content, and we assume we have to do the same to have success.

And that clashes with our integrity.

But we have to remember something;

Real Thought Leaders do not call themselves experts, leaders, or “world’s most known nothing”. Their status and recognition is given by an audience that genuinely connects with and continually learns from them.

And the secret for that genuine connection is just honesty.

You do not need to be the world’s leading expert at doing knots to teach a kid how to tie their shoes.

You didn’t need your elementary math teacher to be a Nobel Prize winner, for you to learn from them.

And neither does your future audience to learn from you 🫵.

You just need to be some steps ahead to teach the people who are behind you on their journey.

In fact, embracing and sharing the struggles of your own learning journey on whatever it is that you share will make you that much more approachable and easy-to-connect with.

Which in turn will make you a much better Thought Leader than you would ever be if you were “perfect”. Which by the way, nobody is. Even a Nobel Prize winner will tell you they have an infinite amount of things left to learn.

People learn better and want to know more from people they like.

Understanding this is simple.

But embracing it is not easy.

Putting yourself out there will leave you feeling vulnerable and afraid of being judged.

But you have to remember that our biggest growth is usually at the other end of our biggest fears.

So what is it going to be?

Will you start showing up, providing value, and building the foundational trust and connection that will help you grow a brand that will enable the success you are looking for?

Or will you stay silent and begrudgingly complain about how unfair it is that the so-called “experts” get their underserved credit?

The world needs more real Thought Leaders.

The world needs more real voices.

The world needs your 🫵 voice.

How long will it be until you dare to start sharing it?