We’re socially conditioned to avoid repeating ourselves. And that’s a liability when it comes to thought leadership. When we’re in conversation, we want our listeners to lean in and pay attention to what we’re saying. And so, many of us have developed a finely tuned instinct; a voice which shouts a warning: “Stop. You’re repeating yourselves!”
But the practice of thought leadership requires repetition.
We have to suppress that instinct. We need to repeat ourselves.
First, when we share an idea, people need to hear it more than once before they’ll take action.
Second, when you deploy thought leadership, you’re not speaking to the same audience all the time.
And third, your ideal audience isn’t paying attention to your every word. They’re likely to miss that one brilliant post you made on LinkedIn last month. You remember it. They don’t. In order to be effective as a thought leadership practitioner, we need to embrace the discomfort of repetition. We must be prepared to talk about our ideas over and over. Repetition helps your ideas gain attention. They also help your listeners absorb them and embrace them.
If your goal is to change minds and influence others, then you must be willing to joyfully embrace repetition.
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