Perfectionism kills thought leadership.
It starts with a small delay.
We inflict deep wounds🔪 on our own ideas:
🩸 “I’m not ready to put my idea out there yet.”
🩸 “This idea isn’t good enough yet.”
🩸 “I’m sure I can make this better.
Some good ideas die right in that moment.
Others survive but never get their chance to shine.
I’ve worked with thought leadership practitioners for two decades.
And I’ve had a chance to look into their “intellectual attics” —
digging through unpublished ideas.
And I ask, “what happened? What came of this idea?”
“Nothing. I just put it aside.”
I’m reminded of the scene in the classic 1954 film “On the Waterfront.” Marlon Brando’s character tells his brother:
“I coulda been a contender! I coulda been somebody!”
When Brando’s character was ready to shine, his brother held him back and said, “it’s not your night.”
So many of us do that to our ideas.
We hold them back. We never give them a chance to shine.
So, don’t worry about getting an idea perfect.
Get your ideas out into the world.
Then, you can keep polishing them.