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If you're not pissing someone off, you're doing it wrong.

Controversy and Conflict: If Thought Leaders Aren’t Pissing Someone Off, They’re Doing It Wrong

Controvery and ConflictYou have a perspective, a unique point of view coupled with your expertise and supported by your models, research, and experience in your space. There’s a reason why you feel so strongly about certain things, why you’re so vocal and passionate about the work you do. So, why is it that when you communicate, either through your content or face to face with your audience, that you water it down a bit?

You don’t want to offend anyone and you’d prefer that everyone agreed with you (or at least if those that disagree kept it to themselves). I think that part of being a thought leader is being able to tell the world that this is who you are, this is what you believe in (and here’s why), and if they don’t like it, that’s ok.

Maybe you’d prefer everyone rally around your thinking or you just really don’t care for confrontation, but I think that’s the wrong approach. As a matter of fact, I believe if you don’t have passion about what you do, if you don’t piss off a few people some of the time, then you’re diluting what you do until it’s just more noise.

The world is flooded with content today and most of it is just not good. In fact there’s a ton of thoughtless nonsense out there every day for people to waste their time with. It’s honorable to have a point of view, to stick with your guns, and be ok with offending some folks on occasion.

Everyone loves ice cream, but we rarely crave generic supermarket vanilla. We want something with texture, with flavor, something a bit different that stands out in the crowd. Life’s too short to settle for a lousy cup of coffee, a mediocre glass of cabernet, or content that is just plain vanilla.

Spice up your content by asking the tough questions, dealing with the issues that people dance around, and by being a bit controversial. It won’t win every argument and it won’t win over every client, but those that do lean in and align with your work will be more inspired and more engaged. We want to be around inspirational people, passionate people that aren’t afraid to tackle the elephant in the room. Controversy and conflict can be a competitive advantage if you have the courage to consistently speak with conviction and authenticity.

Like where this is going? Look into our Business Consulting service and really start pissing people off. 

Peter Winick has deep expertise in helping those with deep expertise. He is the CEO of Thought Leadership Leverage. Visit Peter on Twitter!

This Post Has One Comment

  1. Well said! This makes a lot of sense, but as you say not many people do it. So it’s a great way to stand out and get a following.

    I keep a quote file, and have kept a couple from your post, like “If you don’t piss off a few people… you’re diluting what you do…”

    My own most recent post took a stand, in that it’s called “Body language bullshit – beware, public-speaking baloney!” It very quickly drew quite a few comments.

    In fact my most outspoken posts often have the most comments. (Yet I’m hardly a loudmouth!) For instance, I said why I thought Seth Godin was wrong about something, and what I believe’s the best webinar polling question ever (yet I’ve never heard anyone ask it!), and why I disagreed with blogger Michelle Mazur about the purpose of presenting.

    Anyway, thanks for making this point so clear and concise. (Would love to hear your thoughts on the points I mentioned, and by all means leave a back-link on my site if you like.)

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