Why do you do what you do?

Transcript

Hi there, it’s Peter Winick. I’m the founder and CEO at Thought Leadership Leverage. And here’s the idea that I’d like to share with you today — and that’s this.

In my conversations, whether it’s for the podcast, talking to clients, or whatever the case may be with thought leaders, one of my favorite questions — because I’m fascinated with the answer — is: How did you get here as a thought leader? What’s your journey been?

In most careers, if you were to ask a dentist that question — yawn, yawn — “Went to dental school, started a practice, whatever.” Same with an accountant or a lawyer. But when you ask a thought leader how they got there, or in essence why they’re doing what they’re doing, I hear things like:

“I wrote the book that I needed to read 20 years ago.”
“Serendipity happened.”
“Someone asked me to do something which led to something else.”
“I felt a calling.”
“I didn’t even know this was a thing to do.”

So one of the things I would advise folks to do is share that story — share that journey. Because sometimes, when you get to a stage in your career where the accolades and the expertise and all that stuff are already there, you forget your origin story.

And I think it’s really important for folks who want to work with you, or will work with you, or are thinking about working with you, to understand why you do what you do and how you got to where you got.

Love to hear your thoughts, as always. Thank you.