May 22, 2012

ARE YOU A VISIONARY?

prescientAre you a visionary?

If you were, would you call yourself one?

Who would believe you? Are they credible or gullible? We're judged by the people around us.

Titles are earned and require signs of ongoing merit to maintain. There's no rest for the worthy. Think of a hot air balloon in flight. You've got to keep adding fuel and take time to refuel. Regular maintenance is a good idea too.

Pompous self-aggrandizement flops like the ears on a bored bunny. Whatever. Ho hum. La di da. Rather than impress, you might achieve the opposite result.

Claims

If you are a "visionary", what's your vision?  Who's following you (voluntarily)? Who's spreading the word (without getting motivated by self-interest)?

If you're a "leader", what have you accomplished and who has followed you (voluntarily). Who has vouched for you (voluntarily)? Where's the evidence?

If you're a "best-selling author", have you done anything except make money or buy your books yourself? If you were well known, would you call yourself a "best-selling author"? Or would you say you're the author of The Hunger Games or Blink? If we don't recognize your name or your book titles, we don't know you. What does "best-selling" mean anyway? If that means #1 in sale of books, your name would be known.

If you're "award winning", have we heard of the award? Did you face real competition? How recently did you win? Is the award relevant?

If you're a visionary leader and a best-selling author of an award-winning book, congratulations. You're beyond the scope of this post.

Actions

Rather than make claims, act.

Describe what you've done (if relevant) and what you do. Be factual. Let people make their own judgments. They will anyway from the clues you provide and the ones they find.
Speaking of visionaries, I'm reminded of Minutes To Memories by John Mellencamp:
The old man had a vision but it was hard for me to follow.
I do things my way and I pay a high price.
If you're making grand claims about yourself, you're paying a high price in lost credibility. How do you meet or exceed expectations when you've inflated them? That’s not very visionary.

Links

PS Do you make pompous claims in your LinkedIn profile or biography? Get outside opinions.

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