When I was young I felt different. I didn’t know it was ok to be different.
I was bored at school and university because I was a quick study. I was an avid reader who devoured Watership Down at 11 and Solzhenitsyn at 15. I wasn’t great at small talk. I was often uncomfortable at parties and always uncomfortable in nightclubs. I could feel lonely in the middle of a crowded room.
I’ve had two careers that I’ve loved. Teaching and coaching.
I was an unorthodox teacher because I was more deeply curious about my students than my subject. Turned out that kids love a teacher who’s genuinely interested in them, so my kids worked harder and got better grades than for their traditional teachers.
I’m an unorthodox coach because I’m drawn to creating communities of talented, driven, ambitious leaders who have rarely experienced the power of high-level community. And I love to challenge and provoke the thinking of leaders who do the same for others.
If you want your community to be creative, start by making things fun. This is 4PC at the Zoetry Hotel, in Curaçao.
Elite athletes, artists, scientists and performers have always surrounded themselves with other top performers. That’s not being elitist. It’s called a talent hotbed.
I’m powered by 5 beliefs around building community:
- Success can be surprisingly lonely.
- When you’re the most interesting person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.
- When you set a really high bar for the members of your community, 89% of the value they get is from each other. Counterintuitively, that has them admire you more. Set your bar high for membership, filter ruthlessly and continually raise the bar.
- Top performers don’t need to feel safe first, they need to be brave. Counterintuitively, doing hard things together will make them feel safe. Community is most powerful when challenge is baked in, to stretch you outside your comfort zone.
- You’re not for everyone. Stop trying to be. Attract your people by being you. In a world where everyone is trying to go wide, go weird. You’re an acquired taste. Make a virtue of your peculiarities. Bring who you are to what you do.
I’ve spent two decades building communities of leaders. For almost ten years, I’ve built and grown 4PC.
We’re about to fly home from a private Intensive in Curaçao.
In my community, I don’t just talk about coaching and creating clients, I talk about how to create a great life. I share my struggles as well as my successes, to create the safety for my clients to do the same.
I wake up every morning ready to provoke and challenge my clients’ thinking. I call them to dream big, to dare greatly and to take tiny steps in the direction of their dreams.
I create opportunities for real-time learning that’s practical, not theoretical and I seek out fascinating distinctions and ideas to share with them.
When you’re in my community, you have a universe of support around you.
If you’re reading this, you’re either in my community or on the outskirts. I’m glad you’re here. We have many ways for you to go deeper…
Love. Rich