I learned Latin and Greek in high school. It was tough but fascinating. What I loved most was spotting the origin of everyday words and phrases. In fact, over 60 percent of all English words have Greek or Latin roots.

This sparked an eternal love of words and language. And it turned out – many years after high school – that listening to words was an essential skill as a high-performance coach.  

Listening deeply to your clients is a superpower. But you have to know what you’re listening to. Your clients’ words take you far deeper into their world than they’d ever know. 

Using words with impact is also key—to enroll clients, to fascinate clients and to build community. When you share your expertise, you need to learn to use your words like a jazz musician plays with the strings, or keys. 

Notes or words strung together without thought are just noise. Notes and words in the hands of a master can enthrall and enroll the reader. 

Stop reading and start writing

I see coaches constantly sharing the thoughts and quotes of well known thought leaders – like Brené Brown and Seth Godin and Simon Sinek and Warren Buffet and Oprah and Richard Branson. They are each incredible thinkers, writers and speakers. But here’s their problem  – they are ubiquitous. 

1. Stop reading the books of well-known thought leaders because every other coach is sharing their quotes and ideas. 
2. Stop sharing because your clients don’t care about these thought leaders. 

You know whose quotes and ideas almost NO other coach is sharing? YOURS! 

You know whose thoughts YOUR clients definitely care about? YOURS! 

The problem these famous thought leaders create for mere mortals like you and I is that we compare ourselves to them and we feel less than. We compare ourselves to them and we feel overwhelmed at the thought of having to sell millions of books or create a TED talk seen by millions of people.

So we hold back and we don’t share our ideas. 

But you don’t need to sell millions of books or create a TED talk seen by millions of people, to be a thought leader.

You can be a thought leader for your ten clients. You can be a thought leader for your senior team. You can be a thought leader for your community of 150 people.   

Dean Simontonis is a researcher of creative productivity. He discovered that highly creative people don’t necessarily produce better ideas – they just make more of them.

Don’t try to be perfect. Just generate ideas – lots of ideas. 

Like I do.

Week after week, after week… 

1. The best time in life to build an audience and a community was 20 years ago. The second best time is today. 
2. Don’t wait 20 years for a blindingly original thought. That may never come—but it doesn’t have to.

Share your thinking now. Your people are waiting.

Don’t try to be original

It turns out that I am far less original than you may think. 

I did a little research and discovered that many of the most fundamental principles I’ve ever taught were actually taught for hundreds, if not thousands, of years before I arrived on the planet. In fact, many are so old that they were first said in Latin, over 2,000 years before I even existed. 

I’ve built a community of tens of thousands of coaches and leaders based on these principles. I’m a lot less original than it seems. So, what are you worried about?!

Before I share my 5 principles, let me help you time travel, for a moment… 

20 years in 9 days

Right now, I’m preparing to help a group of high-level coaches – you, if you’re joining us – to accelerate your success with a shortcut through time. 

We’re going to master the power of language. I’ll be teaching you how to become known as the expert in your field (even when it’s overcrowded). I’ll be teaching you how to create your own Intellectual Property. I’ll be teaching you how to build a high-level community. You’ll learn:

1. How to find a single mission for the next 3 years – that will change everything
2. How to enroll 50 powerful leaders in support of your mission
3. How to live with no regrets – and the 2,300 year old tool that makes the difference
4. How to catapult yourself 20 years in 9 days
5. Plus, I’ll be taking you through Finishing School (you’ll wrap up or quit every single energy sucker in your life)

You’ll learn directly from the members of 4PC, on what has catapulted their career. And I’ll teach you the way that surgeons are trained. 

Don’t wait 20 years. When you see a shortcut through time, take it. 

Principii Ricardus

5 heuristics I live by (that are apparently over 2,000 years old!)

1. Festina lente This literally means “hurry slowly.” It sounds like an oxymoron, but it’s the single best piece of advice I’ve ever learned or taught. Slow down to speed up.
2. Aquila non capit muscas  “The eagle does not catch flies.” I build talent hotbeds of elite top performers and this motto reminds me to fly where other eagles fly by surrounding myself with elite top performers.
   
3. Faber est suae quisque fortunae “You are the creator of your own fortune.” Most people live a life full of excuses, a life that happens to them. A few people live a created life—a life that is created by them… Be one of the latter.
4. Creatio ex nihilo “Creation out of nothing.” Everything that was ever created, first came from nothing. Or, more concisely, Make sh*t up!
5. Intelligenti pauca  “Few words suffice for he who understands.” If you want to be a great coach, make silence your default, rather than the exception.

OK. Here’s your challenge. Email me one of your thoughts. I don’t care how original it is. Think a thought – and share it. That’s Thought Leadership!

Love. Rich