Peter Winick argues a manifesto is cheaper and faster than a book, yet communicates who you are and what you stand for in a viral-friendly format. He says being willing to alienate 10-20% of people by taking a clear stance yields higher conversion rates and more revenue than trying to please everyone.
How many of you have a manifesto?
One.
Cool. A handful. A couple. So I'm a big fan of a manifesto. And again, not everything I say applies to everybody, right? So take what you will and throw out what you don't like. Many of you are really starting a movement. And not all of your movements are changing the world, but there are different levels of a movement that you've got with your content. One of the ways to communicate what you've got, given we live in sort of a short attention span world, is a lot of people quite frankly aren't reading books and aren't even sort of sitting through your 60 and 90 minute speeches. So how do you quickly convey to the world who you are, what you're about, what your big idea is, what's at risk, what you stand for? And there are some fun ways to do this with a manifesto. You can be creative, you can have fun, It's OK to sort of, not intentionally, but as a byproduct of doing it well and speaking from the heart and being authentic and being true, alienate 10%, 20% of the people. You don't have to please everybody. You've got to please the ones that are sort of aligned with what you're doing. It is really expensive to be in the conversion business. And I would argue that you have a lot more fun and you'll make a lot more money selling your stuff to people that sort of believe and want more of what you've got versus having an argument or a debate with someone. There's a cost curve to that and it's just not as much fun. They'll come to you eventually, or not. So developing a manifesto is sort of a clear, concise, and punchy way. There's ways to do this that's sort of social media friendly to keep getting it out there, making it viral, making it happen. Question?
So just to be clear on that expensive part, the manifesto is you've got to be willing to go after a small set that's easy to have fun with and make money with. Let other people be upset about what you're saying. I'm just trying to understand what you— So there's 2 different pieces. What's the expensive one and what's the one you're telling us to do?
No, no, so to develop a manifesto is less expensive than writing a book or something. So it's a clear, concise way. But you have to do it. It's your general outlook on the world, right? And then you have to target it to people. But don't water it down. What happens too often is people have a point of view and a perspective and they're passionate about things. And they try to water it. I don't want to offend anybody. I want to include everybody. No, bullshit, right? It's like, if you're everything to everyone, that's vanilla ice cream, man. Who wakes up craving vanilla ice cream? We wake up craving Ben and Jerry's. Do something with it.
Well, then if that's the case, and let's say you've got the big idea, it's bold, it's assertive, it's focused, et cetera, and you know it is going to ruffle feathers, then when you go in to present this, market this, You know, I guess my first thought is how is your approach going to keep them from going, oh, forget it. You know, we can't— like I'll take corporate America, okay. Corporate America is so concerned about offending anyone, they will do anything, right? And so if that's the case and you've got a little bit of a— not a radical idea, but off the norm.
Yeah.
How do you position that?
So first of all, not all corporate America is afraid of everything. There are a ton of innovative, creative, powerful companies that take on new ideas. The first place I would go with something big and crazy and radical probably wouldn't be John Deere Tractor Company.
Right.
So find the like-minded. Isn't it more fun to talk to clients that get and dig what you're saying? How many of you have spoken to actuaries? Except for you, right? You know what I'm talking about. You want to be with your peeps. You want to be with your tribe. Don't try to water it down.
