Peter Winick explains when to project confidence and when to admit what you don't know. A little hubris signals expertise and reassures clients you can solve their problems. Humility matters in discovery, where you acknowledge gaps and show willingness to work.
Hi there, it's Peter Winick. I'm the founder and CEO at Thought Leadership Leverage, and here's the idea that I wanted to share with you today, and that's this: as a thought leader, as an expert, as an advisor, as a consultant, when are you showing hubris and when are you showing humility? Now, lots of folks don't want to show any hubris, but quite frankly, a lot of clients or prospects or people that are considering working with you are looking for a little bit of hubris to give them the confidence that you've got the expertise, that you've got the gravitas, that you've seen situations like that they are in now and can help them get through them in a better way, in a quicker way, in a way that's going to be fairly painless. Now, there are other times to show more humility as a thought leader. You don't want to be too cocky. You don't want to be perceived as arrogant. And you also want to be honest with them, right? So when you're in that front-end part of a conversation with a client trying to figure out What exactly is it they're hiring you to do? What is it they'd like to achieve? What would they like to get fixed? That's where you can be humble when needed and say, you know, I've never done something quite exactly like this before, but I'm willing to put in the effort. I'm willing to try the work. There are some things I've done that are similar, and I've got some tools and experience that should work. But let's be honest, I've never, you know, solved this problem in this exact way. with someone quite like the situation that you're in today. So anyway, question to ask yourself, when to show hubris and when you should show a little bit more humility as a thought leader. Love to hear your thoughts. Thanks, Peter.
