339: How to Stand Out in a Sea of Experts (and Be a Thought Leader)

Hey movers, it's Sally Z with Be Moved. Let's go create some talks that will move this world. We're gonna talk with amazing speakers, share tips, tricks, resources, and we are going to be moved so that our audience can be moved. This moved me. What is moving You. Hello, hello, hello. How is everybody doing? I was just on an awesome clarity call with somebody who is seeing all these other experts out there doing their thing and kind of feeling like, that's not what I want to do. They had this moment. They had this moment where it was like, I'm watching another expert up there and I don't totally agree with what they're doing. I actually wanna take people this direction versus this, this direction. And they felt this pull, this like, I wanna get out front. I have something to say. Actually, I believe a little bit differently. This is the beginning. Of making that shift from expert to thought leader. And that is what we are going to be talking about today. Because if you want to stand out in a sea of experts, you become a thought leader. Actually, we, we don't stay in expertise mode. Okay. Just expertise mode is not going to get you very far. And you know why? Because experts are just giving information, and you can get information free online right now. Okay? Like, if you just want information about how to, how to speak better, you can go on YouTube right now, you can listen to all of my podcasts, there's lots of free information out there that can help you. This is free information in lots of ways, right? If you stay in expert mode and you stay in giving information mode instead of really stepping into a different kind of presence, a kind of presence that you can scale your speaking with, that you can build your audience with, that you can build trust and connection with them. If you don't do that, you will just stay in workshop zone. Nothing wrong with workshop zone. I like workshop zone. I do a lot of really good work in workshop zone. But you won't have the impact that you can have. You will stay in brown bag lunch zone, right? Free lunches where you're going in and just excited to have an audience. That's a totally fine place to start. That's where many of us started. 10 years ago when I started speaking, that's what I was doing. And there's value in that zone. But when we talk about wanting to scale our impact, when we talk about wanting to move people in a different direction and not just become known around our expertise, but become known around an idea. Idea, it's going to tap into something else, something bigger, something that requires you to show up a little bit differently. That is what we are talking about today. So what I actually wanna do is share with you a few things that have made all the difference in the world. For me and my speaking business and things that I just told this lovely human who was on a clarity call with me recently about how she can begin to make that shift from expert into thought leadership. And the first thing that we're gonna do is we are going to build our messages with a story-first belief and a story-first Strategy and a Story First Mindset. What that means is we know that your ideas, your information, all that expertise that you do wanna pass along to people will be more effective if it's first attached to a story. So I just wanna show you something really quick. So let's look at this idea of story. All right, here we have a story. Okay, there it is. Okay. I like to think of them as moments. So if you have downloaded the Simple Story Framework, then you know we talk about stories as moments because it helps us get specific and helps us kind of hone in on one specific time when something happened versus talking generically. That's not a story. Okay, so let's think of it as a moment. Okay, this is a lovely story, right? You can tell that story and that's fine. But if you want it to be a persuasive story, if you want it to be a thought leadership story, it actually needs to be two things. We have the moment and the meaning. The meaning here, this is the, that's, that's the part where we like to talk at people. This is the part where we're like, here's the information. But without the story, it's like floating around without the persuasion. Okay, so we want it to be both. We want it to be a moment and a meaning. The moment importantly comes first. When we use a story-first approach, we are leveraging the persuasive power of story. And so it makes our information meaningful. It gives our information legs. I found this quote in Annette Simmons, The Story Factor. This is a great book. It's, it's kind of heady. It's a little— I read it for grad school. It's kind of grad school-y. Okay. But I found this quote in it and I think it's wonderful. She says, a fact is like a sack. It won't stand up if it's empty. To make it stand up, first you have to put in it all the reasons and feelings that caused it in the first place. In other words, our stories can't live alone in and of themselves. So along with using stories, we have to use them in the right place. First, we start with our story. We engage people emotionally. We get them to feel the idea before we go convincing them about the idea. That's what makes it persuasive. And when you approach your content in that way, when you build your signature talk with a story-first approach, when you show up on social media with a story-first approach, when you show up on your podcast and introduce yourself with a story-first approach, you are allowing people a chance to feel connected to you and to the idea before their brain comes in and starts going, mm, actually, I think this, and mm, I don't know about that, and I already have all these associations and beliefs and ideas connected to it. Stories keep us open to the idea. Before we have to blah, blah, blah, yappity yap at them, right? So it's a really powerful, important concept. We go story first. This is going to help you stand out from the sea of experts, and it's going to— this is what thought leaders do. They go story first, okay? Because they know how to persuade. People. That's what thought leadership is. It's persuasion in action versus just, I'm offering some information to you, you can take it or leave it. Thought leaders say, I have a belief, I have knowledge, and I want to mold you in this particular direction. Yes. Yeah. Okay. So story first, then we want to pair that story with what I call a service filter. Okay. In much like we just talked about the moment and the meaning and how important that pairing is, our story paired with a service filter. In other words, how can this story serve my audience? If we don't use a service filter, it can sound a little bit like Who cares? Okay? The story has to be resonant. When we use our service filter, it sets up that story to connect with the audience. Okay? Because they are looking for resonance. They're saying, what does this have to do with me? That is the question that audience members are asking themselves. So when we feel weird about telling our own story, it's because we haven't applied applied a service filter to that story. When we apply a service filter to our stories, it ensures it answers that question for them, and it makes sure that we have asked ourselves that question, like, why do they care? What, how can this story serve my audience? So then it's not just a story that we're telling because it feels good to tell, or just a story that we're telling because we remembered it. Those, those are entertaining stories. There are, there's time and place for that. I love a great entertaining story. I have so many stories that I am like, can I make this serve my audience? How can I make this serve my audience? Because I really wanna tell you these stories cuz they're ridiculous and funny or delightful in some way or tragic. And I want them to serve. You. So if it doesn't meet the service filter, it doesn't get told. Makes sense? Okay. Thought leaders are so consistent with their messages. They are using that filter so clearly because they want to become known around one particular idea. Eventually that ecosystem can grow and build, so you become known for multiple things, but at first you wanna become known around one idea. And so the service filter helps you keep focused on that, not just on the idea, but how can that idea serve my audience rather than it being a little bit more by the whims of the moment and the whims of your person and the whims of your feelings. It's like, well, we're going to use stories, but we're going to make sure that they meet The service filter. It sounds like a car, like mechanical thing. It's not what I'm talking about, but it really does. The filter is, does this serve my audience? Or how can this serve my audience? And once you know that, then it's very clear. Yes, I share this story. No, I don't. Okay. Thought leaders ensure that their stories are serving their audience. They're constantly applying their stories to their audiences. They have them in mind. They're taking them with them, like, oh, I'm, I'm gonna bring them with me out on this walk. I wanna see the world through the eyes of my audience, the people who need me. It's like a lens. It's the service lens, and it's gonna help filter out what gets in and what stays out. All right. And the last thing that thought leaders do, and this is the one that people are always like, oh, is they show up and they allow themselves to be seen. This is the vulnerability piece, right? Now, honestly, it does not mean, let me be super clear about this. It does not mean they get to see everything and that we don't have any boundaries and that we don't have any privacy. That is not what I'm saying. But we allow them, we allow our audience to see who we are. And when you show up with a story that is filtered, really truly given as a gift to your audience, and that allows them to see you, that's transformative stuff. It allows people to see kind of your inner workings and what's been hard, not just what's been easy and how everything works great, but just really a peek into who you are. That's when movement happens. That's when change happens. When people are kind of shaken out of the noise of everything and go, thank you. Thank you for showing me who you are. Your imperfection is what helps you stand out. We don't like to think about that, and we tend to put thought leaders up on a pedestal. And there are some thought leaders who don't want— they want to stay in the land of academia. They want to stay in the land of perfect and leadership. And this, this pedestal, it's kind of a TEDx pedestal, as somebody who has done one. And coached a lot of people on their 10Xs, it's really easy to get caught up in the piece that says, I have to do this a certain way or I will lose my credibility. I just haven't found that to be true. People are brought in to you when you allow yourself to really be seen. And what that means is in the big moments, we have to resist the urge to layer up and protect ourselves. We kind of have to allow ourselves to, to maybe be rejected. We have to allow ourselves to maybe like get the, you know, our butts kicked, to fail. But if we can do that, If we can really show up and not just like, show up, I'm doing it, I'm doing my thing, but show up and be seen, that's when the big stuff happens. And all of these things work together. It's not like a 1, 2, 3. It's an altogether. When we show up with a story-first approach, with the filter of how can this serve and love my audience in a way that isn't just surfacy and easy, but that is real so that you can really allow yourself to be seen. It's scary and powerful. On this call this morning, this amazing woman I was talking to was a parenting expert. She was like, I, this is, I'm ready. I'm ready for this. And I'm so scared. And I said, do you, do you know what you're scared about? And she said, it's just the bigness of this dream is scary to me. And that to me was a, a, a really beautiful peek into who she is. And allowing me to see that vulnerability lets me know that she's ready, but she's ready to do big stuff because she's like, I'm scared and I'm doing it anyway. Like, speak this, this moment, these moments aren't meant to be easy, but if you want to stand out. We don't apply this stuff like checkbox strategy, strategy. This isn't checkbox strategy. This is a check for yourself. Like, can I allow myself the vulnerability of using story first? It feels weird for people at first, but it is so powerful. Can I allow myself to do that? Have I really put my audience at the heart of my, of my content and the ways in which I show up to love them up? Do they feel that love, that service filter? And in this process, am I allowing myself to really show up and be seen by taking down some of the barriers that exist? You don't get to see all, you get a private life, you get boundaries. Uh, not everybody deserves all of the sorus. That is very true. But you know those ones that you're like, ooh, I think this will really serve my audience and I know I can use it in a powerful way to connect with people, but Do I have the courage to do it? And you do. It's in you because you're here. And this is the language that we use here. And so if you're listening to this and you're thinking about it, this is your sign. This is your push for you to do that. And truly, over the next few weeks, we're going to be talking more about a lot of these elements. Because we are leading up to our Story Impact event, which is on October 6th. If you don't have your tickets yet, tickets, they're free. Just, you've got to register so I know who's coming. Boom. You're gonna go to bmoove.com/storyimpact. I want you to grab your spot because it's going to be awesome. It's a half day. It's free. It's virtual. I'm going to be bringing in a handful of outside experts to come in along with my and we are gonna talk about how you can really show up and speak your story using a lot of these same strategies, a story-first approach, allowing yourself to really truly be seen and in a way that connects and serves your audience without getting lost in the overwhelm of content development. We can simplify it, which will allow you to leverage your story in a powerful way. We know stories are important. Sometimes the how keeps us from really doing the work that we can do and from scaling our speaking and from scaling our impact. So this is not just for beginners. This is— if you are a beginner, this is going to be really powerful and helpful. But even if you've been speaking for a while, Speaking is iterative. So you're coming back around and saying, what is the story that I need to be sharing now? And how can I put it to work in a structure that is persuasive, engaging, and potentially profitable? People, that is one of the key goals if we're gonna scale our impact. And scale our speaking, we can make it profitable. Not in a like schmoozy, schmaltzy, overly gross way, but in a way that allows you to have the impact that you want to have. That's what it's all about. All right. I hope this was helpful. Thank you for being here. Remember to grab your spot in the Story Impact, uh, events, and we'll see you soon. Bye-bye, everybody.