Simple Takeaway:
Influential people embrace self-promotion. When you put yourself out there confidently and unapologetically to the world, you’re helping people solve problems – real problems with real consequences. And that’s certainly worth doing. Influential people understand that everyone is always “promoting” something through their words and actions; they just become good at it so they can use it for the betterment of others.
Influential people embrace self-promotion.
Non-influential people shy away from self-promotion out of misguided humility.
Here’s why self-promotion is important:
In society, people need things. Food, housing, education, transportation, friendships, counseling, mentorship, etc.
When people have choices, they need help deciding which things are best-suited to serve their needs.
Let’s say Jane Doe traditionally buys any old tires she can find, but for whatever reason she sees a marketing email from Firestone about their new run flat tire.
So she goes in and buys a pair, thanks in part to promotional emails she’s been “bombarded” with.
A month later while driving down the road with her small children in the car, she hits a nail.
Instead of her tire popping and her swerving off the road and hitting a tree, she drives safely down the road to the nearest gas station where she can call for help.
All because of her new run flat tires that were marketed to her.
Were those promotional emails from the tire company bothersome? Maybe in the moment.
But Firestone had a solution to a problem the world faces, and I guarantee you, sitting safely at that gas station, Jane Doe is thanking God for Firestone’s self-promotion.
When you put yourself out there confidently and unapologetically to the world, you’re helping people solve problems – real problems with real consequences. And that’s certainly worth doing.
There are people around you who need things.
Just like Firestone has a burden to communicate to the world the value they offer, you also have a burden to communicate your value to the world around you – even when it feels “sleezy” or like you’re being arrogant.
Generously communicating and giving what you’re afraid people will judge is the defining feature of people of influence.
When we go on a date, we dress up and put a mint in our mouth because we’re “promoting” ourselves. We’re not ashamed of that.
When we go to a job interview, we dress nice and try to say the right things because we’re “promoting” ourselves.
We’re almost always self-promoting, and that’s a good thing.
Influential people understand that everyone is always “promoting” something through their words and actions; they just become good at it so they can use it for the betterment of others.
Too many people shy away from putting themselves out there and being vulnerable, when in reality, we need to know how you can best help us, and that requires vulnerability.
So please don’t hold back, even if at times it feels “pushy”. That’s normal at times, but I promise it’s what people need.
Every major religion and political movement throughout history spread because of self-promotion.
Someone had an idea and they went out and told people who probably didn’t care to hear about it. But the fact that they did tell people about it changed the course of history.
Great leaders and innovators throughout history were only able to change as many lives as they did by first committing to the idea that what they had was worth “promoting” to the people around them.
They didn’t hold back.
Do you think they were uncomfortable and ruffled some feathers along the way? Absolutely.
And the world is a better place for it.