“Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.”
—Napoleon Bonaparte
Are you an Authority, or just a person who is smart in public.
Before you answer, realize that information has been commoditized and is usually free. There’s no money in that.
If you’re an Authority, you job is to make decisions easy for your people.
An Authority simplifies things. Makes them clearer.
The authority business is the business of easy answers, black and white lines, and simple rules.
There is no gray, and it never, ever “depends.” Even when it does.
If you’ve ever taken any decent sales training, you know that most of the time, the process of making a buying decision results in no decision at all.
The status quo. The place with the least profit and progress.
They don’t want options. They want answers.
They can think of the options on their own, and you can do them the favor of eliminating the wrong options.
Give them context, and then lead them to the conclusions that you want them to arrive at.
An Authority does not simply inform. They’ve got Google for that.
Your job is to do their thinking for them, not just fill their heads with more facts.
Since when did information become helpful — and thus, valuable?
Do fat people need more information about diet and exercise? Nope.
Do heavy drinkers need more information about liver disease? Hardly.
The value in decisions is there because that’s the hard part. Not the information.
If you want to obligate people to you, make them follow you, make their decisions easy.