Every one of us has to travel that road by our own steps

Roark once told his young architectural apprentice: 

If you want my advice, you’ve made a mistake already by asking me. Never ask people. Not about your work. If prepared a hash of words to stuff into your brain, it would be an insult to you and to me. 

It’s an interesting perspective. Because it’s important to walk with the wise and ask questions and breathe in help and feel supported. But in the end of the day, the only steps that matter are the ones we take all by ourselves, to quote one of my favorite songs. 

That’s the key difference between leaders and followers. They don’t ask for a show of hands, they just say, get out of the way, here it comes. Leaders have the courage to stand on the verdict of their own minds, follow their inner guide even though they look like an idiot and risk alienating those who don’t understand, and change the world forever. 

Which is a terrifying prospect. But the good news is, if it’s never been done before, nobody can tell you what the demands are. Freedom asks us to invent our own steps. Or better yet, our own leaps. 

When I was in college and got the idea to write a book about nametags, I didn’t arrange a focus group on in which a group of campus leaders and influencers were asked about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs, and attitudes towards the product. I didn’t submit a draft to a peer review committee for feedback on the overall direction of its marketing initiative. 

I just wrote the book, hired my friend to design the cover, printed a few thousand copies, hot glued two free nametags in the back of every book and starting giving them away to anything that moved. 

And nobody said a word. They just cheered me on. 

Because it didn’t matter how good the content was. The context was more significant. Seventeen years and three dozen books later, I’m still here. 

It’s simple. 

Either you ask who’s going to let you, or you wonder who’s going to stop you. 

LET ME ASK YA THIS… 

Whose advice have you outgrown?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS… 

For the list called, “99 Ways to Think Like an Entrepreneur, Even If You Aren’t One,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.  

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

Never the same speech twice. Customized for your audience. Impossible to walk away uninspired.

Now booking for 2017-2018.

Email to inquire about fees and availability. Watch clips of 

The Nametag Guy in action here!