Being the Best vs Being the Most Well-Known

What's the difference?

"There's a difference between being the best in your craft, and being most well-known for your craft."

Both are not mutually exclusive. But some of the smartest people I admire have a much smaller online presence compared to the gurus and influencers on social media.

They focus on the following:

• Building 1 to 1 relationships offline to get to know a few selected people well; Not just anyone who sends them a LinkedIn invite. And definitely not anyone who asks to catch up for a coffee to pick their brains.

• Always looking to hit their next personal high scores, rather than playing status games for vanity.

• Always looking to create something tangible to add to their own portfolio. Rather than spending time analyzing and commenting on others’ work. (At least 1/3 of the content we see on LinkedIn is “thought leaders” sharing their opinions on someone else’s work instead of their own.)

• Creating tangible work of their own means they can let the results do the talking for them when they eventually publish online.

• Unlike most gurus on social media, they don’t talk too much about hypothetical scenarios or what they're going to do next. They don’t dwell on their past performances too much either because there’s always a new high score to hit.

All stories have best before dates. And we don't get raises based on past performance, but rather on the value we offer moving forward.

So what type of impact do you want to have within your team and workplace? And do you want to be the best in your craft, or be the most well-known for your craft?

Have a great week ahead.