What do you stand for?

Preeminent professionals have followers because they stand for something important to others. And in the era of the eight second attention span, that has to be something simple to understand and compelling.

In my case, most businesses and leaders are frustrated because they or their key ideas are being ignored by clients, prospects or those most important to their success. I help them get and keep the kind of attention that supports their most crucial business relationships. And that is a gamechanger in this environment.

So I stand for focussing on the few, entering the conversations taking place in their minds, and shaping ideas to resonate with them. This is heresy to the average leader or communication professional, who would rather tout their brands and positions on their own terms. And too often to anyone with a pulse, which means their ideas get so watered down they become bland and meaningless.

I recently put this approach to a PR Director with almost 100 professional staff, but whose company is largely disliked and little understood. I may as well have been speaking in Dutch.

So I have to make a stand daily, and sometimes painfully. But I’ve learned the results are worth it.

What about you. What do you stand for? Or what are you against that defines your professional practice?