I guess I never wanted to be a leader on the front line, a paradigm shifter. But sometimes life just puts you in circumstances where you have little choice. It’s no fun taking bullets or having to face the people who want to keep the status quo. It means getting smarter than they are, having the persistance to outlast them, and making friends with other thought leaders. I have no clue when to be a Tour Guide vs. Expedition Leader. Maybe you could give us more direction on this. It is an intriguing idea, I do things wrong most of the time. But, I guess the qualities of a leader are that you just keep moving, clearing the path into the jungle, and you keep second-guessing yourself every minute while you are swatting the mosquitoes. Damn.

The reality is that the masses do love list posts, but if you’re writing tour-guide style, you’ll attract people who want to go on tours. And those people are often a fickle audience. My sense is that, to hold your audience over time, you need to have at least some elements of expedition leadership, because expedition leadership requires audience participation and when people participate, if you’re providing ongoing value, they develop a real relationship that endures.

Most aspects of personal development get into Expedition territory anyway, and if you’re into expeditions and you want to attract readers who are into expeditions, then it can be useful (great post about useful/ interesting on your blog, by the way!) to adjust your style so that you write for people who want to go on expeditions.

Seth Godin is a great example. He’s been talking a lot about the fact that his latest book, Linchpin, is all about ideals, and he doesn’t give people a step-by-step guide on what to do. He’s an unapologetic expedition leader, and he tends to attract people who want to go on expeditions.
.-= Cath Duncan´s last blog ..Goal-Setting: Who’s Really In Control? =-.