0:00 Welcome to own your impact. The podcast designed to help you transform your expertise into a platform of purpose and influence. I'm your host, Macy Robison, and I'm here to help you uncover your authentic voice, create actionable frameworks and build a scalable platform that turns your ideas into meaningful impact. We have been on quiet journey together over these past several episodes, exploring the distinct patterns of expression that shape how thought leaders naturally communicate their expertise. So we've covered this in the last few episodes, starting back in episode seven, talked about all 10 of these thought leadership archetypes that accompany my resident thought leadership system. So you can go back to episode seven if you want the broad overview. In episode eight, we talked about the resonant orator and the wisdom writer. In episode nine, the Digital Learning architect and the experience facilitator. In episode 10, we talked about the transformational guide and the strategic advisor. And in Episode 11, we talked about the visual thought architect and the research innovator. And today, in Episode 12, we're going to explore the final two archetypes in this system, the category creator and the principled practitioner. These two archetypes don't just participate in the conversation, they fundamentally reshape it, either by challenging conventional wisdom or by embodying principles so deeply that their lives become the messages that they're teaching. So if you've ever found yourself questioning assumptions that everyone else accepts as truth, or if you found yourself naturally wanting to test ideas through personal experimentation before teaching them, this episode is going to help you hone in on where your authentic genius really lies. Now I'm very excited to talk about the category creator, this archetypes, primary expression, like I said, comes through these paradigm shifting perspectives. They challenge conventional wisdom. They create revolutionary approaches that create entirely new categories of how to approach thought leadership or how to think about the topics that they cover. So when I think about core resonance here, there are some qualities that stand out. They have a natural contrarian thinking that questions assumptions that other people just take for granted. They usually have a bold, distinctive voice that stands out from other conventional approaches. They have a provocative communication style that captures attention. They just have their own way of doing things, they have this very visionary perspective that allows them to see possibility that others miss. I am working with a category creator right now, and when I tell you I was so grateful to have these archetypes as part of the resonant thought leadership system, I developed them after a conversation with a couple of my friends at a mastermind we were talking about commercialization and and one of them said, Didn't you reverse engineer a whole bunch of you know, business models and commercialization, that's what I'd love access to. And as I started going down that rabbit trail, realized that I'd already developed some archetypes based on different thought leaders and had named them. And thought, I'm just gonna dig in here. I think these archetypes are the way to go, so just following my curiosity, came up with these 10. And I remember looking at the category creator in the list and thinking, I don't know if I know anyone like this, but the examples that it gave were folks like Clayton Christensen, who is such a revolutionary thinker in terms of his approach to management thinking, created a whole new category, a whole new way of investing, whole new way of approaching things because of his work with disruptive innovation. So it was his his actual content itself, and the way he approached it made him a category creator, or someone like Seth Godin, who is so unique in terms of how he shows up as a thought leader. He writes books, yes, he creates such unique products. If you look at the things that he's done, he's created his own category of thought leadership. And anyway, as I started working with this client that I'm working with now, took my typical approach to walk through things, had them take some of the assessments that I start with, started looking at how we wanted to show up with the book that they were writing. And it wasn't that I was hitting dead ends like we were uncovering things. I just kept hitting resistance. They did not want to do things the way that everyone else does them. It was a fundamental part of their platform and what they were trying to create in terms of their approach to their topic, and it was really about two weeks into working with them that I developed these archetypes and realized, oh my goodness, this client is a category creator, and it has helped me fundamentally shift the way we approach everything. So we've got the messaging figured out for this client. We have an approach. They're working on a book, but every time we look at a connection strategy or a business model strategy, we almost do the opposite of what everybody else is doing, not for like being contraries sake, but because when we try to post on LinkedIn in the way that everybody else posts on LinkedIn, it. Doesn't work. It doesn't work for this client. It doesn't get the results. And not just like, I'm not being patient. You have to be patient. You have to be consistent. But it's not that, it's that it doesn't resonate as a performer, you can tell when people aren't with you, you know by the way they're responding, you know by body language, you know by what's happening if you're looking around and paying attention, and that's the best way I can describe what happens when we try stuff that works for 80% of people to connect or to create a commercialization strategy. It just doesn't work there. They are literally creating a new category and approach to their topic, much like Clayton Christensen, much like Seth Godin. Now I don't know where this client will end up in terms of their acclaim and being known, but the approach is very much this category creator approach, and as we've embraced it, it's been game changing. The book is coming to life. We were figuring out ways to monetize their approach. It's just really, really cool to see. So if you're hearing me tell that story about my client, and you're wondering if you're a category creator, here's some questions to think about. Do you naturally question assumption that other people take for granted? Do you look at a topic like, I don't know, something like marketing, and think, Well, everybody does it this way, and they're making these assumptions, but this is how I believe marketing works, and you're just going in a different direction, again, not for the sake of going in a different direction to just be contrary, but because you genuinely believe like it's going this way. Do you see connections between ideas that other people maybe consider unrelated? Do you really find yourself frustrated with the limitations of conventional thinking in your field? Are you energized by creating new approaches that no one has seen before, rather than improving existing ones? If these resonate with you, you might be a category creator. So the way they develop their transformational IP, it's kind of fascinating. They don't just create better content. They create different kinds of content. Intellectual Property really centers on disruptive concepts that challenge the status quo. The principles they teach could be considered controversial ideas, or way out of the box, ideas that question fundamental assumptions in their field, like, if everybody is saying one thing, this person is saying the opposite thing, and truly believe it. So the principles they're teaching, they're trying to call out the people who feel like them. Seth Godin always says people like us do things like this, that is who they are calling to. Their practices are often alternative approaches that demonstrate a new paradigm. If everybody is doing things with an online course, they're going to do a 12 month in person experience that's going to really cement what they're teaching. The processes and the practices inside that container aren't just going to be normal. Let's gather and let's talk. Let's share our win. They're going to come up with specific new practices that rise from those principles they've been teaching their processes or methodologies that embody this new category they're trying to create. And the frameworks, if they they create them, they are models that define and organize this new category of thinking. So Seth Godin came up with permission marketing, the Purple Cow concept, the alt MBA, and all of his courses that he teaches with akimbo that he's done over the years, they're not just online courses. You get in there and you create things with people, which doesn't sound that revolutionary, but it's so different from the way other people are creating content for classes, for courses online, and everything he does is that way. I have one of his books that was a special edition of a book that came out several years ago. It's his blog, and it's this book is probably two feet tall. It's probably a foot and a half wide, and it's probably eight inches deep. It's massive. It sits on my top shelf, on the bookshelf behind me, just to remind me there's a lot of ways that you can do things, not to mention his his central platform is primarily writing. That's how he shows up and expresses his thinking. So there's some wisdom writer there as a secondary archetype, but he is a category creator. He writes every day. He does not post on social media. He does not do a lot of the things that other people do. I have another friend who's a thought leader and an author, John Meese, who I also consider a category creator. He just has the ability to come up with different ways of doing things and names them and claims them, and, you know, his connection strategies. He does not do social media. He does a lot of teaching. He does a lot of guesting on podcasts. He speaks a lot of the things that when everybody else is zigging, he's zagging, and he's not doing it on purpose. He's doing it because that is who he is. That is how he's wired. Clayton Christensen with disruptive innovation theory, jobs to be done. Framework, he has an institute that is continuing his work. And both of those concepts, those approaches, those frameworks, came from such. Interesting research and observation and taking a different view of things that people weren't noticing, and they've changed the way we look at so many different things. So it's not just unique ideas. There are a lot of folks out there with unique ideas. It's creating new strategic categories fundamentally rewriting the rules of the game. For other people, it's not just a better version of what already exists. They make existing approaches seem limiting or obsolete, and they're often not setting out to do that. They just can't do it any other way. For the central platform, category creators really need to develop a distinctive platform with strong category positioning. They might have a manifesto centered content strategy. They might compare tools that highlight different categories, case studies demonstrating this category they've created and how effective it is. I think of W chan Kim and Renee malberjan with blue ocean strategy that is a fundamentally different way of thinking about market competition, and they've got a ton of case studies and frameworks on their site showing how you can find your blue ocean and create a strategy around it. They create movement, building elements that encourage adoption, and all of that is part of their central platform. They want you to come to them connection strategies. They can sometimes leverage contrarian content. There's a group on substack called category pirates, which the fact that they're on substack doing the things that they're doing, really is a category creator people have tried to copy them what they're doing. They exist in this category creation lane, and have done that in their careers, and have come together to create something completely new. So the way they connect, the way they set up their sub stack, all of that is so fascinating. It's a combination of their connection strategy and their central platform. Category creators, they try to demonstrate the relevance of their category. They encourage early adopters to get on board and evangelize their approaches. They often do a lot of speaking and writing that challenges established thinking. But again, those are secondary archetypes. They can't help but do what they're doing as category creators for commercialization. They typically build their business model around this premium positioning based on category ownership, implementing this methodology, certifying other people in these approaches, sometimes creating courses, speaking, going in, and transforming organizations using their frameworks. But what really distinguishes them is what I said before. It's the ability to establish entirely new categories of thinking. It's not just part of their work. It is the primary expression and the essence of their thought leadership and what they do. They think that way first, and they communicate that way. They use writing, they use speaking, they use other modalities to get this category creation out into the world. But at their core, they are trying to fundamentally do something new. Okay, now let's look at our final archetype, the 10th one, the principled practitioner. This archetypes primary expression comes through the lived demonstration of ideas. They teach principles and practices that are derived from their personal experimentation and documented implementation. This is not just the teaching which is more the digital learning architect. The digital learning architect structures educational experiences to help people transform this principled practitioner. They are experimenting on themselves, first, their core resonance, their stories, the way they line up their strengths, the way they express themselves, it's just leans toward a natural, experimental mindset and an iterative approach. They embody the principles they teach. There is no gap between what they say and how they live. They share their implementation journey transparently, often online. They include successes and failures, and they have a very straightforward, evidence based communication style. I have a client right now who is different client than my category creator, but this one is a principled practitioner. Through and Through, he lives what he's teaching in such a cool way. He's always running experiments, doing them in real time online. So much of that desire and drive to express himself that way comes from the drive to want to improve what he's doing to want to get better. Every day he tries different approaches, documents them, and then will turn around and teach them. He's learning from other people, trying what they're teaching, and then, you know, letting other people know who listen to him. If this is a unique approach, and we're in the process of developing his own framework and approach, it's been really cool because he has embodied it all along. And so sometimes it feels really simple that we're uncovering. Of the practices and principles and processes that we are, and have a really great framework for him. He's working on a book as well, and, man, it's been so fun, because a lot of what unlocked it was realizing that he was a principled practitioner. Because once we identified this, it didn't feel like everything was so scattered. It was like, okay, everything aligns in this principled practitioner lane that people who come to you know you have tried this, you have done this. So if you're wondering if you are a principal practitioner, some things you might want to ask yourself, do you naturally test ideas through personal implementation before you teach them? Are you always drawn to documenting your successes and your failures as you experiment with different approaches, are you committing to teaching things that you have personally validated? Does your credibility come from lived experience instead of just credentials? If these questions resonate, you might be a principal practitioner. So for the transformational IP, principal practitioners develop content centered on the principles that they have validated through their personal testing. They're not just going to come up and teach something they haven't tried. Their principles are foundational concepts they've discovered through experimentation or they've tested through experimentation. Practices are different things that they have done that are based on those principles that align with the measurable results that they've achieved, processes are refined methodologies that draw from their experimentation. It's usually several practices that they've lined up that make that process even better, make that result even better, and any frameworks that they create are models that organize discoveries into teachable systems. So think about James clear with atomic habits, tons of frameworks in that book, tons of processes, tons of principles. He really wanted to create the seminal volume on habits, and he got to that place by needing to install his own habits to overcome some of the things he was trying to overcome and accomplish the things he was trying to accomplish. And he documented that on his blog for years, then expanded it into a best selling book, and then he's also got a few implementation tools here and there. If you look at his site, he's got an app. He's got some other things, but it all comes back to the things that he has experimented with and documented. Cal Newport, with his deep work methodology, he has practiced and documented every single thing that he teaches in his books. Tim Ferriss is another great example. All of his four hour Series books are about uncovering best practices. He says that on his podcast, the conversations that he has are about uncovering best practices as he is talking to people who are world class, and he takes those and and pulls them in, like his newest books, like tribe of mentors, those are best practices that he has gleaned from conversations and then has tested. What makes these examples and these people powerful isn't just that they have good ideas, they've personally validated the concepts that they teach through experimentation before they teach it to others, and that makes their work resonate at a deeper level, because it's born from lived experience instead of theory. For their central platform, principal practitioners need experience centered platforms that document and show how they're implementing things they might have a lab style content that show experiments or failures or refinements before and after, case studies. Maybe a resource library of implementation tools, some sort of way to show their evolution of their thinking and their methodology, their connection strategies typically leverage behind the scenes content revealing actual implementation. I have a friend who's an amazing podcaster, Monica packer, about progress. You should listen, especially if you want to learn how to balance all the competing things going on in your life. She's a working mom, and I love her social media because her connection every day is behind the scenes like here's my clean ish kitchen. Did the best we could for what we had. Here's how I showed up in exercise today. Here's how I'm budging. And she documents everything. And it's so fascinating to get a glimpse into what is working for her and what she is testing, so that you can turn around and test those things too. And as a connection strategy, it's really powerful, because if you see what she's doing on social and you decide you want to listen to the podcast or you want to be a coach client of hers, it's because of the living through the things she's trying. It's really, really cool to see having a community of fellow experimenters that follow and share their results and collaborate and test and refine. Those are different ways that folks who are principal practitioners Connect for commercialization. They typically build their business around books and resources that document their proven approaches. Most of the people that I mentioned that you may have heard of, like Tim Ferriss, like James clear, it's books. They started with books or other resources that document their proven approaches. They might also have implementation focused training programs like walk you through their system that they've refined tools and systems that support practical application consulting based on documented experience and learning communities where people can come together and center on a shared practice. What really distinguishes this archetype, though, is that the thought leaders personal implementation experiment. Documentation form the core of their credibility and their methodology, their IP emerges from personal testing, not theoretical development, and their platform features that transparent documentation of their own process. So when I look at these side by side, they differently again, approach thought leadership in a different way, but there's a similar underlying pattern. Both create transformation by leveraging natural strengths. It's just that the strengths are different. So category creators, they create impact by challenging fundamental assumptions and creating new paradigms. They see things that other people don't see, and then they choose to rewrite the rules of the game. Principled practitioners create impact through rigorous personal experimentation. They transparently document what's going on. They don't just talk about principles. They live them so completely that their existence becomes proof of concept. Trying to force a category creator to focus on incremental improvements is probably going to drive them crazy, and pushing a principled practitioner to teach concepts they haven't personally validated is definitely going to feel inauthentic. It's just not going to feel like them, and they won't want to do it. They will feel like they're lying to people if they haven't tested it. And this is why you've got to understand your archetype as you're building a thought leadership platform. It gives you permission to embrace those natural strengths. It helps you align your core resonance and the thing that magnetizes you to other people, your content, your transformational IP, your central platform where people come and find you and connect with you, the connection strategies that bridge people over to your central platform from other platforms. And your commercialization model, how you are able to generate revenue from all of these things. And when everything in your thought leadership business flows from your natural strengths, you have effortless impact. It doesn't feel exhausting. The right people show up, the people that are your people to serve, find their way to you, and you don't feel like you're building something that drains you every day. It feels energizing. It feels like you want to do this for free forever, but we've figured out a way to help you commercialize it as we conclude our exploration of these 10 thought leadership archetypes we've had over these last few episodes. I'm going to emphasize this again. I'm not trying to put you in a box by giving you these archetypes. Seeing this especially to you, if you're listening, you know that you're a category creator. This is not about putting you in a box. This is about giving you a place to start. It's an understanding that your ideas belong and we can find a space for them and a home for them, and a way for you to find the people that you really are perfectly positioned to serve, and then you can expand from there. Because a category creator can definitely improve existing systems. A principled practitioner can certainly show up as a writer, as a speaker, as some of the other archetypes. But the key is starting with your foundation around your natural strengths, and then expanding thoughtfully from there. So if you're a resident orator who thrives through speaking, a wisdom writer who creates impact through written content, a digital learning architect who builds those comprehensive educational journeys, an experienced facilitator who creates transformative group experiences, a transformational guide who connects deeply one on one, a strategic advisor who solves complex organizational challenges, a visual thought architect who translates complex ideas into visual models and frameworks. A research innovator who makes evidence practical, a category creator who challenges conventional wisdom. Or a principled practitioner who embodies the principles that you teach your greatest impact that you can own will come from embracing these natural strengths instead of fighting against them or copying someone else's success. It's got to come from you, and I'm so excited to remind you that I've just launched my thought leadership archetype assessment. This is a free assessment that will help you uncover and discover which of these 10 you probably have an idea after listening to these episodes, but I would love to have you take the quiz and see if the assessment aligns with what you were thinking and how it reveals your thought leadership style and gives you a chance to look at some actionable strategies to leverage it for greater impact, because when you understand and embrace your natural thought leadership style, it really can save you years of frustration trying to follow approaches that don't match how you naturally communicate and want to show up. It gives you the opportunity to create content with greater ease and flow. Because you're leveraging your authentic strengths, you're able to build a platform that feels energizing instead of draining, you can stand out in your field with a distinctive voice instead of blending in, you can find that singer's formant gap for your thought leadership and fit in there perfectly, because you know where to start. Your most powerful thought leadership does not come from imitating other people. It emerges when you amplify your authentic voice and then add deliberate strategy. So this assessment is totally free. It's available now at Macy robison.com, forward slash quiz. That's M, A, C, y, r, O, B, i, s, O, n.com. Forward slash quiz. I've also got the link in the show notes, and I would love for you to check it out. You. Now in our next episode, we're going to shift back to core resonance, back to where we began, but we're going to look at it with a critical focus, how to stay true to your natural genius and authentic voice, even when your progress seems painfully slow, because the most dangerous moment in your thought leadership journey is not when you face criticism for your ideas, it's when you abandon your authentic voice because the world isn't responding as quickly as you expected it to I'll share some strategies for maintaining your alignment with your core resonance during those inevitable periods when it feels like no one is listening. And we'll look at how to recognize some of the subtle ways you might drift from your authentic expression in search of faster results and make sure we can stay aligned and true to who you are. Thank you for listening. I will meet you back here next time. Thank you for joining me on own. Your impact. Remember, there are people out there right now who need exactly what you know, exactly how you'll say it. Your voice matters, your expertise matters. And most importantly, the transformation you can help others create matters. If today's episode resonated with you, I'd love for you to become part of our growing community of thought leaders who are committed to creating meaningful impact. Subscribe to the podcast, leave a review and share this episode with someone you know who is ready to amplify their voice. And if you're ready to dive deeper, visit Macy robison.com for additional resources, frameworks and tools to help you build your thought leadership platform with intention and purpose, and remember, your ideas don't need more luck, your ideas don't need more volume. Your ideas need a system, and I'm here every week to help you build it. I'm Macy Robison, and this is own your impact.