Sunday, January 5, 2025
What do you do, if you are one of those people who have two very distinct areas of expertise?
After all, a well-known expression is that you “get rich in the niche”, suggesting that if you do not have exceptional focus, you will never develop the reputation – or the riches – for being known as an expert in anything. When you have two distinct areas of expertise, this seemingly is a problem.
To address this challenge, there are two alternative approaches:
- Pick your lane: Picture an automobile that straddles the left-turn lane and the through lane. No one is sure if they are turning or going straight. On the business front, it’s not just that others don’t know what to make of you. There is double the professional development, double the marketing, and double the stress, trying to keep up, sell, and deliver in your two completely different business areas. The solution: drop the weaker area, and put all of your efforts in only one. Bonus: This differentiates you from the generalists, and improves your competitive positioning.
- Live at the Intersection: This strategy discards the notion that picking a lane is optimal: after all, why discard any attribute that can differentiate you relative to the competition? If you have expertise in both marketing and wealth management, why not position your thought leadership at the intersection of the two: Marketing IN the wealth management industry? OR Wealth management for people in the Marketing sector? If you are an expert in litigation, and an expert in intellectual property, why choose one of these as your “lane”, when becoming an IP litigator – the intersection – can be far more powerful?
This week’s action plan:
Many people haven’t explicitly picked their lane. And of those who have, most haven’t chosen their intersection. This week, choose yours. And if the lane doesn’t work for you, choose your intersection.
Thought Leadership Insight: As your knowledge deepens, it becomes even more powerful to live at the intersection of as many roads as possible – you literally can be a category of one. (IP litigator, who only works on biotech, and only works with with defendants who are based in the USA.)
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