Trump, Sanders, and the dangers of carefulness

Here in the US we’re in the run-up to a presidential election… what? You already knew that?

On behalf of all US citizens and our government I want to apologize for the oversized shadow our media circus casts over the rest of the world.

It’s been strange, but I’ve watched in real fascination as a large numbers of people, including many folks who aren’t citizens, rise up to support Sanders. I have at least one Canadian friend who has been posting “President Sanders” Facebook posts several times a day.

With morbid fascination I’ve also been watching the rise of Donald Trump, as he replays frightening strategies from the fascist handbook, inciting violence among his followers, and making absurd, violent statements that rouse people to great passion.

Because these are the two candidates that have aroused the most passion in each party, (poor Clinton’s and Cruz’s rallies are much smaller, and less frequent), I think there is a real lesson to be learned here. And it’s a lesson I’ve pounded for a long time.

And I’m here to pound it again. It’s about the dangers of carefulness.

I know I’ve spoken about the car wreck of being authentic before, but that’s about caring for the tenderness of your process.

Here I’m saying you can trust that who you are is what people want. What I hear the most from reports of Trump supporters, is that he’s willing to “say it like it is.”

Then, on the Bernie Sanders side, for me the people I know, there is a deep relief in my body that I feel when he is willing to “tell it like it is.”

Both of them are totally willing to be themselves. They aren’t careful, they aren’t seen as being calculating about their image. And that engenders tremendous trust.

I just went back to Bernie’s website and tried to find a page that I saw there week or so ago, but I can’t find it. But I remember it. There was a headline, and it contained the word “YUGE!”

Which is, of course, Bernie saying “huge” with his Brooklyn accent.

I remember being slightly shocked to find a national politician having a sense of humor about himself. I smiled.

After writing the website, the real website

There’s a story about Steve Jobs and the design of one of the early models of the Mac. The design team came to him with a perfectly acceptable, totally workable “look” to the machine.

If I’m remembering the story accurately, he took a look at it, and told them something like, “This is totally acceptable. Start over.”

What he meant was: you’ve done something that works. It looks decent, and it’s acceptable. But it’s not us, it’s not Apple. Go do something that really wows me.

In Foundations2: Expand Your Reach we work with having folks write their web copy, building on the work they did on their Customer-Focused Story. And when people ask for feedback, I often say, “Okay, that’s fine. Now, how would you say this to your best friend if you were in a sassy mood? If you were unafraid of scaring anyone off?”

There’s a difference between acceptable and wow. There’s a difference between “large” and “YUGE!”

The difference is your presence. Your personality. You, being unafraid to be yourself. When that comes out, then your website, your programs, your everything starts to feel unique, starts to feel compelling and attractive and yummy in a different way.

What’s Your “Yuge”?

Whether it’s on your website or somewhere else, will you take one place where you show up in public, and then rewrite it as if you were totally unafraid of being you.

If you want to have the big rallies around your business, then bring a message that you care about, and deliver it in a way that shows you are unafraid to be you.

Ready for Accelerating Growth?

We have a brand new program out that is to help folks who are past start-up who are slamming into walls in their business- walls around income, walls around overwhelm, walls around mess. Walls around getting help.

It’s brand new, hands-on, live taught, and the topics are really the most unsexy in business imaginable… until you are facing them and know you need them. Then you can’t take your eyes off them…

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Each month in the Business Resources section, you will find a fascinating new Case Study for your review and perusal.

This month Meg Rinaldi is featured. Meg’s case study focuses on her inner transformation, and how she was able to work through the healing process even when it wasn’t comfortable at all.

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