Making Magic

The cluster strategy is how we, as subject-matter experts, take our ideas to the world. You could think of it as a strategy, but that both overstates/understates it at the same time.

It overstates it because a cluster is really just a hypothesis. You’re forming an early sense that this message, whatever it might be, will resonate with these people, however you might define them, in this way. The three elements (message, market, method) help you form that hypothesis. At its heart, the cluster is about taking something within you, sharing it with others in a way they value.

It also understates it because at some level, this is about making magic. You could call it manifesting, but really, we’re creating containers of possibility through our clusters.

When you lead with method (coaching, speaking, training, mentoring), you’re leading with process. That’s a mistake in the game of sharing expertise. You want to lead with message.

When you lead with a message, you’re sharing a perspective. When you lead with method (process), you become a commodity. The value you offer becomes comparable to anyone else using the same process. You see this when large organisations put experts on coaching panels, they’re not buying perspective, they’re buying capacity.

To lead with perspective is to put a proposition out into the world that people choose to respond to, or not. It’s deeply invitational.

When you approach the commercialisation of your expertise from that invitational stance, your conviction becomes magnetic. It’s what attracts inbound opportunities.

So here’s the practice: look at the clusters you’re working on right now. Are they led by message or method? If they’re led by method, flip them. Lead with your point of view, not your process. That’s how you make magic, by sharing what you think, believe first, letting the work follow.

Warmly,

Matt

PS: If you would like our curriculum handbook for creating commercially viable clusters, simply email me with a little bit about what you're offering to the world, where you live and what drives your work. Seriously, I will personally read it and reply. Our Business School is a mentoring proposition and requires that we have a sense of each other.