What happens when the expertise that built your reputation needs to serve a bigger role?
She had built exactly what she set out to build.
A respected law firm. A thriving practice. A reputation for being exceptionally good at what she did.
There was just one problem.
Every time someone introduced her, they introduced her as a business attorney.
Which was completely accurate.
And increasingly incomplete.
She wanted to speak more. Teach more. Educate entrepreneurs. She had ideas about business and entrepreneurship that reached well beyond legal work.
But the better known she became for her expertise, the easier it was for people to put her in that one box.
That’s a strange problem to have.
You spend years becoming great at something, and eventually your success at that thing can make it harder for people to see everything else you’ve become.
Then she said one sentence.
During our work together, she said:
“I just want them to be happy in their business.”
There it was.
That wasn’t legal advice.
It was the reason she cared about the legal work in the first place.
She cared about the people building businesses, the lives those businesses made possible, and helping entrepreneurs protect what they were creating.
The law was how she had been doing that.
It didn’t have to define the entirety of who she was.
Once we saw that, the strategic question became much clearer.
What should she carry, and what should the firm carry?
The firm had earned its reputation for excellent legal work. There was every reason to build on that.
Her opportunity was larger.
She could become a public voice for the ideas behind the work through speaking, teaching, media, advocacy and relationships.
That also created an interesting business outcome.
Instead of her value to the firm being measured primarily by the clients she personally served, she could increasingly create value through the opportunities, relationships and reputation she generated for everyone else.
She could become a rainmaker while gradually carrying less of the caseload herself.
That’s a very different future.
And it was sitting inside something she had already told me:
“I just want them to be happy in their business.”
Her contribution had become bigger.
There’s an important distinction there for founders.
Sometimes the thing you built is still doing exactly what it should be doing.
You’re the one who has evolved.
And if the marketplace continues to understand you primarily through the thing you built, eventually there can be a gap between your earned reputation and the contribution you’re now capable of making.
That gap can show up as frustration with your positioning.
It can show up when the speaking opportunities you get keep reinforcing the same expertise.
Or when you hear your introduction and think:
Yes. That’s me.
But there’s more.
That feeling is worth paying attention to.
The next chapter may already be there.
People just can’t see it yet.
A Client’s Perspective
“I’ve spent my career helping executives and companies find the right words. Turning that mirror on myself proved much more challenging, like trying to read a label from inside the jar. Hersh changed that in a single conversation. He didn’t hand me a polished pitch or a better résumé. He listened, found the pattern running underneath a variety of tactical and leadership roles, and helped me see the core of not just what I do but how it helps businesses grow and succeed. I came in wanting to prepare for a few important meetings. I left with clarity about my own value and the confidence to communicate it, leaving the audience with an accurate impression of exactly how I can help. That’s a different kind of outcome that’s lasted well beyond the conversation. If you’re an accomplished leader whose story has outgrown your job title, talk to Hersh.” – Amanda Burk CEO, AB Advisory
Tip of the Day
Amanda’s “label from inside the jar” is worth remembering.
When you’ve spent years inside your own expertise, the things that make you unusually valuable can become the things you’re least likely to notice. They feel ordinary because they’re ordinary to you.
Ask someone who knows your work well:
“What do you see me doing consistently that I probably take for granted?”
Then listen.
You may hear the beginning of a much better explanation of why people come to you.
If this feels familiar
Sometimes you have simply outgrown the way people currently understand you.
The Authority Sensor™ is a short, focused conversation with me to understand what people are actually encountering when they meet your work.
The goal is to notice what may be getting missed, and what all of your efforts are actually amplifying.
Schedule yours → https://calendly.com/hershbrand/the-authority-sensor