At what point teaching knowledge to others becomes a bad idea?

Where we agree: that there is, wired into the brain of a lucky few, a portion of knowledge that is indefinable and unquantifiable and undetectable, not only to others but to the owners of such knowledge, making any endeavour to share it rather a non-starter. Film students have for years analyzed and reanalyzed the Shower Scene in Psycho and I dare say none of them will be considered the new Hitchcock any time soon. Likewise, Shakespeare, whose works have been torturing English literature students for decades, can rest easy in his "muddy death." The new Shakespeare has yet to arrive. (He never will.) Simon Cowell might call it the "X Factor." Whatever name you give it, this is what it amounts to: you can give two people the same knowledge and the same life experiences and yet one will pick up a paintbrush and bring the world to its knees, and the other will watch Monty Python reruns and chew a Mars bar.

Where our agreement diverges: the chap watching Monty Python reruns can bring the world to its knees by studying the work of his classmate. The difference between the two people goes beyond innate ability - where one might have a strong facility for painting and the other merely a bit of a knack - and into the indefinable, the unquantifiable, the undetectable. That special cerebral wiring that births Mozart one minute and Gaga the next; The Beatles, then Take That; Stephen King, then Stephenie Meyer. In a very practical sense, and back from my flights of fancy and landing feet firmly in the current IM landscape, this can all be understood by use of a modern day example: before even an experienced marketer can duplicate the success of Facebook.com, he must first understand how that success came about, what went into Facebook.com, not merely the site itself but everything, and elevated it beyond the norm. Fox Mulder would say, and he would agree with you, Kilgore, "The truth is out there." I, as you already know, would disagree. Instead, I would say much of the truth is out there. The implication being: not all of it is available. And how can I be so certain? Simple. Who among us will give birth to the next Facebook? I know it won't be me. I'm good, but not that good.

But how about secrets that can be taught? Here we talk not of unknown and infinitely complex cerebral wiring that separates Milton from Meyer, but secrets gathered that are, in contrast, definable, quantifiable, and detectable. It would, in one sense, be a misnomer to suggest such secrets are in fact secrets at all, since knowledge of them might be in existence beyond the teacher in question, scattered throughout books or the heads of others or indeed many other locations. It depends, however, on your understanding and usage of the word secret. The Knights Templars are, for instance, in possession of various secrets, and millions of other similar examples can be given. A secret is defined as "something that is kept or meant to be kept unknown or unseen by others." When I was 10 my friend Daniel and I shared a secret. Toby would arrive for breakfast each morning at least an hour before anyone else because he was lactose intolerant, and, Lord knows why he didn't have goat's milk instead, poured water on his Corn Flakes. I asked him why he didn't eat with everyone else. "They'd only poke fun," he said. It was a secret, not a particularly exciting one granted, known only to myself, Daniel, and Toby. A secret though.

I see a few marketers in the vicinity who likely hold their fair share of secrets. Not a one of us is a Hemingway or a da Vinci or a van Gogh, but we have our secrets, and not all are indefinable, and not all are jealously guarded. Some of our secrets have been worked out at 2 a.m while our family are fast asleep, some of them we paid to acquire, some were found either by chance or hard work (often hard work). When you break those secrets down into categories they number two. The first kind are secrets that are known only to a few; the second, somewhat more rare, are known only to the owner. A great many tiresome marketers in our industry manipulate the masses by promising secrets. "Learn the Secret to my Amazing PASSIVE INCOME Machine!" And whilst this practice undoubtedly makes us all seem about as trustworthy as your typical used car salesmen, logic, if you apply it, does diminish the negative impact. The logic being: if those two categories of secrets did not exist, then the IM playing field would be level, and if everyone worked just as hard, everyone would have the same results.

Unfortunately, hard work will only get you so far.

They say "It's not what you know, it's who you know." When it comes to IM, this is what I say:

It's what you know.

- Tom

I just love 'me' seeing those Sparring Partners give each other a big wet kiss after all the blood has been splattered about.

Makes me fool goosebumps on the back of my neck