Subtle Self-Promotion for Humble Leaders

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As a book publisher, I've worked with my share of industry leaders (e.g. corporate executives, Olympic athletes) and I've noticed a common personality trait in the most successful of these people. They are truly humble individuals ... and this is a double-edged sword because, on the one hand, they are absolutely wonderful to deal with but, on the other hand, trying to get them to contribute to the promotion of their own books is next to impossible. They find self-promotion difficult and will often shy away from it.

I was discussing this issue with one of my colleagues today. I mentioned to him that I learned A LOT ... I learned a hard lesson ... from one of these authors a few years back. At that time, I made the incorrect assumption that, because this person was already in the public eye and getting a lot of publicity on her own, her book would automatically sell more easily than other authors' books. I recommended she print 2,000 copies of it based on that assumption--something I will NEVER do again. Because what I've learned from that experience is this: no matter who you are, no matter how much publicity you're already getting, unless you properly leverage that publicity by plugging your own book during all your interviews, then it's not going to sell very well ... if at all. And my efforts as your publisher will be equally unsuccessful. People can't buy something they're unaware of.

That's when my colleague sent me a copy of an article that seems to exude who these humble leaders are as individuals, and he gave me an idea of how to help them better promote their own books. First, here's the article: Why Servant Leadership Is, for Some CEOs, a Winning Approach.

Now here's the idea (so take note all you humble leaders out there who find yourselves shying away from self-promotion)...

Rather than promoting yourself as an author, promote a concept within your book instead. One of the most common concepts within a humble leader's book, I've learned, is the idea of helping others to achieve their goals and some of the best practices out there to motivate and inspire them. So, talk about that instead of talking about yourself. It feels better already, doesn't it? It makes the interview process much more comfortable for you.

What are some other angles these humble leaders can use to make self-promotion more comfortable? I'm opening up the floor here. We can all learn from each other.
#humble #humble leaders #leaders #publicity #selfpromotion #servant leadership #subtle #subtle self-promotion

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