Choosing to Write a Book Changes Everything
By Gerald Sindell
When we choose to write a book we are taking the first
step to elevating the quality of our thinking.
When I was starting out in my consulting practice ten years
ago, I wrote a direct mail letter that was intended get
under the skin of my targeted clients: “There are
two kinds of consultants in the world—those who have
written a book, and those who haven’t.” At the
time I understood that a book was possibly the single most
powerful marketing tool a consultant might have. Now I have
come to realize I was seeing only a small part of what writing
a book accomplishes. It’s not that a book can change
a consultant’s business. It’s that choosing
to write a book transforms the consultant.
Consultants are fortunate people. As opposed to our full-time
employed brethren who toil within the same organization
for years at a stretch, consultants get out. They see things.
And they have the luxury of learning with every new engagement.
Clients expect consultants to know what’s new and
what’s working “out there” in the real
world. Consultants are like town criers, bringing the news
of the outside world to those at work in their fields and
shops. We should be aware of our unique status, and use
it.
Most of us think about writing a book because the time
has come to improve our status, or to fulfill the expectations
of our clients and colleagues. We hear the word “ought”
a lot, as in, “You ought to write your book.”
But that’s not the real reason to write a book. When
we decide to write, from the moment we make the commitment,
we will begin a transformation of ourselves. We will not
just change how others see us, but we will begin to change
the way we see ourselves.
As we develop our consulting skills, we have the opportunity
over time to help many kinds of organizations solve many
kinds of problems. Before too long, our knowledge of patterns
deepens, and we develop the ability to land in the middle
of a problem, recognize the pattern, and quickly apply our
skills. Sometimes, it’s almost too easy. People think
we’re geniuses. That’s when they say—“You
ought to write a book.”
Maybe they’re right.
What happens when you finally accept that invitation? You
begin to think about what you know, about the companies
you’ve helped, the situations you’ve been in,
and the range of solutions you’ve brought to the table.
You’ll begin to search for your underlying principles,
the things you know are true in every situation, the universals
of your knowledge that even though you’ve never until
now been able to articulate them, you’ve relied on
every day. You’ll start to search for them, and to
write them down.
Next you’ll think about those breakthrough instances
in which you experienced your own “Aha!” moments,
when you suddenly realized what was connected to what, or
when you saw there was a better way to do things. You might
feel at first that what you’re doing isn’t really
yours, since you’ve learned so much from so many others.
You aren’t ready to take credit for what you discovered,
but if someone were to ask you where it came from, at some
point you would have to admit it that much of it comes from
you.
Finally, when you start mapping out your book you will
experience the profound shift from being in that place where
you have vague boundaries around your intellectual property,
to a place where you can clearly see your own territory,
your franchise. You’ll be able to say to yourself:
“No, I don’t do everything, not at the moment.
But here’s the area that I’m strong in, where
I really know how to diagnose and solve what seem like intractable
problems. And when I fix them, they stay fixed—the
knowledge I bring becomes internalized in my client’s
organizations.”
When does this transformation happen? Almost at the beginning.
When you decide that the time has come to write your book
you will experience that first moment of pure panic when
you take out that yellow pad or open that blank Word doc
titled: “My Book.” The first thing you’re
going to realize is that books don’t write themselves.
You can stare at that screen for a year and it will stay
blank. So it’s important to put something down.
There are many good places to begin, and they are all about
differentiation. For instance, you could list all
the books that you might give to your clients so they might
be able to solve a problem themselves. Then you can look
at each of those books and see what’s missing. In
each instance, the missing is either in another book, or
it’s unique to you. When you have completed this process,
you will suddenly realize where your contribution is. You
will have made the distinction between the rest of the world
and you.
You will want to practice saying exactly what that thing
is, and the next time you’re explaining yourself to
a client or a prospective client, you will be able to clearly
say how you’ve moved the state of the art forward.
“I’ve created the best system for addressing
X, refined from my fifteen years of creating solution for
dozens of clients, large and small.”
Now that you are clear about what differentiates you and
your IP from the rest of the world, you’ll be ready
to brand yourself. And for the first time in your professional
career, you won’t be trying to synthesize your brand.
Instead, you will be able to develop your brand that arises
authentically from your newly discovered identity.
Your brand will be the expression of the real you. You’ll
rewrite that bland placeholder of a Web site of yours and
be able to state clearly what makes your contribution unique.
You’ll find that you’ll want to give away as
much of your knowledge as you can, since you now own the
franchise and you are the leader in continuing its development.
And you will discover that you’re inexorably moving
from a mentor relationship with those you learned so much
from, into a peer relationship.
Imagine—all this has come from simply choosing to
write your book. Now you know its structure, where the boundaries
of what you need to cover are, and you are clear on what
your reader needs to get from you in order to put your knowledge
to work (or call you in to do the job.) Finish that book
proposal, write that sample chapter (remember to choose
the fulcrum chapter, not an introductory one) and send it
off to an agent. Hopefully in twelve or eighteen months
your book will be in print. In the meantime, as you continue
to write it, you will grow, in reality, from author to authority.
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Gerald Sindell is a Principal with Thought
Leaders International, a firm with expertise in publishing,
editing, and marketing that consultants turn to for career
and corporate development. Find out more at www.ThoughtLeadersIntl.com.
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