Claim your victory
“Modesty isn’t always the best policy, shine a light on your good work”
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Claim your victory
Entrepreneurs fall roughly into two categories – those who love to shout about their success, and those who are more modest.
Examples include the bold, brash “shine a light on me” leaders such as Elon Musk (Tesla), Steve Jobs (Apple) and Donald Trump (Trump Inc) and the quiet media-shy leaders such as Phil Knight (Nike), Warren Buffet (Berkshire Hathaway) and Sipho Nkosi (Eyesizwe)…and the many thousands of successful entrepreneurs whose names we don’t even know.
The question is, which one is better? That loud-talking self-promotor or the quiet media-shy decision-maker? It depends on what you want in life. There are lots of downsides to being famous- not being able to walk in the street without being photographed, or being unable to sit down at a restaurant in peace.
But the truth is that people do need to know about your business! They need to know what’s good about you and your brand – so speaking up and shining a positive light is an essential part of the job. The important thing is to do it right.
The following points are part of my personal PR checklist
- Know why. Be clear why you are speaking up and claiming your success, and what you want to achieve by it
- Be authentic. Play to your strengths. Don’t go on TV if it terrifies you!
- Shine a light on others. Rather than hogging the stage and talking all about yourself (which is off-putting for the audience) – use PR to build relationships with others and strengthen beneficial ecosystems.
- Let others tell your story. What others say about you carries more weight than what you say about yourself.
- Be honest. Resist the temptation to exaggerate your success because that can break the trust of your audience and trust is as precious as oxygen to a business.
