Nobody Has the Whole Map

Nobody has it all figured out. The ones who seem like they do are just improvising with better posture.

A friend of mine shared something on LinkedIn this week that was just so good, I had to share it with my kids.

The short version: most people are just figuring it out. The executives? Improvising in nicer shoes. The leaders? Improvising with calendar invites. The people who seem calm? One bad group chat away from buying a cabin in the woods.

He can be very sarcastic sometimes, but this was different. It was clear, candid, and quite freeing.

There was a time not long ago when I couldn’t accept this kind of logic. I grew up believing there was a path. A right way to do things, a sequence to follow, and if you did it correctly, you'd arrive somewhere solid.

I've exhausted a lot of anxious energy in an effort to find that path and stay on it. WHen you have people depending on you, the importance gets magnified.

What I realize now, and I guess they call this growing up, is that energy is mostly misplaced.

The path doesn't stay the same. It shifts. You reinvent. You improvise. The people who seem to have it together aren't operating from some secret map you missed… they just got comfortable moving without one.

There are times when I get out of my own way, and I realize I'm actually pretty good at this. Thinking on my feet, jumping and believing the net will appear... It turns out that not boxing yourself in is pretty crucial to actually succeeding, and not just painting a pretty but unfulfilling picture that you hope other people will like approve of.

The permission to just... do things... is more powerful than any plan I've ever made.

This is the new Sunday dinner conversation, and something I’ll talk more about next week. In the age of AI, I believe everything’s gonna get smaller, more local, more niche. Our kids are going to have to hustle differently, and they need to learn to build those muscles now.

From the Field

Had a great workshop with the team at Promess this week.

We filled two wall-to-wall whiteboards with what they uniquely bring to the market, their sales process, and how to sharpen that process to better align their strengths with their customer base.

That's the work, and it's energizing every time. It was a real treat to work with this group.

The Shoutout

My OG LinkedInfluencer.

There are a lot of incredible coaches who will show you how to get the most out of LinkedIn. Brynne Tillman is doing something different. Every conversation I have with her ends with my palm against my forehead, thinking, "Yes, it can be that simple."

She mines her network's networks to find the people she can help. She asks if she can help while providing value first. Simple, direct, effective.

But here's what her biggest impact on me has been....

In 2022, I was on a call with her, just talking shop, but I was pretty frustrated at the time. She stopped me and asked a question: "What does it mean to Sell Like You? Give me a framework — like 5 Ways to Sell Like You or something."

I sat with that for a minute. Then I got to work.

A couple of hours later, the 7 Steps to Sell Like You were born. It became the framework I use with every client, the OS my entire business runs on, and that phone call laid the blueprint.

I’m glad I got to thank her publicly, and I can’t wait to tell her personally when we catch up next week.

The Nudge

The Promess workshop is a good example of what my work looks like in practice. Tough questions, candid responses, willing participants.

If you lead a sales team and want to do that work together, I'm booking workshops now.

Let's talk →

Cheers,
JB

P.S. You don't need the whole path. You just need to be willing to take the next step.