Professional Opinion
My expertise demands that I hold and share professional opinions, but that’s hard to do.
Some of you reading this might be of the impression that my opinions are easy to come by and shared wisely. That’s fair. It’s not as i I’ve been reticent in the past, especially when it comes to telling somebody that they are doing something wrong.
But, when it comes to putting those opinions on the Internet, where they will reside for ever and be visible to the whole world who will surely shower me in derision and scorn? Ah. That’s a little bit harder to do.
Who am I kidding? I just don’t do it - at all - if I’m able to avoid it. Take Simpletenders, for example.
I’ve owned the domain for years and at least a year ago, decided to have a ‘professional’ website in which I would share guides, helpful tips, all that stuff that I see done on the dreaded hellsite LinkedIn over and over again. It would be my gateway to leads, new business, all sorts of wonderful things.
And can you guess what’s been published so far?
Well, I have a website. Almost fully generated by AI, and done in a burst of inspiration when I decided that it was necessary. The current one is v2, as the first one was more opinionated but - as is the wont of ADHD sufferers - I decided I hated it and it needed to change.
So of course I have a third one in the works which is way better and will be an absolute magnet to potential clients (says everyone who’s ever built one, only to hear crickets when the thing is launched).
But I digress.
The point is that I’m struggling to put my professional opinions on the internet. Why? Because they will always be wrong from someones’ perspective, and therefore they are wrong for everybody. You understand that this is not a true statement, and I do too - but even so, I find it exceptionally hard to state an opinion and stand by it when my professional reputation is on the line.
I write things like this so I can work through the solution and (hopefully) stick to it at some point in the future. Even as I read that previous statement out loud, I can see the problems with it.
- being wrong for one person does not mean it’s wrong for everybody
- opinions can and do change, and being ready to state one, accept that it’s not perfect, and adapt it in the light of research and updated information is a good thing.
So the answer is obvious. Write what I know now, adapt as I learn, and be ready to read negative feedback - or indeed, the listen to the sound of crickets - while accepting that the world is not going to fall in on my head and life will be absolutely fine.
I see people work around this every day. Ironically enough, the people who don’t overthink it and share whatever they think are the right opinions at the time are the ones who are objectively more successful, because an opinion shared is one that is visible. An opinion that is locked away in a draft post and never shared with the world is invisible.
so there’s my answer. Write what I feel.
To add to that - I did it for LinkedIn for 30 days in a row, and I’m still alive. My opinion remains out there, unsullied. The people who think I’m wrong were never going to talk to me anyway, so they don’t matter.
Now all I have to do is overcome the fear and do it anyway?
Back next week.