Reach is the first chapter in Not Taught, and this quote from the book couldn’t be any more true. It’s becoming, even more, true in the 21st century.
“Reach is arguably the most valuable non-monetary asset in the world. “
OK, so if it’s so valuable, what is “reach” and why is it so valuable?
Reach is the ability to influence large groups of people. It’s the capacity to connect with and influence hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands and even millions of people. Reach is what Michael Jordan has. It’s what Oprah has. It’s what Warren Buffet has. It’s what every single successful person in the 21st-century is going to HAVE to have if they expect any modicum of success. It’s a connected world, and it expects you to be connected too.
Meet Chris Brogan
Chris is the king of reach and a reach “Taught Leader.” Chris is a New York Times AND Wall Street Journal Best Selling Author. He’s the CEO of Owner Media Group and a highly sought after speaker. With over three hundred thousand Twitter followers, Chris has incredible reach, and he has cultivated this reach to become wildly successful.
Oddly enough, it’s not Chris’s raw number of social followers that inspired me to name him a Taught Leader, but HOW he’s built and cultivated those followers (his reach). Chris is a giver, and it’s through giving that he’s developed such a loyal and committed following.
Chris started blogging in 1998, way before anyone knew what blogging was. They called it journaling back then. Regardless of what they called it, he started doing it, and he did it well. Chris blogged about marketing, social media, and entrepreneurship. However, more importantly, what Chris did was shared what he knew, what he was learning and who he was day after day, month after month, year after year. He was constantly looking for ways to bring value to his audience, to “serve.”
It’s this commitment to giving, serving, educating, helping, sharing and putting others first that Chris built one of the largest social bank accounts in the world. Chris has what we call mad social capital. And it’s this social capital that is at the center of his success.
Chris’s wild, meteoric success has come from the reach he’s built over the past 17 years. In one way or another Chris can attribute his entire financial success to his social capital, his reach. Best-selling author, credit a killer book AND amazing reach. Highly sought after paid speaker, yup give crazy reach the credit. A successful business, that’s right sick reach is right behind it. Do you see the theme here?
Chris’s entire existence and success was born out of his meticulous and maniacal commitment to building and developing his social capital through reach.
Chris is a genuine reach Taught Leader. He can teach you how to build, develop, and elevate your social capital. He can teach you how to get your reach on.
It’s important you understand, you will not be successful in the 21st century without reach. You must learn how to influence large swaths of people. It will not be OK to influence only those people at your office, in your neighborhood or at your school. It’s a connected world and it’s demanding you be connected too. You have to have global reach.
Leverage Chris’s Genius to Build Your Reach
- Read Chris’s book(s):
- Check out his website
- Read Chris’s award-winning blog and subscribe to his newsletter. He drops mad wisdom weekly. It will keep you going and not let you forget the commitment you made to building your reach and banking some good solid social capital.
- Listen to his brief but powerful radio show/podcast. It’s fun, lively and he has great guests. I was episode 69 😉
- Follow Chris on Twitter and Facebook. He won’t let you down.
Someone once asked me how I got the capital to start A Sales Guy. I told them I didn’t. It wasn’t capital (money) that started A Sales Guy. It was social capital. I had blogged for two years, and people started reaching out to me asking for help. I suspect this is exactly how it happened for Chris. And it’s how it should happen for you too.
Start working on your reach now, it’s never too late — because it’s always too late.
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The Taught Leader series is a weekly series highlighting those who exemplify the tools and skills discussed in my new book Not Taught. Each week I highlight a different chapter and share the killer stories of the people who have become experts in the area. I provide readers with all the wonderful goodness these early adopters and 21st-century success stories have to offer. The goal, to help you learn the new rules to success and crush it in the 21st-century.
What, you haven’t read Not Taught? Then get it here. Hurry up, you’re already late.