⚫️🟡 An Argument for Turning Your Back to the Audience

TL;DR: The crowd loves a leader. If you want to make standout content, turn your back to them, just for a while, and face the people who are actually building something with you.

I heard a great saying over the weekend: “If you want to lead an orchestra, you need to turn your back to the crowd.”

It got me thinking about content creation.

Today’s platforms have marketers and creators so programmed to chase algorithmic approval. The KPIs demand it. Playing the game seems like the only way to win.

But I’m here to break it to you. There is another way.

Great content doesn’t come from riding every trending wave. It comes from having something worth saying, something worth leading with. Yes, the crowd might applaud your participation, but participation trophies are for suckers.

People follow companies that lead their industries. Not ones trying to keep up.

So how do you lead?

By doing the simplest and hardest thing: Take creative chances.

More specifically, turn your back to the crowd and face your team.

A one-hour internal brainstorm will do more for your content than an hour of scrolling TikTok or asking ChatGPT for “fresh ideas.”

Your next best piece of content is already in the room with you. It’s in your customer calls, your past experiments, your late-night Slack rants.

This isn’t a “dream big” pep talk. Here’s how to make it real:

1. Time-block for creativity
Set non-negotiable time in your calendar to jot down ideas, review past campaigns, and experiment. This is your content gym. Treat it like training.

2. Work with strategic constraints
Instead of chasing infinite trends, pick one pillar to own this quarter. Go deep, not wide. The more narrow your focus, the more magnetic your message becomes.

3. Set an internal tempo
Weekly brainstorms. Monthly campaign themes. Quarterly creative reviews. Orchestras don’t play from memory. They rehearse.

4. Stop measuring too soon
Some of your best work won’t “perform” on day one. Lead anyway. That’s what separates artists from imitators.

5. Bonus: Steal like a leader
Look outside your industry. Pull from film, architecture, stand-up comedy, design. Remix and reframe. Innovation rarely starts inside the echo chamber.

Let them chase the algorithm. You’ve got real work to do.

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