The Roadmap To Nowhere
Post Excerpt:
Becoming a leader as a photographer in the marketplace might mean suffering discomfort, and being brave enough to be different.
I was reading Seth Godin’s blog the other morning, as I often do, and was particularly struck by that day’s post entitled “Thanks for leading”.
He talked about how being a leader means to live and work outside of one’s comfort zone, that leadership means dealing with things that are not easy; otherwise, everyone would be doing the same thing. One statement in particular stuck with me, quoted below:
When you identify the discomfort, you’ve found the place where a leader is needed.
When I think of the meaning of the word “leader”, I not only think of managers, CEO’s etc. but also the sense in which a company or organization can be a leader in their chosen field. I’m sure you can think of many brands that are leaders, and the reason many of them are successful lies in the ways they are different from everyone else.
This idea translates very well to the world of photography.
Most of us photographers are what might be called one-man bands – few, if any, of us are large organizations. That means we both lead our own businesses and try to lead our field within our specific niche market & location.
Leading within our niche market would be very difficult if we simply offered the same services, products, photographic style, approach and prices as everyone else. We need to be different, which means striking out on our own into uncharted waters.
This is where the discomfort is felt, because we may be unsure how the market will react to us, and we expose ourselves to the criticisms of others, including our peers. But if we can identify a source of discomfort like this, then we just may find a new place where a leader is needed – a new market trend.
Perhaps there really is no true roadmap for success when it comes to the identity and purpose of your brand, any such roadmaps deal only with places already discovered and could lead you only to nowhere.
If we feel comfortable where we are and in what we’re doing, then we ought to start to worry and look for something not quite so comfortable.
As others have put it so well before me: Dare to be different.
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Seth Godin is always on target and this is a great post. Most of us wedding photographers are indeed one-person organizations, and unlike those who work in large organizations who can find leadership opportunities within their organizations, we have to look outward to find those leadership opportunities — in our communities (ever person is part of multiple communities or sub-communities), in our industry amongst our peers, and with our clients and other vendors. Leadership is rooted not in power, but in service. When we find areas to serve and meet the needs of others, we instantly become leaders.
If you don’t mind, I’d like to recommend a book titled “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” by John Maxwell (http://bit.ly/2eMdgF) for some great insight on what it is to be a leader. This is one of my favorite books on the topic.