Simple communication strategies for a complicated world.
January 31st, 2010

Are you willing to be laughed at?

If you thought people would laugh at you before you did something would you do it? Do you think that if you did that’s brave? I do.

There’s a certain amount of chutzpah that a trailblazer needs. Innovators, entrepreneurs, activists, creators – they all regularly put themselves on the line to be critiqued. Why do they allow themselves to be emotionally ripped apart day in an day out? The benefits outweigh the bruises.

If you’re willing to risk humiliation for a huge reward you may just be one of them. Know this: it probably won’t come easy, there will be a lot of heartache but you will gain invaluable experience along the way.

What if Apple gave up at revolutionizing design in computing? Well we’d all have beige boxes and generally uninspiring hardware. Most people wrote Apple off as an “also-ran-as” but they kept forging on. Each one of us has what it takes to be a trailblazer. You just have to be willing to be laughed at.


For branding and social media insights check out my Posterous.

Connect with me on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.


If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

2 Comments »

  1. Had a post with a similar point in my drafts. It’s not easy to put yourself out there and risk humiliation. The person that comes to mind is Gary. He talks about it in his book too. The way he changed the wine business, and how other wine “connoisseurs” mocked him. They way he acted on camera. I’m sure at first, he faced a ton of ridicule, but probably never got embarrassed.

    If you’re willing to risk humiliation, you’re going to go further as an entrepreneur.
    David Spinks´s last undefined ..Response cached until Wed 3 @ 21:34 GMT (Refreshes in 2.61 Hours) My ComLuv Profile

    Comment by David SpinksNo Gravatar — February 3, 2010 @ 3:01 PM
  2. Have you seen my YouTube videos? Ha… good post!

    Comment by Jason SadlerNo Gravatar — February 24, 2010 @ 11:55 PM

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

Leave a comment

CommentLuv Enabled
This work is licensed under GPL - 2009 | Powered by Wordpress using the theme aav1