Dan Kennedy stood up in front of a packed room of marketers and said,
“Let me tell you how cheap Fred Catona is.”
Dan was supposed to be giving a dutiful introduction for billion-dollar direct marketer Fred Catona. But somewhere it all went wrong.
“He gives me this ridiculous introduction to read for him,” Dan said while holding multiple sheets of paper, “and he only puts a 20 in it.” And from among the papers, Dan pulled out a $20 bill to prove his point.
Turns out this was a joke. Dan and Fred were close friends.
But it is instructive, right? Because it’s such a pattern interrupt from the way introductions are usually done:
“We’re very pleased to have Mr. XY with us tonight. Mr XY went to such-and-such elite university…”
“… he is a close friend and confidant of celebrity Z and power-broker H…”
“… he has worked with billion-dollar clients such as A and B and C.”
And then humble Mr. XY, with his killer resume revealed, comes out on stage, blushing and yet pleased. He takes the mic and says, “Wow, thank you for that wonderful introduction…”
My point is this:
Association is the most powerful mechanisms of the human mind, that I know of at least.
You put two things together. Just once, and not even for very long. And the human brain starts to make connections between them. Properties of one seep into the other. Causal links form. A halo appears.
So that’s why, if you went to Harvard… if you hung out with Tony Robbins once… if you ever had a Lamborghini in your garage, whether owned or rented… well, you should highlight those things to people you just met, or who just found you online.
Or even better, have somebody else highlight it, so you don’t have to do it. It will make you seem both powerful and humble. Well, unless you get somebody like Dan Kennedy to read out your list of accomplishments.
And what if you have no accomplishments?
Then find cool, impressive, or elite people… institutions… or ideas to associate yourself with. It can be the flimsiest of associations, and it will still help your standing.
That’s my simple tip for you for today.
A more complex tip, for another day, is to be careful.
Because association is not the only mechanism in the human brain. And if people start to associate you as that guy who always shows off his Lamborghini, well, that can lead to new challenges of its own. But more about that another time.
If you want to read that other time:
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