For decades, the professional narrative has focused on being and acting confident, presenting a positive attitude as a fast-track solution to eliminate self-doubt and boost self-worth. This narrative has been preached in leadership development, sales training, and management skill-building.

The self-esteem movement has shaped generations, but the results have yet to live up to its promises. Individuals raised with an overemphasis on self-esteem often face challenges in resilience and competency, unrealistic expectations, a lack of real-world preparedness, and a tendency for psychological fixation (an obsessive focus on one's inner state).

For most of my life, I believed that being multitalented and entirely self-sufficient was the ultimate achievement. Thanks to my parents, I immersed myself in Renaissance history during my Italian studies abroad and took pride in considering myself a modern-day Renaissance man, like da Vinci: well-rounded, adaptable, and capable of innovative thinking across different areas of expertise. While I still cherish my natural curiosity to explore new skills and ways to think, my life took a massive turn for the better the day I learned about the myth of being self-sufficient.

Throughout these years, I was privileged to meet many remarkable individuals united by a common purpose: to celebrate our shared humanity and contribute to building a better world. I’m writing this opinion article because I am often asked about this long period of my history and how it led to my role with Influential U.

Lowering marketing costs is critical for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with limited resources. You can’t blow your resources trying to be all things to all people. You must target a specific niche customer (the more specific, the better) with a niche solution and align your business model with one of three core strategies—customer intimacy, product leadership, or operational excellence. Here are the steps to help you think accurately.

Creating a compelling business offer is critical in securing partnerships, clients, and growth opportunities. However, even the most well-intentioned offers can go awry due to common mistakes. Today, I delve into some of the frequent errors businesses make when crafting their offers and provide strategies to avoid them.