The Best POV Definition

Here's a little micro-survey I ran past you all last week:

I was hoping there would be a clear preference for one or the other definition of POV.

To save you a click, here are the two definitions that 24 of you voted on:

• Definition A: A point of view is an argument (a claim of truth, supported by evidence) made in service of your audience's best interest, formulated from your clear and relevant perspective.

• Definition B: A point of view is an idea that you wish your market would buy into because their buy-in would make things better for them.

Definition A has more "backbone" because it insists that your POV needs to be an argument supported by evidence. But Definition B feels like a more accessible starting point if I'm trying to get someone up to speed on the idea that POV is not just, like, your opinion. It's bigger and more altruistic than that.

I'll probably make use of both definitions when I'm teaching or speaking about POV. The notion that "their buy-in would make things better for them" should help folks understand that a POV is really an act of service. It's expertise curated and packaged as a digestible prescription that helps with a market-wide ailment.

The best points of view will have a persuasive argument behind them. While this argument could use data, experience, or pure emotion, it needs to be persuasive. Otherwise only those who are already "true believers" in the idea will be effected.

I don't own a tuxedo or a set of golf clubs. The longer I go without owning those things, the more they feel like things that are meant for "other people".

I wonder if having a clear, incisive POV feels the same for y'all? "It's something only thought leaders have." "It's something only famous authorities in my market have." Maybe that's how some of you feel about it? Or perhaps: "What's the point of putting the effort into having one? Things are fine for me as is."

Micro-poll time! :) You can click to vote in-email:

I think that having a clear, incisive, defensible POV is beneficial to far more than just thought leaders. It changes the vibe and power dynamics of almost every prospect and client interaction in a way that benefits both you and your client.

Imagine that you fell ill and were allowed to access and use the full inventory and resources of any hospital you want. Want to use that machine to scan your body? Go for it. Want to inject some of that stuff into your veins? Do it. Want to tell that surgeon to remove some part of your body? They'll do it, no questions asked, nurse prep the patient for anesthesia.

I wonder how many people would survive such freedom and lack of guardrails?

What you'd really be surviving in that situation is a lack of expertise and POV to focus and guide your desire to get better. The expertise is the library of know-how, and the POV is the idea about how to apply the relevant parts of that library of know-how to the problem at hand.

Doctors as a group aren’t perfect, but they need to have both expertise and a POV about how to apply that expertise. And they need to have more power in the relationship. Not the power to coerce, but the power to say “no, we won’t do it that way. If you want treatment for this, we do it this way.” And they need to support that POV with an argument, because for some patients, hearing and buying into that argument makes the difference between them staying sick and getting better.

If you think cultivating a clear, incisive POV is something you'd benefit from, I can help via my coaching offering. I've been experimenting with packaging the coaching in 2 ways:

• Ad-hoc coaching sessions that you pay for individually

• A "support retainer" where you pay a flat fee for unlimited-ish support for 6 or 12 months

The latter gives you the ability to get input and support without feeling like the "clock is running". Thus far, no one's gone for the retainer, but I'm going to keep offering it to get more data on whether my market likes it.

So! If you'd like help cultivating a POV, or with small-scale research, or clarifying your market position, or more effective lead generation, please let me know!

Oh, and I have a book on POV! It’s in beta still, but customers get a free update when I revise it, so why not snag a copy now? → https://philipmorganconsulting.com/povg/

-P