by Jobie Weetaluktuk

Created on: May 08, 2007   Last Updated: May 20, 2007

Not everyone can establish themselves as an expert in his or her chosen field. It takes leadership, wisdom, ambition, skill, and dedication. You have to be the right person, or the determination to be the right person. You also have to have the means to do it.

The means
The means to do it include your personality. Do you have the smarts, the ability to have people relate to you, the vision, and dedication to do it? If you have the means, then you can consider yourself in the competition as the man' in this field.

The connections
Get informed from the current leadership of your chosen field. The way to curry favor in the Politburo was to work your way up the Communist Party in the former Soviet Union. It works in the environmental movement, in music, and the wine business. Rub shoulders and jowls with the leadership. Let them have the pleasure of discovering and promoting you.

Your Work
Your work must be mainstream, yet cutting edge. In many ways business and public relations is very conservative. When you lead, lead slightly ahead of the public but be mindful of the gap between you and public opinion. People like Galileo got too far ahead of their times and had to pay a big price for going too far from the public sensibility and the establishment.

The professional
As an opinion leader, you have to market yourself the professional in the field. Michael Moore the "mocumentary" filmmaker has done it. Moore was ranting about fictitious' leaders while he was twisting things to make himself look like the real thing. Most people can do better and most people do do' better.

Re-brand Yourself
Al Gore has done it. He was so not an Environmentalist (with a capital E) and now he is the guru. Donald Trump has done it. He was so many times a success at going bankrupt. Now Trump swaggers like nothing could ever stop him. Actually his swagger never changed. Re-brand yourself if you have to. People get even more excited when the apostate becomes the evangelist.

Be a Smooth Alarmist
In many ways, being an opinion leader is being an alarmist. There is however a hard and fast rule about being an alamist; be smooth about it. If you can be an alarmist with charisma, it is even better. There are many 'would be opinion leaders' in the environmental issues, but many are too brash with the rhetoric. Always keep in mind that people don't like the feeling that they are being pushed.

Be an alarmist, but make sure people don't start dismissing you as a shrill. The ability to listen is so underrated. Listening is what makes an opinion leader a leader and not someone who has lost the crowd somewhere in the wilderness.

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