Put a Fence Around it

When presenting your ideas, try to “put a fence around” them. When people hear you speak about a concept, they’ll want to compare it to something they already know. They’ll think, “Oh, so this is just like [insert theory someone else is already known for].” You don’t want people believing your ideas are just a re-worded version of someone else’s theory. It makes you look like a copycat and a lazy thinker.

If you want to be a thought-leader of any kind, you want people to see the uniqueness of your ideas. “Putting a fence around” your ideas means making it clear how your viewpoint is different from what has already been said by others.

You can do this in a few ways:

• By taking a common idea or well-known theory and putting a different spin on it.
• By taking two completely different domains of knowledge and finding how they can be combined to solve a problem, thereby creating a truly unique solution.
• By expanding upon or diving deeper into an existing concept than anyone has done before.

In other words, make sure people know how your theories are different from existing ones. You can come straight out and say it by saying something like, “This is similar to [theory], but it’s different because [explain why].”

Getting in the habit of this will help you become better known for your ideas. In an age of short attention spans, it will also encourage people to stop scrolling and pay more attention to what you have to say.

Remember, people crave novelty. They don’t want to hear things they already understand and have heard a dozen times. They want something new, so give it to them.