“We will view our claim of expertise as a beginning and a rallying cry for perpetual progress. Once focused, we will work to add to and deepen the skills, capabilities and processes from which we derive our expertise, and we will commit to the idea that continuous learning is mandatory.”

–From The Win Without Pitching Manifesto, The Seventh Proclamation: We Will Build Expertise Rapidly

The seventh proclamation of The Win Without Pitching Manifesto is, to me, the most different of the twelve, and I would guess, the least resonant with readers. 

But as the rapidly advancing technology of our day quickly changes many jobs and businesses, I see the world bifurcating along either side of this line of perpetual progress, with some embracing it and others being swamped by it. 

The seventh proclamation is really a function of the first, We Will Specialize. Those that do not specialize do not fully grasp the idea of perpetual progress. They don’t possess the drive, the healthy paranoia that fuels any specialist to speed their pace of learning lest they lose their marketplace advantage. 

I blend two metaphors in the seventh proclamation. 

First, the idea of claiming territory. 

“When we put our flag in the ground, heads turn. The competition, seemingly oblivious to us before, suddenly takes notice. Those that don’t claim territory are rarely attacked. What is there to defend, afterall? This is one of the indulgences of the generalist. It’s an easier life. It is not as lucrative. It is not as fulfilling. It is, however, easier. Nobody attacks the unthreatening generalist.”

Once the flag is in the ground and eyes are upon you, it becomes a race. 

“From the first moment we make the claim, we find ourselves in a race with no finish line. It is a race in which the greater our lead, the more we have to lose; therefore the faster we feel we must run. This is not the easy path. Once we are on it, however, moving past the stationary generalists on the sideline, we realize we would not have it any other way. We would rather race to fulfill our potential than stagnate in unchallenged contentment.”

If you still think of and describe yourself as a service provider, your business is in danger of being disrupted, commodified or absorbed by some other player adjacent to you in the value stack who can now perform most of that service for little cost and is willing to give it away for free, wrapped in a more lucrative consulting engagement. 

If, instead, you think of and describe yourself (and your firm) as one who helps a specific type of client solve a specific type of problem or create a specific form of value, then that shift frees you to transcend your tools. You can now commodify the service that you once so proudly saw yourself the provider of. You can become the consultant, with the service now one of the many tools you use to create value, one that you grip a little less tightly. 

The chapter ends with perhaps my favourite passage from the whole book. Inspired by a client, it’s called The One Who Eddied Out and its ending serves as a warning. 

“Now clients no longer beat a path to his door, and he blames the market or he laments that times have changed in a manner he cannot comprehend, for reasons he cannot see. 

“As others move past him, making the brave decisions and doing the difficult work, he remains, with his reminiscent stare, bobbing in the calm at the side. He stays there for us, as a reminder of what we will become if we ever stop learning, if we ever give up the race.”

-Blair