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Own Your Impact equips experts and leaders to transform their expertise into meaningful influence. Host Macy Robison reveals how successful thought leaders use deliberate systems—not luck or volume—to amplify their authentic voice and create lasting impact. Through practical frameworks and strategic guidance, you'll discover how to build a self-reinforcing ecosystem of Core Resonance, structured Content, a Central Platform, strategic Connections, and intentional Commercialization. Whether you're just starting to share your expertise or scaling an existing platform, this podcast delivers the roadmap to turn your ideas into purpose-driven influence that resonates far beyond what you might imagine possible.
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Macy, welcome to own your impact. The podcast designed to help you transform your expertise into a platform of purpose and influence. I'm your host, Macy Robison, and I'm here to help you uncover your authentic voice, create actionable frameworks and build a scalable platform that turns your ideas into meaningful impact. Your biggest desires aren't something to apologize for. They're your most reliable compass for creating meaningful impact. The thing you're afraid to want out loud is probably the thing that will point you toward your greatest contribution. Today we're talking about something that might feel uncomfortable owning what you want, we're going to explore why the desires that scare you are most often your best guides, how quote, unquote, humility sometimes becomes an excuse for playing small, the connection between your authentic desire and core resonance and a very simple reframe that can turn wanting into wisdom. Now this podcast episode was inspired by a few of my clients this week, who happened to be from the Midwest, raised on potlucks and politeness, even admitting that you want something more can feel like a betrayal of who you are, of your upbringing. But today, I'm going to challenge that just a little bit like I said, I had this conversation several times this week. In fact, it was a version of something I asked a client recently, what impact do you want to make as a thought leader with the work that you want to do? And I got five minutes of well, maybe or and if that's not too much to ask, this client is not alone. I really did have a string of calls this week where people were wrestling with this exact thing, and more than once, I joked that modesty might be our biggest obstacle to impact. Let me tell you about three of those conversations, and they happened within 48 hours of each other. One of the people I talked to has an advanced degree history of community impact, brilliant insights to share and very brilliantly packaged ways to share them, but still kept shrinking the vision of what was possible, not because they didn't believe in themselves, but because they didn't want to seem like they wanted too much. This person literally said, I just don't want to take up too much space. Another person I talked to this week confessed that they've successfully built brands for other people their entire career, but when it came to laying claim to their own ideas, they have felt completely blocked, like there was some invisible rule about having to stay behind the curtain, like the wizard in The Wizard of Oz, that maybe their role was to stay in the background, supportive, useful, small. There's nothing wrong with that, but this person wanted to have a bigger impact. And the third person said to me, it just doesn't feel humble to want people to notice me and notice my ideas. Now I have the assertion that these are the people that should be leading. These are the people who have everything they need except permission to step into the spotlight, even though they have the desire to be there. What's needed most in all three of these cases is not a new strategy, it's a new story about what they're allowed to want. This pattern shows up pretty consistently in my work over the years. Brilliant people diminishing their desires because they've been conditioned to believe that wanting more makes them selfish, ungrateful, prideful. But here's what I've discovered as I've dug into this a little bit further, desires aren't random and they're not character flaws. I believe they're actually data about your unique contribution that you're meant to make in the world, there's this pervasive idea out there that to be a good person, we need to put our desires aside, and that wanting something for ourselves is somehow selfish or wrong. This has never sat right with me, and as I've dug into what is behind this, I ran into some teachings from Dan Sullivan. Dan is the founder of strategic coach, and also the co author of several great books with Dr Benjamin Hardy, who not how the gap and the gain 10x is easier than 2x and through strategic coach, Dan also has a whole bunch of mini books that teach a lot of the concepts that are in those three books that he wrote with Ben. And one of my favorite things that Dan talks about is the two types of people in the world that he calls needers, people who need something and wanters. Needers are always competing for scarce resources. They're caught up in justifying everything they do. They're trapped in this cycle of asking permission and apologizing for their ambitions. Needers operate from a scarcity mindset where one person's success diminishes everyone else's opportunity. But wanters. Wanters create abundance. They understand that their desires aren't taking anything away from anyone else. They're actually creating new possibilities for everyone. Now here's what really hit home for me. Dan Sullivan says the reason you want something is simply because you want it. No justification needed. Period. In fact, he tells a story about how he turned around one of the lowest points in his life, in his career per. Only and professionally, from having the daily exercise of writing down something he had an unapologetic want for. Didn't matter what it was, didn't matter if it was personal, professional. He just had to want one thing every day, and by doing that, by following that exercise, he credits that for turning everything around for him because of the mindset shift that created in him. Because here's the thing, people who are needers, they wait for permission to step out. Wanters go ahead and create new lanes because of the desire that's driving them. And a lot of us, especially those who are taught to be humble, have to unlearn the idea that wanting more makes us ungrateful. This really connects to the resident thought leadership system. When you're operating as a needer, you're constantly seeking external validation for your core resonance, or seeking for it somewhere else. You're asking other people to tell you that your voice matters, that your ideas are worth sharing, that you deserve to build the platform you want to build. But when you can shift into being what Dan Sullivan calls a wanter and let your desire be the spark that drives all of this. That's when you start trusting your internal compass. You start to see your desires as information about where your unique gifts need to go in the world. Now that client I told you about before who said it didn't feel humble to want people to notice her, I stopped her and said, I believe humility isn't about making yourself smaller or hiding or putting yourself down. Humility is truly about knowing where your gifts come from and choosing to use them on purpose. Sometimes, what people think humility is, I believe, is actually fear dressed up in virtue. True humility is more like stewardship. It's more like saying I didn't give myself these gifts that I have, but I am responsible for using them. I am responsible for putting them out there in the world to serve other people. This is crucial to understand if you want to really deepen your core resonance, your authentic voice comes out when you stop apologizing for who you are and start owning the unique value you bring. I think we over focus on our weaknesses because they're visible and they feel like more virtuous if we fix them like we're really trying to fill a gap, but then our strengths feel like something we should downplay. I don't think that's humility. I think that's a waste of talent, a waste of potential and a waste of impact.
Core resonance is your essence multiplied by your expression. Your essence is your natural talents, your accumulated wisdom, your values, your lived experiences. And when you diminish your desires, you're essentially saying that part of you doesn't matter, but your expression, how you share that essence with the world, then becomes diluted when you're constantly apologizing because you have something valuable to offer. Sometimes, the most rebellious thing you can do is admit what you want, especially if you were raised to be nice, not noisy, useful, not visible. I love my Midwestern clients, but the thing they have in common and the thing I need them to step into is to stop whispering their dreams. That goes for everybody, no matter where you live, because here's the truth. Everything good starts with a desire. Everything, every advancement in human history, started because someone had a desire. They wanted something different. They wanted something better, usually for someone else. Every great teacher started to teach because they desired to share knowledge. Every great healer started because they had a desire to help others feel better, and so your desire to make an impact, that's not something to apologize for. It's a compass. It's pointing you toward your zone of genius and toward the unique contribution that only you can make. You're still feeling skeptical. Here's some concrete examples. Let's think about Dr Brene Brown. She didn't start by asking what the academic world needed. She started with what she wanted to understand the core of human connection, vulnerability, courage, and how they connected to each other. That pure desire, unwatered down by justification or apology, led her from focused research and the projects she was doing to stepping out and becoming one of the most influenced. Influential voices of our time. I've talked about Sharon McMahon. Sharon says so on Instagram, she didn't set out to become America's government teacher with millions of followers, she started out as a high school government teacher and then a wife and mom who wanted to share the accurate, non partisan information she'd been teaching teenagers about how democracy actually works. That simple desire that people needed to just understand civics and facts without the noise led her to educate millions through social media, through her best selling book, through sold out live events, and has put her on massive stages across the country. What I love about Sharon is She followed her desire to educate and to clarify, even in a situation, at a time during COVID, when there was so much noise, there still is so much noise or political education feels next to impossible, and she did not wait for anyone to give her permission to teach. On Instagram, she just created a space for fact based civil dis. Course, and that desire to see the world become better not only became her compass. It's the focus of her book, the small and the mighty. It's one of the organizing features of everything she does. Seth Godin, his stated desire has never been to become famous. He wants to help people think differently, to talk about ideas that matter, especially as it comes to leadership marketing, making change, that desire to have conversations, to think about how people like us do things like this, led him to create entirely new terms and categories like permission marketing, building a platform around daily insights that challenge his own thinking and the status quo. These thought leaders did not apologize for their desires to understand, to share, to influence, to challenge. They let those desires be their compass, and in doing so, all three have created ripples of impact that continue to expand. Now you might be thinking, but what if my desire just feels too big for whatever I think I can accomplish? Let me tell you something I've learned from working with experts and thought leaders over the years, the desires that scare you the most are usually the ones that point you toward your greatest impact, because your biggest desire isn't just a wish, it's your internal GPS showing you where you need to go and where you need to go is just a matter of amplifying the impact you already have created with your core resonance and your content. Here's what it looks like. Transformational guides often desire to help people at a much larger scale than one on one coaching, but they're afraid that scaling might diminish the depth of the transformation they hope to create. That desire is pointing toward them, maybe developing training systems for other people, or creating group experiences that allow them to still create transformation at scale. Strategic advisors sometimes want to influence entire industries, not just individual organizations, but they might worry about being seen as presumptuous, but that desire to create industry wide change guides them towards thought leadership that shapes how whole sectors might think about complex challenges, and that is such a good thing. Wisdom writers, I talk to them all the time, dreaming of their words reaching millions, but they feel guilty and talk themselves out of wanting that level of influence. But that desire is the seed, an indication of the potential scope of impact. Their unique voice could have patterns always the same. The desire feels too big because it is big. It's pointing you towards your highest contribution. And I know that feels naturally overwhelming when you're at the beginning of a path. But here's the thing that's amazing about following your desires is your compass. They can lead you anywhere and whatever you believe in. In terms of a higher power, you can't get moved or guided or nudged into the direction you actually need to go to really reach your highest impact if you're not moving at all. And so you have to start you have to start writing books that might change lives. You have to start stepping onto stages where your voice can shape conversations. You have to start building communities that transform industries, create content that reaches millions, and start developing methodologies that might outlive you. The possibilities are endless, but they all start with getting clear about what you want. When you stop apologizing for your own ambitions, you create space for other people to step into their power too. Your willingness to want something bigger gives other people permission to do the same. And that's how core resonance actually works. When you're operating from authentic desire, rather than manufactured humility or attention seeking, you create what I call a permission field around you. People feel it, and they respond to that clarity and that conviction. The clearer you are about what you want, the more powerful your impact becomes. When you stop hedging and you start declaring, people sense that shift. They're more likely to hire you, to follow you, to recommend you, to collaborate with you. My friend Michelle Gifford is such a good example of this. She has big dreams and big ambition, and it is a delight to watch it, because she's able to make those things unfold. My client, Olivia Jones, does the same thing. She dreams big, and I have been reflecting on that with her recently, she just wrapped up her professional troublemaker podcast, and I was reflecting back on the first chance I had to meet her in a strategy session eight years ago where she had the dream to start that podcast, and there were so many other dreams and visions she talked about in that strategy session all those years ago, and just that desire hasn't been the path that we thought it would take. But man, every single one of them has come to fruition. And not once have I ever felt that anything but the kind of stewardship and the kind of humility that I'm talking about from her. She knows where her gifts come from, she feels compelled to use them as a result, to not hide her light under a bushel. That's what this really is about. Your desires aren't random. They are pointing you towards your specific zone of genius, that unique contribution that only you can make, but you have to choose to make it, because you're not here by action. Accident. I don't believe that for one second, your expertise, your experiences, your desires, they're all pointing you toward your unique impact. And when you learn to trust them as your compass, something magical happens. Not only do you find your direction, you create space for others to do the same. And I would argue that is regardless of how big you want your impact to be. Now, understanding what you want also helps you see your evolution so much more clearly. The Desire comes first the business model follows, and then the platform actually grows around what you want to create people who are resonant orders usually start because they want to share their ideas through speaking and and then sometimes the business model starts there and evolves into books or larger platforms. Wisdom writers usually start because they want to explore their ideas through writing and then expand into speaking and courses. Sometimes
you have to know where you're beginning and let your desire expand the rest of it into exactly what you want it to be, but you can only do that when you're clear about your desires, because you can make strategic decisions about the opportunities that align with your vision and which ones are distractions. When you're clear that desire clarity can become the foundation for everything else you do, your content, emergence from what you desire to teach, your central platform emerges and showcases what you desire to be known for. Your connection strategy focuses on the relationships that support what you desire to build. Commercialization models generate revenue from what you desire to create without clarity about what you want, every other decision just becomes random. You end up copying and pasting someone else's business model onto what you're trying to do, and it just doesn't work, because without that clarity, every other decision becomes random, and with clarity, every decision becomes strategic. When you try to minimize your desires or make yourself smaller, you dilute your resonance when you own what you want and let that guide your expression. You create the kind of authentic voice that is only yours, that moves people. Your desire is what you want to do. It's not separate from who you are. It's information about where your unique voice needs to go in the world. It's data about the impact you're meant to create and the people that you're meant to serve. So here's my challenge to you this week. I want you to break this modesty contract with yourself that you might have, take out a piece of paper and write down what you really want, one thing big or small, not what you think you should want, not what other people expect you to want. What do you actually want? No disclaimers, no politeness, no justifications, just pure, unfiltered desire. Write it like this, I want, and then finish the sentence. That's what Dan Sullivan suggests. Finish it honestly if you want to follow his method, write something down every day. If you want to just get this out of your system, write down 10 different wants. I want fill in the blank. I want fill in the blank. Don't edit yourself. Don't make it reasonable. Just be honest. And then look at what you wrote and ask yourself this, what is this desire telling me about my unique contribution? Are there archetype patterns that I see that I might not be following, what business model might align with these desires? Practice saying what you want without justifying it, even if you just do it to yourself, saying it out loud, writing it down, makes it real. Let's start normalizing bold desires in service of meaningful impact. Remember this, what you want, what you desire, doesn't take anything away from anyone else when you have a service mindset, and I don't think you would be listening to this podcast if you didn't those desires create new possibilities for everyone, and that is how they serve the world through you, the world needs what only you can bring. But first you have to be willing to want it out loud, and then let your actions follow. That's how you start owning your impact. Thank you for joining me on own your impact. Remember, there are people out there right now who need exactly what you know, exactly how you'll say it. Your voice matters, your expertise matters. And most importantly, the transformation you can help others create matters if today's episode resonated with you, I'd love for you to become part of our growing community of thought leaders who are committed to creating meaningful impact. Subscribe to the podcast, leave a review and share this episode with someone you know who is ready to amplify their voice. And if you're ready to dive deeper, visit Macy robison.com for additional resources, frameworks and tools to help you build your thought leadership platform with intention and purpose, and remember, your ideas don't need more luck. Your ideas don't need more volume. Your ideas need a system, and I'm here every week to help you build it. I'm Macy Robison, and this is own your. Impact the.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai