Do I Really Need to Listen?

Should you be entitled to an opinion?

Perhaps, but that doesn’t mean we need to pay you the slightest bit of attention.

So what warrants you the privilege to being listened to?  Well if you’re not a customer, a stakeholder or someone with significant leverage in spreading the word, we will ignore you…and rightly so.

If you were to walk up to an artist to express distaste of her work, you should probably be ignored. Where are your credentials? Do you buy expensive original art work? Do you own a gallery or hold a job as an influential blogger or journalist in the arty world, than yes, you must be ignored.

If you’re working in reception and you don’t like the company’s new logo, the marketing team that designed it should ignore your opinion. It just doesn’t matter to anyone but you.

The point is no matter what you do, no matter how great your work, there are people out there who aren’t going to like it. If the impact they have is nil the only option is to ignore their opinion.

One thing is very important and that’s credibility. An opinion needs to be based on experience and expertise. If that person has a history of bad judgment, people who are quick to jump to conclusion or believe in unicorns or have limited to experience in the market- these people are entitled to opinions, but it’s not clear that the creator of the work needs to hear them. They’ve disqualified themselves because the method they use for forming opinions about how the market will respond is suspect.

These standards are precisely the opposite of what gets you on talk back radio and chat rooms. Running your business based on what you hear on the radio is crazy.