I help leaders who sell their expertise articulate the insights that get them recognised as authorities in their field.
What is an authority?
It's someone considered the leading voice on their subject matter by a meaningful number of people in the market. That subject addresses one of two things:
A frustration the buyer would pay to resolve, or
A responsibility the buyer has to deliver on
The authority introduces a new way of thinking about the subject that resonates. So much so that, among their fans, they're no longer compared with their contemporaries. They have no competition.
Demand for their services far exceeds their supply on an ongoing basis. They no longer chase clients. Clients chase them.
I call these people Undisputed Authorities.
Then there are the experts who win all work through word of mouth and referrals. They're just as smart and exceptional at what they do, but they're unknown outside their network.
They feel like the industry's best-kept secret.
Revenue is choppy. This year they're up, next year they're down. It feels like they're always looking over their shoulder, powerless to influence the number of opportunities that come through the door.
They write, and some of what they write resonates, but it feels a little ordinary. It's not a true reflection of their expertise. They don't get the same response as they do in person from clients.
All of which means they suffer from either a red ocean or a blue ocean problem.
Red ocean: they look and sound like everyone else who sells what they sell.
Blue ocean: the market doesn't get what they do or recognise that they need it.
I call these people invisible experts.
Authorities publish insight, consistently. That insight elicits one of two responses from the market:
The insight attracts attention. Other authorities and organisations invite them to speak on their platforms. Ideal-fit prospects read their books. Prospects subscribe to their email and book discovery calls, already convinced they've found the solution to their problem.
Invisible experts have none of that. Their insight is there, but it's buried. It comes across in person: a client who trusts them will sit for an hour and recognise the dispersed nuggets of gold. But when they write, the material reads ordinary and receives nothing like the response they get in the room with clients. In a sea of AI slop and practitioners clamouring for attention, they get lost.
I work with these invisible experts to help them go from best-kept secrets to Undisputed Authorities.
You've created content before and some has resonated within your network, but it's more often a miss than a hit. It comes in fits and starts, with no structure holding it together. Meanwhile the thinking that makes clients lean in never quite translates to the page.
You're already considered a thought leader by some, but it feels like you're one rung below the top. You're on the panel or leading the breakout session, but you're rarely (if ever) the keynote. You're not seeing the evidence you've "arrived." There is gold in you that has not fully surfaced.
You've sold your business after an incredibly successful career. You may never need to work again, but you're not done. You want to take the expertise of your previous life and build a business around your thinking, one that's meaningful to you and impactful for those you serve.
“I've done this so long that what I share sounds ordinary to me. I've heard myself say it a thousand times. But Liam hears it and says, name that, you can own that. And it never occurred to me that I could, because it just feels like common sense. That's the thing. While I'm talking, I can't process my own ahas. Liam does that for me. What I get back refines the story and sharpens the message in a way I could never sharpen it myself.”
I offer three principal engagements. Beyond these, I also work on custom projects.
An eight-week process to build the entire strategy that takes you from invisible expert to Undisputed Authority. We make the decisions on who exactly you're trying to reach, what through line to hang your insights around, how to develop and publish them, how to get them in front of the right people, and the positioning that ties it all to what you sell. You'll leave with a roadmap that details what to do, in sequence, over the next 24 months to become an authority.
Learn moreA four-week process to define the insight you'll build the next phase of your business on. We make the decisions on where to dig: who exactly you're trying to reach, the frustration you'll own, and the focusing question that directs everything you create. You'll leave with a map of every topic worth writing about and at least three recommended intellectual assets to build first, ranked by leverage and what you'll actually sustain.
Learn moreAn ongoing partnership to develop your insight and turn it into a published body of work. We spar: I push you past surface-level thinking, challenge you to take harder positions, and keep you accountable. You write in your own voice, I isolate the gold, hand you the structure, and pressure-test every piece until it's ready for a reader. The work often becomes a book, though it doesn't have to.
Learn moreTo see what these engagements produce, read how I worked with Nigel Green as he became an Undisputed Authority on hiring elite salespeople.