I meet and talk with people all the time who offer me suggestions. How you can make better videos. How you can get more speaking engagements. How you can build your brand. Here are some ideas for selling more products. What they don't realize is that the last thing I want is another item on my personal to-do list. Considering your suggestion is just more on my mental workload. I'm not interested in that.
What would really make me happy is if someone comes to me and says, "Dre, I see you have a need for this. I have gone ahead and gotten started on it -- see this attachment/flyer/poster/t-shirt/email that I'll send out with your blessing. I'll do 100% of the legwork on all of this and all I ask for is 25% of the profit / a hour conversation with you per week / you sharing with me your expertise on ____ / you to follow me on Instagram / letting me shadow you when you do it. Cool?
There's a 99% chance I will say yes (in fact, there is someone who did this about 50% and is currently doing some work for me right now).
I don't have to do any work, I don't have to think about it as you've already decided for me by doing it, and you're not asking me to add another item to the list of things I'm already doing.
(THE ABOVE IS A VERY STRONG HINT ON HOW TO WORK WITH ME RIGHT NOW AND GUARANTEE A POSITIVE RESPONSE.)
The next time you're in a group (i.e. at least 2 people) an someone asks for your input, try this: offer a decision and exactly what needs to be done to make it happen, then start doing it. Don't ask. Just start doing it.
The benefit:
People will follow you as a leader since you stepped up and made a decision when everyone else was offering suggestions and not staying behind their ideas.
People will be happy that you lifted the burden of decision off their shoulders. People -- ages 13 to 82 -- hate making decisions. So help them out and make it for them. Most of the time they won't stop you. Trust me.
If you what was expected of you was a suggestion, you exert authority and surprise everyone by offering to end the suggestion-parade by deciding yourself what will happen. If anything, even if your decision is rejected (such as when, say, your boss asked for a suggestion and that's all she actually wanted), people will at least look at you differently. As bigger than you were before this
DISCLAIMER: Make sure your decision is a good one that you're willing to take the lead on, as there is a high chance that you'll be leading the way on actually doing it. Any smart person will allow/challenge you to show that idea in action.
#WorkOnYourGame