#41: Smart People, Wrong Strategy: Why Intelligence Keeps You Stuck in Business

I believe the most dangerous moment in building your thought leadership isn't when you lack skills—it's when you're executing brilliantly on strategies designed for someone else's wiring.

In this episode, I explore why smart, capable experts stay stuck building their businesses. It's not because they lack discipline or strategy. It's because their intelligence actually works against them. They can see all the possibilities, execute almost any approach, and assume when something doesn't work that they just need to try harder. Through real client examples, I reveal how understanding your thought leadership archetype unlocks a completely different approach to building your platform, creating content, and connecting with your audience. When you stop following advice designed for a different archetype and start building according to your natural strengths, everything shifts. The work is still work, but it's the right kind of work.

IMPACT POINTS FROM THIS EPISODE:

⚡ Your Intelligence Works Against You in Three Specific Ways – You can see all the possibilities (so you try to do everything), you're competent enough to execute strategies that drain you (so you don't realize the strategy itself is the problem), and you assume struggle means you need to try harder (so you blame execution instead of questioning whether you're doing the right thing at all).

⚡ You're Following Someone Else's Archetype Playbook – The business advice you're implementing was probably created by someone with a completely different archetype than yours. The transformational guide trying to scale through evergreen courses, the strategic advisor burning out building a content empire, the wisdom writer forcing themselves onto video—they don't need to try harder, they need to work differently.

⚡ The Marathon Backwards Problem – Building a business using someone else's archetype playbook is like running a marathon backwards. You're smart and determined enough to do it, but it's exhausting, inefficient, and you won't enjoy it. When you turn around and align with your natural strengths, you still have to run the marathon, but suddenly you have access to your natural stride, momentum, and strength. It's still work, but it's the right kind of work.

PEOPLE & RESOURCES MENTIONED:

• Thought Leadership Archetype Assessment
• Archetype Strategy Call – 60-minute personalized session including expanded archetype report, results unpacking, strategy mapping, and 30-day personalized plan ($500, applies toward future programs if you work with Macy within 6 months)

CONNECT WITH MACY:

• Follow on Instagram: @macyrobison
• Connect on LinkedIn: Macy Robison
• Visit: macyrobison.com

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