Being right is not enough. If the value you create in the world depends on other people believing what you see, then being right can become a dangerous position.
Let’s suppose that your identity is insights, and for you to create wealth and value in the world requires other people to believe your insights to act on it, where does that leave you in the world?
We have released a new episode for Legacy members. It is the final external biography Michael takes you through in Everything Changes. Forever. Today.
Michael tells you upfront that this one is very sad, and that you may cry. In his words, this story is arguably the most famous, and the most devastating, tragic, and traumatic example in medical history, of a brilliant breakthrough being destroyed by professional pride and academic stubbornness, and it leads to a death at the end, and many deaths along the way.
Noteworthy Highlight
Try your firm’s internal AI tools first. Then Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and any other consumer AI. Then bring the same problem to Michael. The difference in quality speaks for itself.
So the data was undeniable. By all logic, Michael says, Semmelweis should have been hailed as a hero. Instead, he made a lot of powerful enemies.
Then the story turns very dark, and I am not going to walk you through what they did to him. I will tell you only how it ends. Two weeks after a wound became infected, at the age of 47, Ignaz Semmelweis died of sepsis. It was the same type of infection that caused the childbirth fever he had dedicated his life to preventing.
Psychology coined a term after him. It is called the Semmelweis reflex. It describes the human tendency to instantly reject new evidence or knowledge simply because it contradicts established norms, beliefs, or paradigms. Michael adds one more critical element to that definition. Once you have those words, you will understand why every time you present an insight, you are initiating something specific in the people in front of you.
There is an aside in this episode that will change how you hear a certain kind of person for the rest of your life. Michael describes the person who constantly brings the conversation back to how smart they are and how they fixed things. Almost everyone reads that as conceit. Michael tells you it is something else entirely, and he explains it in a single sentence. If you know someone like this, or if you are someone like this, that one sentence is worth the episode on its own.
And then Michael turns from the biographies to himself, and the identity shift he is making. The starting point for you, he says, is to know what your current identity is.
Legacy members can work through this program.
If you want help doing this work on your own identity and the way you carry your insights into the world, this is the work Michael and I do within our executive coaching programs. Reply to this email sharing a little about yourself, and we will reach out, letting you know whether it looks like it could be a mutual fit.
Take care,
Kris Safarova
P.S. If you are determined to work with us but you are not at a senior enough level yet to be part of executive coaching, there is also an opportunity for targeted, smaller-scope, more affordable programs. For example, Speak Without Limits membership, which can help you meaningfully upgrade your communication and executive presence skills, your ability to influence people, the level of confidence you feel, and your ability to take advantage of opportunities. There is also a MasterPlan Annual targeted program that can help you see your life from a big-picture perspective, introduce structure and a way to make better decisions, and have a way to navigate it towards a brighter future.
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