Have you ever walked into a room, looked around and then thought, ‘Oh God, I'm not dressed right', ‘I don't fit in', ‘Ground, swallow me up now because I just don't belong here', or even ‘How will I compete with that?'

That's exactly how Stephen Scheeler felt on his first day at Facebook as the CEO for Australia and New Zealand. He was surrounded by people who were, on average, 20 years younger than him, including founder Mark Zuckerberg. There were also some very wealthy people around him who had been there since the start of the company and were seen as cultural icons — the pillars of the brand, he told me during an interview in March 2019. He explained further, ‘These people had a certain aura about them. There was this virtuous circle of great people coming in who just became even greater'.

Somehow, he had to work out how to add even more value to the company and in a way that he would be respected with these people who were now his peers and team. As he shared, ‘You can't fall back on your resume or “kids, I'm going to tell you how it is” — this was not going to work'.

So instead, Stephen's strategy was to turn everyone around him into his teachers. He started off with honesty, telling the team, ‘I really don't care if we succeed or fail and I don't care if I get fired. I'm not clinging to this job. I can get another. What I care about is you and you being successful'. He encouraged his team to move from being listeners, and sometimes unwilling ones, into teachers, admitting that he needed them to teach him how Facebook worked, how it should work, who does what and asking them for advice on what he needed to deliver on his mission.

This, he says, built credibility and understanding that he was willing to be one of them. ‘Over time, my experience and wisdom was respected by the team,' he says.

We all have expertise to share, irrespective of age, tenure, education, cultural background or experience.

Imagine the possibilities if we could actively turn everyone around us into our teachers, empowering them to share their wisdom with us.

Equally, imagine the opportunities that could be unlocked if we could also embrace being a teacher for others, sharing our own expertise and wisdom with confidence, knowing that it's the mutual exchange of value and smarts that will drive innovation, ideation, problem solving and ultimately momentum for each other.

Own your inner genius

In the book Outliers, author Malcolm Gladwell says that it takes 10 000 hours of practice to achieve mastery or expertise in a field. He cites examples such as Bill Gates, who used to sneak out of his parents' house at night to code at his high school; and The Beatles, who played over 1200 times in four short years in Germany before they launched into the United States.

It doesn't matter if you agree or disagree with Gladwell's theory, the point is that every one of you is an expert at something because you've built up time and hours ‘practising'. You practise through the acquisition of skills, qualifications, study, knowledge, on-the-job experience, conversations you're part of, the work you do well and the work you suck at. Your 10 000 hours are unique to you.

You've got a certain set of skills, knowledge and experience that makes you an asset.

Have you heard of The Picasso Principle? It's based on a story about a woman who approached Pablo Picasso and asked him to draw a sketch. Picasso sketched it and gave it back to her saying, ‘That will cost you $10 000'.

‘But you took just five minutes to do the sketch,' she said.

‘The sketch may have taken me five minutes, but the learning took me 30 years,' Picasso retorted.

You're an expert in something that's taken a level of investment to become great at. You may be a digital marketing expert, a wordsmith, a philanthropist with a big purpose, or an expert at branding who is looking to connect, collaborate and contribute to build mutual success. Equally you may be a skilled graduate looking for a new job, or a CEO looking for a board position or seeking help to navigate the complexities of global expansion.

You've worked hard to get to where you are. You've invested your time, energy and money to understand and master what you do. Until you own and share your expertise it's an uphill struggle to leverage your personal value, build engagement, or maximise connections or conversations because you'll never be able to share yourself wholeheartedly with conviction and make the impact you want to make.

Natasha Pincus is a talented, creative and internationally renowned storyteller who created the music video for Gotye's, ‘Somebody That I Used to Know', which has been viewed by over half a billion people around the world (that's a lot of eyeballs!). She is also the author of I Am Not a Genius, and So Are You, in which she poses the question, ‘What would happen to you if you were suddenly told that you are a genius?'

Think about this for a moment … how would being told you're a genius affect your self-confidence, your behaviour, your conversations and the decisions you make?

Would you be more willing and able to own and share what you know with others?

I think you would, and so I'm giving you permission right now: you are a genius! So, stop and reflect right now. Channel your inner Picasso, your inner genius.

Get clear on:

• What are you known for?
• Who do you help or serve?
• What are the problems you're solving for them?
• Why does what you do matter?

Be a flamingo

Steve Jobs once said, ‘Apple really beats to a different drummer. I used to say that Apple should be the Sony of this business, but in reality, I think Apple should be the Apple of this business.'

The problem is that too many of us are either hiding or choosing to blend in, versus standing out. We're not willing to ‘expose' our ability or expertise out of fear: fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of being ‘different'. (Remember Stephen Scheeler's story.)

In this decade of disruption there's a great blanding of the marketplace, so if you want to get ahead you need to be visible — you need to be a flamingo.

Someone once said to me that not only does a flamingo always look amazing, it can even be so while standing on one leg!

Currently we see many businesses and people all competing on ‘same': same products, services and offerings. They look and act the same, market themselves the same, and often the only differentiator ends up being price. In our effort to fit in, we're at risk of only being able to compete on price. Becoming too vanilla and looking just like everyone else, we become invisible, lost and plain old boring.

There's no impact in generic. You need to be brave enough to share your expertise, to be a flamingo in a flock of pigeons — you need to stand out as who you are, to own your story, to live by your values and to share your expertise so that we get to know you and how you can help us.

As Dr Seuss said, ‘Why fit in when you were born to stand out?'

Fly your flag

Growing up in the north of England in the Thatcher years and the English stiff-upper-lip class system, I was always told that my work should speak for itself. I was told that I should be really humble, keep quiet about the things I was achieving and whatever I did, ‘Janine, keep your head down and do not in any way call attention to yourself'.

The result for me, as it is for many others, is that I became invisible as I languished behind the scenes, taking a back seat and not getting noticed. I wasn't brave enough to speak up, to step into the spotlight or to stand out in any way, and in those early years it meant I was overlooked for promotions or opportunities.

I can remember a few years ago being in a training room with my good friend, seven-time world-champion surfer and chair of Surfing Australia, Layne Beachley AO. (See how easy it is to talk about others' achievements but not our own?) She was congratulating me on some work, and I responded, ‘Oh, it's nothing' and tried to change the subject because that's something that I was taught to do in an effort to be humble.

Wow, I will never forget the roasting Layne gave me! ‘What right do you have, Janine, not to let others see and appreciate what you do? When you ignore the compliment, it makes me want to stop encouraging you and sharing the impact you are making.'

She went on to explain to me that I was actually doing others a disservice by not taking compliments. I needed to embrace the thanks around the positive impact of my work because this in itself creates a multiplier effect of energy and momentum. Instead of being dismissive and going into hiding, I had to learn to embrace visibility and congratulatory feedback and share more to allow others to access my work.

And Layne is right! Are you hiding your expertise like a squirrel hoards nuts? What about keeping your thoughts, ideas and wisdom all to yourself hoping that someday someone may just by accident somehow stumble over you and do the job of bringing what you do to the world? Are you scared of sharing your thoughts, concerned about what someone may say or, even worse, that they may steal from you to use your ideas for themselves?

Your visibility will:

• build your reputation as an authority in your area of expertise
• enhance your thinking as there's nothing that crafts a message more than having to share it
• cement your profile as someone who is willing to give and share their thoughts, musings and ideas
• create a need in others to include you in their work.

You need to stop hiding in the wings, and step into your spotlight.

On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is terrible and 10 is brilliant, rate how well you are flying your flag right now.

It starts with you

For the past few years I've been working with a global property firm to elevate the numbers of women in leadership. We challenge individuals to put themselves in the spotlight, to share openly who they are, what they do and how they're a critical part of the business through the problems they solve.

Every single time fear kicks in at the start of the program — fear of speaking, of being the centre of attention, of sharing their thinking, of putting themselves out there, of being heard.

But after lots of coaching and support, they push past their fears as their confidence increases, and I see individuals shining more brightly than ever before. The realisation that they do have something to share that others want to hear and are interested in is incredible.

I recently read Marie Forleo's book, Everything Is Figureoutable, and I loved her story around trying to work out what it was she wanted to do with her life. She wrote that after reading an article about coaching, something inside her lit up. ‘A deep, gentle presence inside me said, “This is who you are, this is who you're meant to be.”' This knowing was swiftly followed by ‘Marie, you're twenty-frickin'-three years old. Who in their right mind is ever going to hire a twenty-three-year-old life coach?'

Marie Forleo has gone on to host the award-winning show MarieTV, has millions of fans listening to her podcast, runs the business training program B-School and was named by Oprah Winfrey as a thought leader for the next generation. Now imagine if she had listened to that inner voice telling her ‘Who are you to say that?'

Staying invisible is the antithesis of owning your spotlight — in fact, it's not brilliant at all.

The need to stand out in your market has never been stronger than it is today. We're bombarded with more information than we can cope with and we're bogged down in processing data, so much so that we're becoming desensitised or trying desperately to make sense of what's relevant and true. And amid all this noise you have to stand out, be noticed and be seen as relevant to build your career or your business: to lead a life of influence.

Being able to add value to those around you — your clients, customers, team and suppliers — is critical to being in demand. Your confidence to share your opinions, thinking and ideas will help you lead your area of responsibility, company or industry.

Lewis Howes is a former athlete and professional football player. He is now the host of the podcast School of Greatness, which has had over 400 million downloads since its launch in 2013. He said, ‘Each day you're presented with a choice. You can either keep your greatness hidden under a pile of fears, regrets, and excuses, or you can let it out.' He advises that we need to make a conscious effort to live every single day as the best versions of ourselves, and I couldn't agree more.

Here are four ways, right now, you can magnify your own expertise:

1. Speak. Share that idea you have. Market that product you have. Take the lead at meetings and focus on embracing diversity of opinion, a productive use of time and generating key outcomes and actions. Offer to speak at client conferences or industry events to raise your personal profile.
2. Contribute. Get involved in discussions, take part in forums and get more involved in a community around your area of expertise. Participate. Contribute. Get noticed for being you and for what you think.
3. Publish. Write that book, article or blog you want to write. Let others access your thinking.
4. Share. Share your expertise, feedback and encouragement unconditionally with others. Acknowledge awesomeness in others; celebrate their successes and achievements. Encourage others more.

Don't be afraid to be seen, to speak out and to contribute your expertise. It's this that changes the world.

Share your greatness

Gabrielle Dolan is a thought leader in storytelling, working with thousands of individuals and leaders across the globe teaching them the importance of telling stories to share their expertise, values and messages. She explains, ‘Besides communicating their message, personal stories also have hidden benefits. Every time someone shares a personal story it reveals something about themselves. About their family, about their upbringing, about their interests about their fears, about their values ... and this can fast track and strengthen relationships'.

She goes on to say, ‘Ironically, stories about when you have not lived the values and the regret you have or the lesson you learnt, demonstrate the importance of that value even more. These types of stories that show vulnerability, can have the greatest influence'.

Sharing your story creates memorability, embeds learning and drives influence. Your story helps us understand your character — who you are, what you stand for and why you do what you do — which helps to enhance your positioning in your marketplace and builds an appreciation of your expertise.

Consumers want to know the depth behind the logo, the thinking, story and rationale behind the brand, behind you. They want to know that they and their business matter. And they want to learn from you and also from your mistakes!

Think about sharing stories through:

• presentations
• articles and blogs
• coaching and mentoring.

What more could you do tomorrow to share stories and shine the spotlight on what you're doing and the impact you're making?