A few years back I was first introduced to billionaire Grant Cardone on a podcast. During the interview he spoke about his experience on the TV show Undercover Millionaire. If you’ve never watched season 2 of this show (I wouldn’t waste my time with season 1), it is well worth your time and is both entertaining and constructive! Cardone and two other millionaires are taken to an undisclosed city and given $100, an old car, and a phone. With these meager tools they are challenged to build a million-dollar business from scratch within 90 days using a fake name and none of their real life contacts or social media.

On this show Cardone shares a quote that I couldn’t get out of my mind for a long while. “Best known beats best”. Obviously this thought has huge implications for marketing a business or product. You might make the best shoe on the market, but people have never heard of it. A competitor produces an inferior shoe, but people know about it far and wide. You will get pummeled in the market because the best known shoe will beat the best shoe.

More than marketing

But this idea plays out in the lives and careers of individuals as well. It’s not enough for you to be a person who does high quality work off in a corner all alone. While this is of some value, if others are not connected to you and looped in on what you have going on, then someone inferior will beat you out over the long run. In my experience with Chick-fil-A, often the most vocal people garner the lion’s share of the attention from leadership, while quieter employees can get overlooked. The best KNOWN can beat the BEST.

Be better known

How then exactly can you be better known?

1. Stay relevant on professional social media platforms like LinkedIn. Actively post things that are interesting and helpful to others. Post multiple times per week.
2. If you are quieter or more laid back, don’t let other more vocal people steal the best opportunities. Speak up, engage with others one-on-one and in meetings, and advocate for yourself so that you do not get left behind. Tell others about what you are working on, but also ask lots of questions so that others will feel heard while you can sit back and listen.

One tangible action:

Identify where you most need to become more well known. Is it online, in the workplace with the boss, or somewhere else?

Pro Tip:

Look to someone in your world who is well known and observe what actions they take and then simply emulate them.