On being a content aggregator versus a content creator
I heard an interesting sentiment on one of the business podcasts that I listen to. They made the point that the people who succeed are typically not the ones who create the content. The people who succeed are the ones who leverage or aggregate other peoples’ content.
This made a lot of sense to me. If you look at who makes money in sports or arts or technology, (assuming money is your measure of success), it’s not the artist or the creator who typically makes the money it’s the people who exploit their creations.
So why do you care? Well for a couple reasons. The value is still in the content, so we typically assume that if we want the value we have to focus on the content. I think this is a trap. I see so many people who are technologists with a particular set of specific skills that will never rise above a certain point.
They are stuck by their own volition because they are experts in that thing and this expertise, while initially enabling, ultimately becomes a trap for them. It creates a ceiling. Like the actor who gets known for a specific role in a sitcom and can never break out of that role the rest of their career.
It also creates risk. Because no matter how good you are at your specific thing there is always someone coming along, or someone in another part of the world who can be just as good. By letting yourself get pigeon-holed you are eventually commoditizing yourself.
What’s the alternative? The alternative is to look for opportunities to aggregate, to provide meta-value. The record label, the publisher the owner of a partnership – all these roles allow you to leverage the content to garner more value.
When you aggregate you develop a different distinct skill set that is not tied to any specific content. It becomes portable and scalable.
How do you make the shift? You have to do something that initially is going to feel very uncomfortable. You have to turn your back on those very skills and competencies that got you to where you are. You have to take your hands out of the engine and say ‘I don’t do that anymore’. It will feel wrong and everyone around you will try to force you back in.
If you do it right those skills become part of your core portfolio of strengths and you can lay the meta-value of aggregation on top to leverage them.
Then you can call yourself the boss.