Ep. 89: How Your Ideas Can Dent The World, with The Power Of Onlyness Author Nilofer Merchant
“Onlyness at its simplest level means that each of us, every single one of us, has a chance to add value to the world… Each of us stands in a spot in the world only you stand in. It's a function of your history and experience, visions and hopes.”
Nilofer Merchant is an author and speaker based in Silicon Valley who has personally launched more than 100 products, netting $18 billion in sales, and has held executive positions at everywhere from Fortune 500 companies like Apple and Autodesk to startups. Her latest book, THE POWER OF ONLYNESS: Make Your Wild Ideas Mighty Enough to Dent the World shares her expertise to reveal new ways of connecting our ideas to the world around us.
“The more you are true to your own fidelity, the more you end up having this resonance in the world with exactly the people who hear that same ringing bell and can listen to it and go, ‘Oh My God, I want to join in.’”
On this episode, Nilofer explains that power is no longer determined by your status, but rather by your “ onlyness.” If you build on the unique perspective that only you have and connect with others who share your purpose and passions, you have the power to dent the world. “Onlyness” combines the power of one with the power of many.
“We no longer have to fit into traditional hierarchical organizations that largely dismiss a bunch of us. They dismiss women. They dismiss people of color. They dismiss the young and the old. They dismiss anyone who doesn't already have power and say those ideas from those people don't count. So this combined word is this opportunity for us to actually all count and for ideas more importantly to actually have an impact in the world.”