In a digital landscape bursting with noise, flashy funnels, and relentless hustle, what is the one thing your audience is actually starving for? It isn’t another complicated framework or a perfectly curated aesthetic. It is something much simpler, yet profoundly rare. They just want to feel seen. They want to know that someone understands their journey, respects their pace, and is willing to walk right beside them.
We are hand holders. We need to hold the hand of our audiences and show them what we want them to see when we want them to see it.
A Dream in the Back Bay
During the late ’80s, I lived in Boston and was determined to break into publishing. To gain essential experience, I interned at a publisher in the Back Bay and took on temp work to pay the bills.
I landed an assignment at a highly regarded financial institution on Franklin Street. What was supposed to be a week-long gig turned into a stay of several months.
My job was to provide clerical support to a small team on one of the building’s stately upper floors. One of the vice presidents I worked with was an incredibly kind and shy man who blushed every time he approached my desk with a request.
Being equally shy (if not more so), I would quickly lower my eyes, return his blush, and say, “Yes, of course, Dan. Right away.”
One night I dreamed about him.
The following morning, I was in the narrow, galley kitchen in the Beacon Hill brownstone I shared with my sister, Anne. I leaned my head out of the kitchen and said, “I dreamed about Dan last night.”
Anne, being the forever carnal Scorpio, looked up and said, “OH, yeah?” with a devilish grin on her face. “What happened?”
“We were lying on top of a bed, fully clothed and side by side, about two feet apart, looking up at the ceiling,” I said. “Neither of us spoke. At one point, he reached over and very gently held my hand.”
Anne was nonplussed and asked, “Is that all?!”
“It was perhaps the sweetest and sexiest moment I’ve ever experienced, dream or real life,” I said. “I can’t explain it.”
What Does Your Audience Actually Crave From You?
I can explain it now, all these years later.
While I have always been an enormous fan of holding hands, what I felt in my dream (and honestly can feel right now as I write this) was so much more than a physical connection (although that was incredibly special).
In the dream, I felt seen. Acknowledged. Treasured. Protected. All from a small, sweet, deeply felt and honest gesture.
This is what we all desire.
And this is what our audience craves from us, whether they are conscious of it or not. They want to feel seen by the people they choose to learn from and follow.
Become a Preeminent Hand-Holder
It’s our job as entrepreneurs, leaders, and creators to become preeminent audience hand-holders. To be mindful that we don’t gallop ahead and leave them alone on their path, assuming they’ll catch up, figure it out.
But rather, walk beside them at a pace that suits them and yet simultaneously challenges and stretches them. To continue to give them the respect of authentic visibility, to honor who they truly are, and clearly assure them how much they and their needs matter.
How much their work, their hearts, and their wildest dreams matter.
One way we can do that effectively is to become skilled at calmly directing their attention. They don’t need us to hold frenetic energy and pursue scattered, look-at-and-do-everything messaging.
Instead, our audience needs a simple approach with clear directions like…Look right here. This will help. You’ll find solace here. This is how you’ll reclaim your agency and clarity. You’ll be profoundly moved here. Inspired. Rejuvenated. Soon, you’ll see your momentum and joy return.
Are You Offering the Sanctuary of Being Understood?
If I were to go to your website or your Substack or your social media platforms right now, would I feel seen? Would I feel guided?
Would I intuit that you have been on a cathartic and illuminating Hero(ine)’s Journey that has transformed you and filled you with substantive lessons to share?
Would I feel a kind and generous heart?
One of the deepest human hungers is for the sanctuary of being truly understood. When someone arrives at our doorstep, weary from battle, they are not looking for a flawless guru.
They are looking for a lighthouse. They want to see how we walked through the dark and found the fire.
The way through.
Our audience needs us to slow our stride, reach back into the shadows, and gently take their hand.
They need us to strip away complexity and offer a singular, luminous gift: I see you. I have been where you are, and you are no longer walking alone.
