I’ve been exercising on a treadmill lately. And while I’m on the treadmill, I usually listen to a Podcast. I’ve been working on an growth accelerator program for course creators through Siren, so to help me keep my head in the game, I’ve been listening to LMSCast.

More-specifically, Jason and Chris’s 5-part Education Entrepreneur series.

In the first episode, Chris said something that really struck me this week.

It’s a guru would just be like climb this mountain and a guide is going to be up there adapting working with people, dealing with setbacks, dealing with weather changes, and I think also being a guide. Takes a lot of pressure off like you don’t need to be the guru Giving a sermon.

You just need to help people get results.

I really like this framing. Being a “guide” instead of a guru. I’ve been writing up and conceptualizing a lot of content this week for Siren (so, so much content is getting queued) and this framing has been really useful for me. I’ve never been able to quite articulate it as well as this.

I like that this framing takes away the notion that you have to have all the answers. I like that it changes your tone, too.

Jason summarized it nicely.

I’m hearing there in this guide, the difference between a guide and a guru is instead of here’s my knowledge, take it or leave it. You’re taking responsibility for the outcome.

I think that now, more than ever, people are more receptive to guides, not gurus. I don’t know about you, but I reflexively roll my eyes when people post “insights” with the tone of the guru these days. I used to respond to it differently, but it almost always falls flat when I hear it now, and just comes off pushy and brash.

Anyway, it was a good episode. Definitely worth a listen.