"It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently."

- Warren Buffett

Hey ,

Warren Buffett once said something that should terrify every expert, consultant, and coach.

He said his biggest mistake wasn't buying the wrong stock.

It wasn't missing out on Google or Amazon.

His biggest mistake was taking 30 years to figure out what he calls "the ultimate moat."

Here's the thing...

Even Buffett only got it half right.

See...

He thought brand moats were the secret sauce.

And yes...

They worked for CocaCola etc...

But there's something more to this...

Something that made Buffett legendary long before most people knew what Berkshire Hathaway was.

And if you don't understand this distinction...

AI is going to eat your lunch....

Steal your clients...

And leave you wondering what in the name of all that is blessed happened?!!!

Let me explain...

Look around.

We just finished talking about frameworks...

Well here's some news for you...

If your "proprietary frameworks" aren't based on Deliberate Design™...

AI will reverse engineer them from your content in minutes.

Your brilliant insights?

ChatGPT spits out similar ones by the thousands.

Your years of experience?

Well...

That can be compressed into training data and served up for free.

I watched it happen to a colleague of mine last month.

I'd warned him...

But no...

"CTM I know what I'm doing"

Built a $2 million consulting practice over 15 years.

Three of his biggest clients dropped him for an AI powered alternative.

Didn't even negotiate.

Just...

Gone.

And as for...

The platforms you built your personal brand on?

Don't make me laugh...

They can delete you with one algorithm update.

Ask anyone who went all in on a single channel they don't control.

Most experts are responding to this crisis by doubling down on the wrong thing...

They are doubling down on better logos...

More content...

Shinier funnels.

#childplease!!

That's like polishing brass on a sinking ship.

So...

What's a tribemaster to do?

Well...

3,000 years ago...

King Solomon faced the exact same problem.

Everyone had access to the same information.

Same scrolls.

Same oral traditions.

Same cultural wisdom.

Anyone could build impressive displays of wealth and knowledge.

But Solomon did something different.

He built a reputation so powerful that a queen traveled for months through dangerous territory just to test whether reality matched the hype.

Let that sink in.

When the Queen of Sheba finally met him....

She said something that reveals the secret:

"The half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame of which I heard."

His reality exceeded his reputation.

That's the opposite of what most experts do today.

They hype first, deliver second.

They focus on perception instead of proof.

But here's what Solomon understood that most don't:

A good name is more desirable than great riches.

This wasn't poetry.

It was business strategy.

Here are four things AI will never clone....

First, relationship history.

AI can chat with your clients....

But it can't manufacture 5 years of kept promises...

Shared struggles...

And earned trust.

Your deepest relationships exist in a context no algorithm can replicate.

Second, crisis character.

How you handle disasters....

Mistakes...

And impossible deadlines reveals who you really are.

Clients remember how you responded when everything went sideways more than they remember your successes.

AI has no character to test under fire.

Third, judgment under ambiguity.

You're not paid for information...

You're paid for making calls when there's no clear answer.

For reading between the lines.

For navigating uncertainty with incomplete data.

That's human only territory.

Fourth, contextual intuition.

Understanding what's NOT being said.

Sensing the real problem behind the stated problem.

Adapting to personalities in real time.

This requires emotional intelligence AI can't fake.

As AI handles basic information and routine tasks....

These four capabilities become MORE valuable...

Not less.

Clients will pay premium rates for...

Judgment over information...

Relationship over transaction...

Context over content.

A good reputation signals all four instantly.

Personal branding signals exactly none of them.

#pausingfordramaticeffect

Building a reputation isn't accidental.

It requires four systems most experts never build:

System one: Promise tracking.

Every commitment gets logged and kept.

Your word becomes unbreakable.

This builds what I call Reputation Equity™...

Trust that walks into rooms before you do.

System two: Proof engineering.

You design every engagement to create outcomes clients can share.

Results become ambassadors for your reputation.

System three: Signal consistency.

Every touchpoint reinforces your reputation.

No mixed messages.

No contradictions.

Everything matches.

System four: Relationship deepening.

You systematically move clients from buyers to believers to walking testimonials.

Most experts skip these systems entirely.

They focus on getting noticed instead of getting trusted.

Big mistake.

Every expert now faces two paths...

Path one: The content treadmill.

Keep posting to stay visible.

Compete on features and price.

Hope the algorithms don't change.

Watch AI slowly copy everything you do.

Path two: The Way of The Tribemaster.

Build systems that create compound trust.

Engineer proof that travels without you.

Develop relationships with real switching costs.

Follow The Way and you will dominate you field within the next 36 months...

The others will join the ranks of disrupted industries wondering what happened.

Buffett's regret wasn't about missing investment opportunities.

It was about understanding reputation physics too late to maximize the compound effect.

Right now...

You have the same choice he had 30 years ago.

Start building reputation architecture while you have time to benefit from decades of compound growth.

Or wait until competition forces you to play catch up from behind.

Your expertise got you this far.

Your reputation determines how much further you go.

The Way Of The Tribemaster the collapses time it takes whilst increasing your clarity and certainty.

Tomorrow I'm sharing the exact case study of how one struggling consultant used these four systems to transform into a premium advisor with a 6 month waiting list.

Same person.

Same expertise.

Different architecture.

The transformation will shock you.

This is The Certain Way.

All you need to do is...

Get out of your own way.

CTM

PS:

Next week Thursday, The 11th of September 2025.

Time: 6pm to 9pm WAT

I'll be hosting the Deliberate Design Intensive, a three hour workshop designed to help you implement deliberate design and turn your wisdom, life experience and expertise into cash producing frameworks. It's designed for members of IST but I've got 10 guest passes avalable at $100 or N150,000.

You can get details here...

Registration ends this week midnight Thursday 4th, 2025.