---
title: "Positioning playbook"
description: "Playbook 1: Positioning."
canonical: https://tomsharman.com/playbooks/positioning/
updated: 2026-10-25
---

# Positioning

- [Builder or authority](/playbooks/positioning/builder-or-authority/index.md): Two places a personal brand works: in the trenches documenting it, or having done it and giving back.
- [Avoid the messy middle](/playbooks/positioning/avoid-the-messy-middle/index.md): Half builder, half authority reads as neither. Sit one side or the other.
- [A mission and an enemy](/playbooks/positioning/a-mission-and-an-enemy/index.md): Name what you are against. The right people rally and the wrong ones bring them in.