Ian Anderson Gray is not a guru.

He lacks some degree of knowledge.

He lacks some degree of experience.

There’s a ton of stuff he doesn’t know.

He makes a lot of mistakes.

Sometimes he has no idea what he’s talking about.

Oh, and one more thing…

He’s one of my heroes.

Recently I read an article where Ian was referred to as a guru not once, but twice. I’ll let him explain how he feels about it, but I’ll tell you what I think: He’s not a guru. He’s not all knowing and omniscient. What he is is a brilliant thinker. A strategist. A man who can see all the pieces on the board and tactically execute brilliant moves. But that comes at a cost. He’s constantly learning. Constantly enhancing his skills. Constantly challenging himself.

Unlike a guru, Ian has not yet achieved enlightenment and will likely not turn into a ball of light any time soon.

And that’s good news for me because I have the great privilege of participating in a mastermind with him and his insights and outside the box thinking makes me and my business stronger every day. In fact, he’s so important to my daily operations that I have two clocks in my office. Eastern time and Ian time.

In case you don’t already know, Ian holds the coveted title of Chief Executive Research Dude over at the Web.Search.Social Podcast. He earned that title because he’s a masterful thinker, author and speaker in the marketing and social media spaces. He holds no ideological position that he isn’t willing to concede if presented with evidence.

Gurus don’t need to do that. Because they know it all.

So to be clear, Ian isn’t a guru, but he is fucking awesome.

He also hates when I curse.

These are my 300 words for the day. I am Ralph M. Rivera.