There's a film I come back to a lot.

There Will Be Blood, by Paul Thomas Anderson. If you haven't seen it, I recommend checking it out. I won't spoil anything important.

The first real dialogue doesn't come until fifteen minutes in. Before that, it's mostly Daniel Plainview alone - breaking rocks, crawling out of a mine shaft, burying a man. Very few words.

So when he finally sits in front of a room full of people and opens his mouth, you lean in.

And he delivers. His wells, his tools, his men, his family business - why he's the real thing and everyone else isn’t. Everything you're supposed to say when you're trying to convince a room to trust you.

This is the speech most of us give. We lead with credentials, explain what makes us different, and make the case for why we're worth believing.

Later in the film, Daniel Plainview is in a different room. Different town, same goal - he needs their land. But this time:

Not oil. Bread. Schools for children. Roads to the church. Crops where there were none. A community that will flourish.

He's less focused on proving himself to you. He's more focused on the better life you'll have.

There's the oil we want, and there's the bread you need.