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Thought leadership gems from someone who really stands out

Guest post by: Craig Badings

Article Overview: The world is not waiting to hear what you have to say says Scott Ginsberg. I agree and that is why as a brand or an individual you need to find a powerful mechanism for taking your ideas and insights to market. Thought leadership is that mechanism. Done properly it can provide a powerful boost to your brand and gain real, long-term traction with your target publics.

Thought leadership gems from someone who really stands out

I came across a blog written by Scott Ginsberg the other day entitled the 'Approachable Leaders Handbook to being heard Vol 2'. In it he gives six tips to how you need to go about being heard and when applied to thought leadership, I felt they offered some real gems for aspiring and current thought leaders. What really struck a cord with me is that he says the world is not waiting to hear what you have to say. It is precisely for this reason that I bang the drum thought leadership being a long-term commitment by the business or the individual. To be successful as a thought leader, thought leadership truly needs to become part of your corporate make-up and the value system of the business. It should become part of who you are and what you do as a business and a part on which you work constantly.

It is only over time that you build a brand - the same applies to thought leadership. A one off research paper ain't going to do it. It will come and go in an instant. You need a far deeper commitment to thought leadership and definitive, long-lasting theme.

Let's look at some of the points Scott had to make and their applications in a thought leadership sense:

1. Align your petitions with the self-interest of your audience. Find out what their success seeds are.

Absolutely - one of the critical success factors of any leadership campaign']);"> thought leadership campaign is to understand the interests of your target publics. Without these insights you run the risk of your thought leadership piece being irrelevant.

Once you have this understanding, you need to identify how you are going to add value to their current understanding/knowledge. In doing so you should strive constantly to stretch their minds and stimulate new thoughts, views and perspectives.

2. Give clear direction of what you want people to follow. Make the audience your accomplice.

Clear, definitive perspectives or insights about your topic make it a lot easier for your audience. Furthermore if they are involved in the process, the stickiness you create with that target public is enormous - they feel vested in it and thus part of the journey.

3. Build a listening platform. Demonstrate to the people you want to hear that they have been heard first.

The whole idea of thought leadership is to generate discussion and interest in what you have to say. To test whether your thought leadership is being received in the right manner so that you can tweak it if needs be, you should, where possible, have a platform for two-way feedback. This could include: one-on-one or group presentations; feedback forms; independent research; online polls; chat forums on line; feedback mechanisms online; round tables and the like.

4. Create a dialogue that draws people into the cause. Say things you haven't said elsewhere.

Thought leadership is exactly that - leading with your thoughts. That implies they should be new, fresh and provide interesting insights that no-one else has previously given. To do so, thought leaders need courage, they need to be aware that not everyone will agree with their point of view. But that's OK because as a thought leader you want to provoke discussion and debate.

5. Invite layers of interpretation around your message. Allow people to add multiple dimensions to your ideas.

The whole idea of thought leadership is to seed an idea, insight, interpretation and then watch and participate as others get involved and share their views. By provoking and promoting healthy discussion and at times heated debate, it serves to air your ideas and spread the conversation across multiple, interested audiences. With the power of the web these ideas can go global in an instant.

He concludes by saying that if you follow this process your voice will be heard. Hear, hear Scott.

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Article Tags: promoting your brand, scott ginsberg, thought leadership



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