Tag: Thought Leadership

What is a Thought Leader? (Infographic)

“Become a thought leader.”

“Strive to achieve thought leadership.”

“Build your personal brand by being a thought leader.”

Most personal branding experts are apt to dispense advice like the above statements to people who want to position themselves as a useful resource who adds value to others. Thought leadership is a means to that end. Identifying thought leaders in a field is not too difficult. When I think of marketing thought leaders, names like Seth Godin, Chris Brogan, and Mark Schaefer come to mind. More difficult tasks are grasping what it means to be a thought leader and determining what it takes to arrive at that destination.

The meaning of thought leadership is laid out in the infographic below.

What is a Thought Leader Infographic

“Think” and “Lead”

One of the most striking notions of what it means to be a thought leader is that being smart or an expert in your space is not enough. While thought leaders certainly can be characterized as intelligent, what sets them apart is their courage to take a stand or even take action for principles about which they feel strongly and are unwavering. Moreover, a thought leader exhibits leadership by being able to rally a group of people (i.e., their tribe) to affect change among them.  An example of this distinctive characteristic of a thought leader is career expert, author, and speaker Dan Miller. His 48 Days community numbers more than 15,000 people who look to Dan for guidance and help each other as they look for career fulfillment.

Follow the Leaders

You may be on a personal journey to become a thought leader in your field. Keep in mind the characteristics of a thought leader given in the infographic as you work to carve out a distinctive position. Use this information to assist you in finding thought leaders you should follow, learn from, and rally around. I cannot think of a single thought leader who woke up one day with a Thought Leader badge pinned to his or her chest. The status is earned through years of work (often in obscurity), clarifying your values and core principles with a willingness to act on them. In the meantime, enjoy the journey.

The Branding Power of Thought Leadership

A great article written this week by Len Stein touts thought leadership as the next frontier in public relations (read the article). I could not agree more with the views Stein puts forth in the article. Traditionally, companies have made news releases a key component of their PR strategy. These bits of news and facts are mass distributed to media outlets and posted on company web sites in the hopes that someone will find information in a release newsworthy and give it coverage. News releases are typically “we are great” messages that are one-way conversations between a company and whoever they think would be interested in learning about how great they are.

Yes, news releases can be an inexpensive way to create exposure. Yes, news releases are perceived as more credible than advertising because the source of the message is viewed as the news media, not the company whose release led to the coverage. But, everyone does them- for profits, non-profits, institutions, organizations, everyone is trying to get exposure. The result is that news releases do not carry the punch that we would like to believe they possess.

In contrast, thought leadership offers more for audiences. It is about informing and educating a target market that would value receiving information. Recipients can put to use information received or are otherwise better off for having been exposed to messages from thought leaders. Another key benefit is positioning as a thought leader not only strengthens brand credibility, it can help humanize the brand. Thought leaders are people, not entities. In order to forge a leadership position, people have to make it happen. Whether it is through blogging, podcasting, books, or other form of disseminating information, it is accomplished by associating a name and face with the information being shared. News releases are very impersonal by comparison.

Becoming a thought leader is not done with the objective of increasing sales or market share, but those results can be by-products of establishing a position of high credibility in an industry. It comes down to what do you have to offer to your target audience that adds value. “I am great” does not work in developing thought leadership; rather it is more like “how can I help you become great?”