Are you a thought leader?

You don’t have to be controversial to have something to say.

Many years ago I sat down with a new CEO and asked them about the impact they wanted to make in their post. They told me their focus was to help rebuild confidence in the organisation.

The confidence of staff, believing it was a great place to work.

The confidence of service users, believing that they would receive great care.

The confidence of stakeholders, believing that they had a local organisation to be proud of.

We spoke about their strategy for how they were going to get there. We discussed the measures that would prove the difference being made. And then I asked how they were going to communicate and engage with people along the way.

What we arrived at turned out to be this CEO’s thought leadership strategy.

It took what they were personally interested in, could comfortably talk about and had the evidence to back up.

It plotted out who they needed to be speaking to and when. Including who they might need to build strategic relationships with in order for organisational messages to be heard.

The benefits of taking this approach?

Differentiating what the organisation did well and differently helped it to stand out.

Being talked about on local, regional, national platforms for the things they were doing well and differently, helped to build pride. It attracted new staff and new money.

The knock-on effect was that people became interested in what this organisation had to say. They were approached to take part in pioneering programmes. Critics became advocates. Performance steadily improved. Morale steadily improved.

Reputationally, the CEO did well too. They became better known as being an expert in their field. They were sought out to speak to the media and on panels. They were headhunted for roles in larger organisations.

Thought leadership isn’t an ego trip, but a strategic device that can support and benefit organisations and individuals.

And the reality, as Carrie-Ann and I discussed in this week’s How to Take the Lead episode, is that anyone can become a thought leader. You don’t need to be CEO, you just need to have something to say.

In fact, in an inception-like role play of thought leadership in action, during the episode we realised that thought leadership could be boiled down to this nifty little equation:

Yes, I wish I had some great design skills, but my scribble on a post-it note will have to do!

So, if you have something you want to talk about, can bring a different perspective on a topic and have the evidence to back it up (after all thought leaders rarely follow a crowd) then you are probably a thought-leader in waiting.

All the best … Lee

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