Become a Thought Leader

Web strategist Brian Fling has some great tips that'l get you on your way to becoming a thought leader with some good tips to get you started.

Thought Leaders have a lot in common, having a public outlet for their thoughts, having something valuable to say, together with publishing on a regular basis is a sure fire way towards gaining an audience.
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Thought Leadership
Lately I've been hearing the term "Thought Leadership" a lot more than usual. Did I miss the blog post, or do I feel a buzzword coming on?

Thought Leadership is a person or company that actively promotes and discusses ideas that are relevant to their peer-base. That by talking about a topic you become a leader in that topic. Their statements are often assumed to have the experience and knowledge behind them to support what they are saying.

This is hardly a new idea and something many have been doing for years, be it speaking engagements, publishing a weblog, or by being that internal expert within a company, advocating new ways of doing things. In the 90's it seemed like any company that had some proprietary software or platform also had a small army of Evangelists, whose sole purpose was to advocate to others, mostly peers, to use their product. I think the rise of use in the term Thought Leadership reflects interesting recent shifts in business strategy, the move to modern think tanks and the embracing of open public discussion.

The Modern Think Tank
A few years ago I was listening to, Science Friday, my favorite Friday activity, and they discussed Think Tanks of the 50's and their decline in modern research. That in today's environment, thought leaders are being recruited to work within huge organizations. That much of their work and findings are kept private and safeguarded as Intellectual Property.

Since hearing that episode, weblogs have exploded creating many thought leaders in the process. From web design to genome research, many blogs capture the daily trials and tribulations of a given field. Though often targeting peers, they can provide excellent insight to the curious outsider.

Blogs can often leave out an important group: the corporate thought leaders who cannot discuss their daily findings.

Public Display of Information
Some of the most talented and greatest thinkers I have had the honor to work with do not publish a blog, and do not share information, because they work in a company that prevents them from discussing daily activities on a personal blog. We've all heard stories of employees being fired for their blog. I've had a few close calls of my own, once where I got into some serious trouble with an employer by recounting my experiences with an outside agency, and another where I incurred a significant legal bill by fighting over usage of content. Many employers' blog policies are often unwritten: employees have to guess what is appropriate and what isn't. You usually don't find out you did anything wrong until it's too late.

With the increase in thought leadership as a tactic to increase a company's perception as an expert, we are starting to see companies embrace a more public attitude toward publishing what they know. Big companies like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft have embraced blogging, allowing employees to publish to a sanctioned space, as a method of creating or maintaining corporate thought leadership. This is an important shift in business, being far less guarded in sharing of intellectual property or thinking in a field. Becoming a thought leader by embracing the exchange of information can help to propel your business.

Thought Leadership is still Leadership
Thought Leaders have a lot in common, having a public outlet for their thoughts, having something valuable to say, together with publishing on a regular basis is a sure fire way towards gaining an audience. Though it can be difficult to determine who is a thought leader and who is just a pundit. In my mind you are on the verge of punditry if there is any ideological discussion or criticism of a problem without presenting solutions that are grounded in some experience. It's okay to have the occasional rant, but you have to balance it with the weight the sharing of your experience dealing with a similar situation.

Like I was saying, Thought Leadership, is still Leadership. You must be fair and balanced, you need to share experiences and foster the learning and development of others. It is okay to make definitive statements, but the risk you take is being able to admit when you are wrong and take responsibility for your actions.

But, most importantly ... Trust has to be earned
You need to prove yourself to others. This can be in your past actions or in your writings. But you cannot say something is gospel without building the trust with your readers.