Thinking About Thought Leadership

Have you listened to the most recent Talk About Talk episode, “DEMONSTRATING LEADERSHIP“? In this episode, we look at 5 ways to demonstrate leadership:

Be a PROACTIVE, Strategic Leader
Demonstrate PEOPLE LEADERSHIP
Create THOUGHT-LEADERSHIP
Communicate with CONFIDENCE
Talk LEADERSHIP

Last week, we talked about PEOPLE LEADERSHIP. This week, we’re getting a bit introspective and looking at a more individual way to demonstrate leadership: THOUGHT LEADERSHIP.

There are 2 steps to establishing thought leadership:

Step 1: Identifying your thought leadership topic

Step 2: Sharing your thought leadership

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1️⃣ Identifying Your Thought Leadership Topic

Your thought leadership topic should be integrated with your personal brand.
Just like your personal brand, your thought leadership topic will evolve over time.
Find a subject area that fascinates you and double-down. Go deep and learn everything you can.
It could be a sub-discipline, an industry focus, a specific element of your product or service, a step in the product pipeline, something technical, an emerging trend…

2️⃣ Sharing Your Thought Leadership

Share your expertise both informally (e.g. in the moment, in conversations) and formally (in white papers, in webinars and training sessions, on social media).
Publish a paper on LinkedIn!

Your thought leadership will grow if you also TALK LEADERSHIP (the 5th of the 5 ways to demonstrate leadership). “Talking Leadership” means using the word “LEAD” whenever you have the opportunity:

When you’re introducing yourself (“I lead the…”)
When you’re explaining your career path (i.e. my “path to leadership”)
When you talk about what you do (as in global lead, team lead, project lead, division leader, meeting leader, and/or thought-leader!)

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That’s it for this week! I hope you enjoy the podcast.

If you’re looking for more guidance on LEADERSHIP, please check out these previous episodes, focused on communication skills for leaders and on confidence (one of the 5 ways to demonstrate leadership):