Thought Leadership in Professional Development

Thought leadership is often talked about as a branding exercise that builds credibility and drives revenue growth. But how? The simple answer is in this statement: greater authority leads to greater discoverability which leads to more high-quality leads. The general process of using thought leadership to drive growth is to create some research report, gate it on your website, and run a bunch of ads and post on social media to drive traffic to this tentpole piece of content. You will get leads, but the quality will be low and it will take months before you generate any business. Try this approach as an alternative: 1. Identify key figures in your company who have an engaged audience within the market you want to grow in. If you don’t have those individuals, then you aren’t ready for this yet. 2. Have them create blog posts that talk about key topics in your industry people care about and are talking about now. Focus on what people care about, not what you want them to hear about your business. 3. Write about the topic on Linkedin regularly for the time period the topic is still relevant. 4. Cross link to your blog post within your Linkedin post and other social posts. You will amplify discoverability, and lead generation, in a few key ways: - Linkedin is more apt to show your content to people if you are seen as a domain expert in the topic of that content. This helps people who have an established relationship with your company (or key figures within it) gain trust and credibility in your expertise. - As the audience of those key figures engages with your content, more people like them on Linkedin will discover your content. This is like a digital warm introduction. Jane Doe comments on your post, John Toe sees it, and is more enticed to read the post and look into your company. - This network effect will cause more people to visit your website and read your thought leadership content. - The more people visit your thought leadership content, the higher you will rank in Google search results, yielding even more traffic. - You naturally begin to get more leads as people build a greater affinity and trust of your brand. It’s not super hard or time consuming. Consistency is the hard part. Your role if you want to get good at this is to optimize for repetition, not efficiency. The investment pays off. Within a week of me posting consistently on Linkedin after our V1 launch, we gained 6 inbound leads, 2 of which converted into trial users. Less than 5 hours of work generated what would have taken 4x that in cold outreach. So, key takeaways: 1. Focus on building the authority of key figures in your company, not the company itself, to build the authority of your brand. 2. Increased authority will lead to much higher quality leads with less work. 3. Optimize for consistency over efficiency. The time spent upfront will yield much better returns in the future.

A few years ago, a colleague and I wrote a book together. It won an award. The category was #creativenonfiction. I had never heard of the genre. I learned that "creative nonfiction" is distinct in voice, orientation and purpose from most other genres of fiction AND nonfiction. It focuses on true stories that provide information about a variety of subjects, enriched by relevant thoughtful ideas from the author; their personal insight and intimacies about life and the world we live in. Not only did that describe our book, but it describes most of the kinds of writing I've done my entire life. Writing helps me better understand the world...my world. In my work with leaders, I strongly urge them to write. I usually suggest a creative nonfiction approach to that writing. Not only do leaders need to communicate factually accurate information. They need to do it in their own unique voice. Here are three key reasons why writing can be a valuable skill for leaders. 1. Effective and Efficient Communication: Strong writing skills enable leaders to communicate their ideas, vision, and strategies clearly and concisely to their teams, stakeholders, and the broader audience. Writing allows leaders to articulate their thoughts in a structured manner, ensuring that their message is easily understood and impactful. Effective communication through writing is crucial for creating alignment, inspiring employees, and influencing decision-making processes. 2. Persuasion and Influence: Writing can help craft messages that will influencing others and persuading them to embrace new ideas, take action, or support a particular initiative. Leaders who can articulate their thoughts persuasively through can inspire their teams, gain buy-in from stakeholders, and drive organizational change more effectively. Whether it's developing compelling proposals, persuasive emails, or impactful reports, leaders who can express their ideas convincingly through writing have a greater chance of achieving their objectives. 3. Thought Leadership and Branding: Writing allows leaders to position themselves as thought leaders in their respective fields. By sharing their expertise, insights, and experiences through blogs, articles, or books, leaders can establish themselves as credible authorities and enhance their personal brand. Thought leadership writing helps leaders build a following, gain respect, and open doors to new opportunities. It also fosters a culture of learning and continuous improvement within their organizations. References: Dulebohn, J. H., & Hoch, J. E. (2017). Using Writing to Enhance Leadership Effectiveness: A Trait Activation Framework Perspective. Journal of Business Communication, 54(4), 420–442.) Cialdini, R. B., & Martin, S. J. (2016). Influence: Science and Practice. Pearson Education Limited. Bhattacharya, R., & Kassoy, A. (2018). The Content Trap. Harvard Business Review, 96(5), 26–28.)

I work with a lot of leaders on thought leadership content. And they all make the same mistake at the start. Most business leaders immediately think in marketing terms and how to write content that emphasizes the messaging and positioning of their brand. Especially here on LinkedIn. Which would be great. Except it doesn’t work. The reason is that it’s missing THE most important element in individual content: relatability. If you narrow your universe to parroting that positioning statement you overpaid a consultant to write for you, no one is going to believe that a) the content is genuinely coming from you and b) that you actually think in those terms. People can spot thinly-veiled marketing from a mile away. And when they miss the connection to you as a person and an expert, trust evaporates and is so hard to get back. The trick to great thought leadership is at the intersection of expertise and your unique relatability. I get so many questions about this in my work that I’m going to start talking about it a lot and really dissecting what makes great, authentic and effective #thoughtleadership from leaders and executives. With data and examples. What would YOU want to know?