What is Thought Leadership?
Thought leadership is about providing unique perspectives, authoritative knowledge and forward-looking insights on key industry topics and trends. You can think of it as a type of content marketing, but one where you leverage your expertise, insights and passion to address the biggest questions and challenges on the minds of your audiences.
So, how do you build thought leadership? Let’s break it down and look at examples:
Key Takeaways
- Thought leadership isn’t self-promotion: It’s about offering visionary ideas, not selling products.
- Executive visibility strengthens brand: Sharing insights builds trust and enhances reputation.
- Create engaging content: Consistent, relevant content boosts both personal and company branding.
Personal Branding Matters More Than Ever
Many professionals assume that thought leadership should live primarily on company pages. However, the data tells a different story. Personal LinkedIn posts get up to 561% more engagement than company page posts. LinkedIn’s algorithm actively prioritizes people-driven content over corporate updates, meaning individual posts have significantly more reach and influence.
This isn’t just a small trend. Employee posts receive 7 times more impressions and 11 times more clicks per follower than company content. That’s why organizations that empower their leaders and employees to share insights. They see greater engagement and brand awareness. Deloitte, for example, recognized the power of individual influence. It hired a full-time corporate influencer whose posts reached an average of 840,000 people.
What is Not Thought Leadership?
Self-promotion of your business, products or offerings. Thought leadership is about providing visionary perspectives, philosophies and predictions that benefit and ignite your audiences. Not specifically the work your company is doing or the solutions it offers.
Let’s look at an example. In one CNBC interview, Richard Branson commented on the concept of universal basic income as a possible solution to the danger of tech replacing jobs. There is no mention to be found in the article of any Virgin brands or industries where Branson has direct business interests. Rather, his commentary is solely based on the impact that disruptive technologies may have on the workplace and workers at large.
Why Does This Matter?
Successful thought leadership engages and appeals to key audiences and prospects, it shines a spotlight on both the executive and his or her company as industry forerunners. The result is broad brand awareness and affinity.
Securing speaking engagements at industry conferences is crucial for enhancing executive visibility and credibility. These conferences provide opportunities for executives to showcase their expertise, which can ultimately lead to industry recognition and awards that reinforce their stature within the organization.
Going back to Branson’s CNBC commentary, it shows that he – and, by extension, Virgin – understand what’s important to employees and is intelligently thinking about the latest technologies and their impact. This boosts the company brand and paints Branson and Virgin as innovators to the public.
Examples of Thought Leadership
When looking at today’s top business leaders. Sheryl Sandberg or Richard Branson might come to mind. What makes them stand out? It’s not just that they’re out there building their companies, but rather, sharing career advice, commenting on societal trends or weighing in on industry news and happenings.
Richard talking about income inequality. Sheryl advising women in the workplace. They’re leading not just their businesses or even industries, but, dare I say, leading thought (for better or for worse).
At one point in time, there was only so much room for this type of thought leadership. But all that has changed with new technologies and channels that allow even non-celebrity CEOs to make their mark. And when done correctly, the opportunity is massive
In our industry, many executives with truly inspiring, interesting things to say, struggle to find their voice. Or, they embark on a journey to raise their thought-leadership profile without a thorough understanding of what that really means or looks like in practice.
Executive Visibility
Executive visibility refers to the presence and reputation of a company’s senior leaders. Particularly the CEO, in the public eye. An executive’s presence on social media and their ability to share valuable insights directly correlates with engagement and brand recognition.
Since LinkedIn prioritizes human-driven content, company leaders have an opportunity and responsibility, It’s to become active participants in industry discussions. This is done through LinkedIn articles, personal posts or participation in key conversations. Executives who invest in personal branding strengthen their organization’s credibility and impact.
Building Leadership Content
To truly leverage the power of thought leadership, executives and employees alike need to create engaging, high-value content. This can include:
- LinkedIn posts & articles (which, as we’ve seen, drive significantly higher engagement than corporate content).
- Speaking engagements at industry conferences to build credibility and establish expertise.
- Video content & motion graphics to make insights more dynamic and digestible.
- Research-backed reports & whitepapers that showcase deep industry knowledge.
By consistently sharing insights, engaging with audiences, and offering value rather than promotion, thought leaders can build influence in their industries—while also benefiting their companies.
By tracking these metrics, companies can evaluate the effectiveness of their executive visibility efforts and make data-driven decisions to optimize their strategy. Understanding which activities yield the best results allows for more focused and impactful executive positioning, ultimately enhancing the corporate reputation and driving business success.
Integrating Thought Leadership into Corporate Strategy
Integrating thought leadership into corporate strategy is critical to ensuring that executive visibility efforts align with business objectives. This involves:
- Aligning thought leadership content with corporate messaging and branding
- Ensuring that executive visibility efforts support business goals and objectives
- Integrating thought leadership into marketing and communications strategies
- Measuring the impact of thought leadership on business outcomes
By integrating thought leadership into corporate strategy, companies can ensure that their executive visibility efforts are strategic, effective, and drive business results. This alignment helps in creating a cohesive brand narrative that resonates with target audiences and reinforces the company’s position as an industry leader.
Best Practices for Thought Leadership
Best practices for thought leadership include:
- Authenticity: Being genuine and transparent in thought leadership content and messaging
- Consistency: Consistently creating and publishing high-quality thought leadership content
- Relevance: Ensuring that thought leadership content is relevant and timely
- Engagement: Engaging with target audiences through social media, speaking engagements, and other channels
- Measurement: Tracking and measuring the impact of thought leadership efforts
By following these best practices, executives can establish themselves as trusted thought leaders and drive business success through executive visibility efforts. Authentic and consistent engagement with target audiences not only builds trust but also enhances the overall corporate reputation, making the company a preferred choice for customers, investors, and top talent.
This all sounds great. How do I make it work within company culture?
Thought leadership requires a willingness to take a stand and talk about your industry in a way that’s visionary and unique. To be successful, it requires five key building blocks:
- Something to say: Big, visionary ideas and compelling insights that matter to your audiences, industry or the public at large
- Differentiation: A unique, differentiated point of view on impactful trends and topics
- Expertise: Experience and depth of knowledge in your field and the challenges facing your audiences
- Sources and examples: To help validate your ideas and provide credibility
- A presence: Eloquence and skill at expressing yourself and ideas
Of course, these are just the fundamentals. We could go on and on about the ins and outs of thought leadership and pitfalls to avoid, but those are posts for another day.
If you’re ready to start growing your visibility, we can help. Drop us a line and find out how we can provide the sixth building block for successful thought leadership – the platform for your message to be heard.
