Thought Leadership is a powerful way to increase your personal and company visibility. When I led investor-relations and public-relations firms, one of our secret weapons was helping our CEOs to become thought leaders within their industries. We eventually focused on this as the primary strategy to help our leader/clients gain industry recognition and new clients, through our affiliate, Thought Leader Excellence.
Here are 5 key attributes of effective Thought Leaders.
• Know Your Turf. Be an expert in your area – both conceptually and current trends. And remember, competence breeds confidence – which gives you leader presence.
• Be a Standard Bearer. Authorities set the standards, represent them passionately and set new trends that shape the market.
• Be Visionary. Seek out new ideas, explore possibilities that others are missing and be forward thinking. Accept the risk implicit in this activity and reap the opportunities!
• Stand-up and Stand-out. Be vocal and visible within the community using whitepapers, blogs, books, articles; give keynotes, speak on panels, give interviews, etc.
• Brand Yourself. Declare yourself as a thought leader so people will know to follow you.
How do you measure up? In 2015, invest the time and energy to become and promote yourself as a thought leader; then reap a life-time ROI by promoting your personal and/or company brand for future sales. Share your experiences and other key attributes you’d recommend.