How would your senior leadership team—or even your board—explain the goals for your org’s thought leadership?
When you have shared clarity, it’s like traction under the wheels of a vehicle. But without that alignment, you’re going to find it hard to get anywhere!
Thought leadership isn’t just about revving up the engine and producing a lot of great assets. You must propel your org forward – sometimes, over rocky ground.
In many organizations, I’ve seen deep disconnects. There’s important storytelling and alignment work that needs to be done. And once it’s done, it has to be periodically rechecked.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a non-profit org or a for-profit org.
There are a limited number of topics that senior leadership and board members care about. They worry, and ponder:
- This quarter’s sales
- Long-term client growth and retention
- Talent strategy (attract, grow, retain)
- Influence the influencers—analysts and media
- Brand-building
So, ask yourself. How does your thought leadership work fit into the exec leadership team’s agenda? How does it fit into your board’s agenda?
If you (and they) can’t answer that question, the whole TL endeavor is at risk.
Thought leadership isn’t an all-purpose tire, ready for any road. It’s a specialized tool. To use it properly, you have to know where you want to go – and create a clear strategy to lead you there.
Once the organization’s goals and its thought leadership are aligned, you’ll go further and faster than ever before.
If you’d like to do a “get to know each other” or catch-up call with me, here’s a link to my calendar.
I’d love to talk shop about thought leadership with you.
Warmly,
Bill Sherman
COO | Thought Leadership Leverage