Are your senior leaders excited about thought leadership?
Or do they roll their eyes at the term?
Especially when it’s a title within the org?
Let’s face it, we’ve all seen “business fads” trying to get attention.
The term thought leadership can sound pretentious to some.
Or it may seem really hard to measure.
Some leaders—looking at CFOs and COOs—may be leery of trying something new, especially when metrics and KPIs.
Thought leadership is more than a fad.
Each week, I see more and more orgs hiring for the function.
In many orgs, the thought leadership function is in its early days.
When set up properly, the thought leadership function can take ideas to scale.
But scale can be “squishy” for senior leadership.
So, let’s be direct. Why should your senior leadership care?
⬆️ Stronger brand health
⬆️ Customer acquisition/retention
⬆️ Customer lifecycle value
⬆️ Talent attraction, growth, and retention
⬆️ Influence in the marketplace and policy discussions
Orgs and leaders have been practicing thought leadership for generations. They just didn’t have a term for it. Only a few things are new about thought leadership:
🪧We’ve put a name on it;
📈 Quantified it; and
🏆Started recognizing people who excel at it.
That’s how an informal process is evolving into a formal business function.
Orgs that practice thought leadership practitioner have a real advantage.
That’s what makes it special.