Leveraging Thought Leadership | Organizational Thought Leadership Anthology | 304

Today we make a small departure from our usual format of interviewing a guest. Instead, we shed a light on the series of short videos Bill Sherman has been producing over the last year that focus on specific issues related to Organizational Thought Leadership.

First, we look at the many varied paths that professionals travel to land in a thought leadership role.

Second, we examine the skills thought leaders need to be successful. While there are many that are useful we discuss the three key ones: analytical thinking, storytelling, and empathy.

Third, we look at the four primary ways that ideas emerge in thought leadership: forge, sharpen, weld, and transport.

Fourth, we discuss the benefits of narrowcasting, which might seem counterintuitive given the constant hype we hear around clicks, likes, and shares. But do those metrics really hold value?

Three Key Takeaways:

· Thought leaders with empathy are able to break through the distractions of what interests themselves to focus on what their clients truly need.

· Many believe new ideas in thought leadership are brand new, but in fact, most are rooted in evolving and combing existing ideas.

· Narrowcasting allows thought leaders to speak more directly to the audience that is most important to them.