Reflection: A Thought Leader’s Superpower

One thing we don’t do enough as humans? Reflect. We don’t pause to think about what’s happening, as it happens. We don’t take enough time to learn and wonder and grow.

And reflection is definitely missing at work.

Especially if your work is busy or high-pressure, it’s easy to just keep swimming through the waves of deadlines, emails, and calendar pings. Who has time to stop and reflect – much less change course?

Why reflection matters

But through my work with thought leaders, I’ve seen the incredible value of reflection. When I start working with a new client to develop their thought leadership strategy (Who are you? Who are you talking to? What can you offer them?), our work is often really tough. It’s slow. It’s frustrating. We don’t make immediate progress. Often, it takes weeks or months of wading through ideas and reflections before we ever turn those ideas into some kind of deliverable. We spend a lot of time in the messy middle.

Our work is messy and slow because we’re reflecting. When people come to me for help, they are usually brand-new at reflection. They want to start writing about their work, but they haven’t done the work of figuring out what they want to say. So I push them to think about their work and how they describe it. How did they get here? What have they learned along the way? It’s a new skill that they just haven’t honed while they’ve been busy running an organization.

I ask questions. I sit through long silences. I let people slow down and reflect. And I wait for the turning point when all of those questions and reflections turn into a newly honed idea that we can take out into the world. There’s always an “aha!” moment where suddenly they see the value of all of that reflection: Clarity! They know what they want to say, why it’s important, and how their thinking is different than everyone else’s.

That’s why I say that thought leadership “strategy” is really just “knowing yourself.” You can’t take your ideas into the world, build a personal brand, or help other people if you don’t start by reflecting on your work and knowing yourself.

So if you’re struggling to establish your voice, or hone in on your unique ideas, try adding reflection to your work routine.