Can I convince you that thought leadership is generous?
When I lead workshops about thought leadership, the groups usually fall into one of two categories: people who are eager to improve their thought leadership; and people who are, frankly, not interested in thought leadership at all.
Recently, I talked to a group that fell into the latter category. It was a group of women working in social impact, approaching the crest of their careers, and trying to figure out how to balance their many responsibilities and blaze a new trail forward. They’re busy, they’re doing important work, and “thought leadership” isn’t on their radar.
I heard pushback like:
“Oh, but I’m not trying to be a [wrinkled nose] influencer or anything.”
“I don’t really do LinkedIn. It’s not my thing.”
“I’m focused on the work – I let our marketing people do the publicity part.”
In other words, they think of themselves as thoughtful leaders, but not …ahem… “thought leaders.”
Like many others, they saw thought leadership as a selfish, self-promotional act. But talking about your work doesn’t have to be self-serving. It’s not about bolstering your ego or polishing your own reputation.
Should you care about developing thought leadership? Ask yourself these questions.
I asked the group these questions:
- Do you want to make an impact on others?
- Do you want to broaden the reach of the ideas and values that are most important to you?
- Do you have a vision for the future?
- Do you care about the legacy of your work and your ideas?
Because I was talking to a group of thoughtful leaders, the answer to these questions was inevitably “yes.”
Helping others by sharing your ideas? Taking the time to reflect on your experience, dig up the most important insights, and package those takeaways for other people who may find themselves in a similar situation? Reflecting on the lessons you’ve accumulated and helping others learn alongside you? That’s pure generosity.
That’s why I don’t think about thought leadership as “personal branding.”
Thought leadership isn’t just about your personal star power. It’s about the way you think, the ideas you’re stirring up, how you approach your industry’s big challenges. It’s taking your work and your thought processes and making them visible to people outside your immediate team. It’s about building a platform that other people can climb onto. In that sense, thought leadership is generous, not self-serving.
Ready to think generously? Start your thought leadership practice
Here’s the challenge I gave the group of leaders in my workshop. I’ll pose the same challenge to you:
How could you start a thought leadership practice – a regularly scheduled discipline of reflecting on your work and sharing your insights with others?
Maybe you block 30 minutes every Friday to reflect on your work from the week and share a Slack update with your team.
Maybe you take a walk every other week with a peer in a different department to talk about what you’re working on and think about how you could share those reflections.
When you start defining a personal thought leadership practice, you turn spontaneous generosity into a disciplined, predictable way for you to broaden the impact of the ideas that matter most to you.
Thought leadership is a generous act, but you don’t have to go it alone. I partner with business leaders to share their stories and perspectives through articles, podcasts, and books. Know someone who’s ready to work on a book and needs a partner to bring it to life? Let’s talk.
