I’m nearing three years of running a thought leadership consultancy. And as I reflect on what I’ve learned, I came up with one major epiphany from my work with leaders: if you want to make a big impact with your ideas, don’t focus on one-off projects and posts. Instead, build a thought leadership platform.
What is a thought leadership platform?
A thought leadership platform starts with one big idea. The idea should be simple enough that you can examine it from many different angles. That one idea can lead to many different kinds of reflection and content that reach into every part of a business and your work.
And when I say platform, I’m not talking about social media sites or specific places where you can share your ideas. I mean building a broad-reaching, many-year campaign that is bigger than one specific event, website, or social media channel.
Being a thought leader might look like LinkedIn posts. Or articles published in industry magazines. It might sound like making a podcast or a video series. It might be short bursts of inspiration. It might be long, labor-intensive projects. But usually, for thought leaders with staying power, it’s not about just one piece of the puzzle. It’s not about making a flash in the pan. It’s about building a broad, sturdy platform.
The beauty of building a platform? Other people can climb on with you. You’re not drawing a line in the sand, dividing yourself and your ideas from others. You’re building a firm foundation that others can build on.
Thought leadership is big. It’s wide-spanning and far-reaching. It’s about growing deep roots and wild shoots. And a strong thought leadership platform can keep growing and developing for years.
[TIP: If you need inspiration for a core idea, think about a single word. What word defines your vision/work/perspective? I pick a “word of the year” — in 2020, I chose both ENOUGH and CARE. In 2022, I focused on CURIOSITY.]
An example of a thought leadership platform: joy at work
Here’s an example of a thought leadership platform that has created a movement bigger than one person. Kearney (formerly A.T. Kearney) is a consulting firm whose clients represent three-quarters of the Fortune 500. It’s a firm with hundreds of very smart people, including a managing partner who is elected every few years.
In 2018, Alex Liu was elected by his colleagues to lead the firm. Very early in his tenure as managing partner, Alex decided that his central idea would be “joy at work.” People outside the company took notice (a Financial Times reporter noted, “Joy is an unusual word to hear from a corporate leader.”)
Nearly five years later, Alex and the team at Kearney have built a platform around that simple idea of “joy at work.” He and other leaders at the firm have explored “joy at work” through original research; articles published in major business publications like Harvard Business Review and World Economic Forum; events for Kearney colleagues, alumni, and clients; a podcast that has run for four seasons; and the culmination — a book, “Joy Works: Empowering Teams in the New Era of Work,” coming out in November 2022.
Amazing, right? That simple idea sparked a conversation that has jumped around the globe, spanned across the firm’s generations of colleagues, and made its way into engagements with clients. It has been a jumping-off point for new relationships and partnerships and a lot of new conversations.
What can we learn from “joy at work” about how to build a thought leadership platform?
💡Think bigger than a specific business objective or event.
Note that “joy at work” isn’t a business objective in the same way as “increase employee engagement by X%” or “drive up NPS scores in Q4” — but both of those objectives could nicely tie into the platform. When you think bigger-picture, you open doors for all kinds of new objectives and opportunities.
💡Craft an idea that invites others in.
Not every thought leadership platform has to be as positive as “joy,” but it does help to pick an idea that is open-ended enough for others to add their unique perspectives, questions, and experiences.
💡Let your idea grow deep roots and wild shoots.
Finally, be open to new opportunities to shape and spread your idea. “Joy at work” has been so pervasive because the team at Kearney has planted its seeds all over the firm — at internal events, at external events, in their core marketing and PR, and in how they talk to clients. Be curious about where your idea could land next.
So much of the content written about B2B marketing is about quick-win tactics or the hack of the day. But building a thought leadership platform requires thinking bigger, thinking broader, and knowing that your legacy needs a strong foundation in order to grow.
