Hot take: Thought leaders should define values to guide their work.
Thought leaders lead the way forward with big, bold, generous ideas. They question norms and offer new solutions. Bringing new ideas into the world is a position of power and influence, and comes with a weight of responsibility. That’s why I think thought leaders should be careful about what ideas they’re distributing. The best way to safeguard against bad, dangerous, or questionable ideas? Define values for your thought leadership content.
I have defined values for my work. As a ghostwriter supporting those thought leaders behind the scenes, I’m careful about WHO I work with and WHAT ideas they’re distributing.
My primary value: I support people whose ideas are “building up, not breaking down.”
I want to be a part of projects that add something to the world — that build people up. I want to help bring creative ideas and positive energy to a planet that already has plenty of sarcasm, anxiety, and trauma. When you work in the business of ideas, why wouldn’t you choose to align yourself with only the most generous ones?
I’m not naive. I know that everything isn’t sunshine and roses in any of the industries I support. We’re living through an era of incredible upheaval and change. That comes with definite feelings of loss, grief, and pain. But I want to work with the helpers – the people who are thinking creatively to make their corner of the world better.
3 steps to define values for your thought leadership
So how could you define values for your thought leadership content?
You might already have a foundation to get you started:
- If you’re in a leadership role, you might have helped create the company’s values.
- If you’re in marketing, maybe you live and breathe by the brand values.
- And if you work in content, you probably have frameworks for how you create content – your ethos about sourcing ideas, editing content, and promoting your work.
But do you have clearly defined values about the CONTENT of your content? What adjectives do you use to describe your ideas? What values guide your thought leadership?
Start with the company and brand values you’ve already set, and then dig deeper to apply those values to your thought leadership. Try these three steps.
Consider your ideal tone
What tone do you want to take? How would you describe your ideas and the personality you use to describe those ideas?
Your tone might be…
- Helpful
- Inspirational
- Controversial
- Thought-provoking
- Unifying
- Funny
- Sober
- Optimistic
- Joyful
- Wise
Name your non-negotiables
Then, create some boundaries for your content. What are the lines you won’t cross in your thought leadership? Will you decline to comment on certain issues? Do you draw the line at disparaging other companies or people? What won’t you do?
My alarm bells go off when I’m asked to develop ideas designed to break people down or mock them. It’s a hard “no.” It doesn’t align with my values.
Let your vision lead the way
Finally, use your ultimate vision to inform your values.
How would you describe the future you envision? Describe your dream outcome for the change your ideas will create. Then work backwards to define what values you’ll need to uphold to reach that vision.
Fill in the blank:
I envision a world/industry/workplace that is more ______.
(Egalitarian, free, functional, exciting, peaceful, happy?) <<The words you use to fill in the blank also represent the key values your content should support.
No matter what kind of thought leadership content you’re working on, it’s important to define content values to lead you. If you are responsible for bringing new ideas into the world, it’s worth developing guidelines to keep you on track.
