The Ultimate Guide To Becoming A Thought Leader
I remember vividly the first time a LinkedIn post had its impact on me. Or when I found a podcast that produces exactly the kind of content I’ve been looking for to help me grow, think, act, and make decisions based on them.
Great content never teaches or preaches you. In fact, they facilitate knowledge for you to create your own conclusions. And explore ideas in your unique way. In easy words, they bring about change.
That is thought leadership content in its original, finest form.
You know this term, you’ve heard it loosely used several times. I know people who directly work in marketing and absolutely hate that term as well. But it’s an inescapable thing: not the phrase itself but the sort of content and impact it brings about.
Because there’s a misconception about it: Thought Leadership gets the reputation of pushing bragging rights and popularity. And that cannot be further from the truth. But then what is it? What is thought leadership truly?
The True Meaning Of Thought Leadership
If you want to understand what Thought Leadership is at core, you need to first understand what it isn’t. It’s not loud, nor a popularity contest. Neither is it about bragging rights.
One word summarizes it best: Trust. A Thought Leader is someone who is trusted by their audience; whose ideas help shape the way their audience think or act. Compared to an average person, they share their opinions too, yes. But they also set a direction with it.
The best way to think of them is that they make sense. Especially in a world chasing algorithms and trends. Instead they bring credibility and clarity to the table their audiences sit on.
Who Is A Thought Leader?
Not everyone is a thought leader. And while, as I mentioned above, it isn’t a popularity contest, it certainly isn’t something you wake up one morning and can call yourself. On the contrary, being a thought leader needs establishment.
Like others, they share their opinions and ideas with the world in their domain. But those opinions, those ideas are lived and real, based on something more concrete. What makes them stand apart is that they have a clear and distinct way of looking at the word of their industry.
The best part? It’s always backed by emotions and understanding: real human values. Because their sharings come from experience, data, consistent studies and results. They don’t limit themselves to trends. They pave the way for a different, maybe parallel thinking and understanding of their domain.
The best examples I can think of? Look at Seth Goden, the God of Marketing and Branding. Or even Indra Nooyi, former CEO of Pepsico who has clarity of thoughts that come from her experiences of running one of the biggest Fortune 50 companies in the world for over a decade.
They often show up wherever they do, with substance. And while they do, their names become synonyms with their industries.
How To Become A Thought Leader In Your Domain?
This is where several people complicate things and ideas. Where several strategists wreck reputations with too many achievements and brags that grow numbers but diminish credibility.
But if you truly want to become a thought leader, here’s the ultimate blueprint you need to follow:
Go Beyond Your Expertise:
Find what’s your edge? There are several professionals who are experienced. But not many are distinct. Ask yourself these three questions, and answer them honestly, maybe using a journal or your notepad:
– What do I see differently in my domain?
– What frustrates me about common advice and trends in my domain? – What do I stand for, willingly, without caring about whether it is popular or not?
Real thought leadership is taking a stand. Not sharing summaries like others do.
Share Generously By Turning Experience Into Actionable Frameworks:
I’m an avid storyteller. And I strongly believe stories add context, even if it is another word like thought leadership that’s so loosely thrown around.
But while people do remember your stories, they mainly remember the outcome of those stories: the system out of what you share. And why.
Hence, do this: take whatever you’ve learned. Turn them into mental models or frameworks or principles. Those are the kind of stories that help build your authority in your domain. That builds trust in your abilities and ideas.
Go Where Your Audience Lives:
The important thing to understand is that thought leadership doesn’t survive in a vacuum. People don’t suddenly start showing up just because you spit facts. Nobody is that much of a people-magnet.
Instead, research where people in your domain hangout. Literally. Live events, YouTube Podcasts, LinkedIn, Forbes? Go there and create space and opportunities for yourself.
What’s even more important is that it isn’t posting, it’s positioning that matters.
Show That You’re Human, Behind The Thought:
This is the best quality of the best thought leaders in the world: they teach their audience how to think. That goes beyond sharing knowledge.
If you share results with your audience, share the reasons, the misfires, mistakes, learnings, lessons, and most urgently, the evolving views behind those results. This is the quality that makes them human, and a credible one at that.
Build Dialogues, The World’s Not A Stage:
The idea of being a thought leader isn’t to become a know-it-all in your industry. There’s no space for someone who broadcasts pompously. The best thought leaders are inviting. They’re open to dialogues, exchange of ideas and experiences, debates with their audience. That’s where you become a trusted entity, an entity worth following.
Create Long-Term Goals:
One viral post doesn’t make you a thought leader. Neither does one quarter. Thought leadership is something that compounds overtime. Because it takes time for people to trust you.
You don’t become undeniable in a few months. In a few years of consistently showing up? That builds trust, making you a default voice in your domain. Because you do your work, intelligently.
Thought Leadership Is The Bigger Picture
When you regularly show up with intelligent ideas and a strategic approach, every moment compounds. Because it’s not and never about knowing all the answers in your domain.
Forever, the best thought leaders are people the audience turns to when they need better answers.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Dayal Punjabi is a Personal Branding Strategist, Thought Leadership Expert and the host of Influence – Personal Branding for Founders podcast. He’s been featured on LinkedIn News India, and named as one of the top 24 LinkedIn India Marketers 2024 by BTalkz. Beyond work, Dayal is an author, being published by Penguin Random House India in 2020.
Dayal Punjabi
Personal Branding Strategist for Thought Leadership
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