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Thoughts from Thought Leadership

Thoughts from Thought Leadership

The 2011 Thought Leadership Workshop is now completed, with David Maister as my guest, following Marshall Goldsmith last year. (The 2012 session is October 22-24 in Palm Beach—contact me for participation or use my web site. I have 15 seats available, that’s all.)

Here are my most vivid recollections from the beach:

• Tell people what you think and what you believe will help them, prescriptively. Don’t struggle for consensus.

• The ideas don’t have to be new, they have to be pragmatic and immediately applicable.

• Use multiple media: books, articles, blogs, newsletters, speeches, interviews, video, podcast, teleconferences, and so on. Broadcast your message.

• Use metaphor and symbolism to emphasize and create memorability.

• Understand your own “sweet spot” (what you’re superb at helping others accomplish) and identify the support factors that emphasize varying aspects.

• Thought Leadership can be research-based, or anecdotal, supported by examples and evidence.

• “Hang out with” and interact with other, recognized thought leaders.

• The term is vulnerable to cliché. I like to think of “results leaders.”

• Thought leaders evolve and change and are public figures who are accessible.

• One of the truest tests is longevity, with evolution of intellectual property.

• Intellectual property isn’t supposed to be hidden under a mattress. If you’re afraid of it being stolen if you broadcast it, then your claim to it is tenuous.

More to come.

© Alan Weiss 2011. All rights reserved.

Written by

Alan Weiss is a consultant, speaker, and author of over 60 books. His consulting firm, Summit Consulting Group, Inc., has attracted clients from over 500 leading organizations around the world.

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