Thinking About Thought Leadership

Today's post comes from ROAM Communications network partner, Rory J. O'Connor, Chief Storyteller at San Francisco-based Morcopy Communications. He is an award-winning former journalist and long-time senior PR executive, who provides executive communications consulting and writing services to corporate clients. 

There's hardly a corporate communications program that doesn't include a "thought leadership" component, whether the goal is to increase the visibility of a key executive, position a brand to stand apart from its competitors, or influence the direction of an industry or public issue. 

Unfortunately, few of those programs succeed as well in practice as they do on paper. What often gets in the way of success is fear of risk.

Being a true thought leader is inherently risky. It requires an individual or a brand to be bold, to take a stand on something important, or point with confidence to a vision of the future. But taking a stand means choosing sides, and predicting the future means you might be wrong. The stronger the stand, the more risk there is of opposition; the bolder the vision, the greater the risk it won't come to pass.

The temptation is to back away from that risk -- but that also saps a thought leadership campaign of vitality and effectiveness. You wind up with speeches that don't excite audiences, op-eds that don't entice editors, and blog posts that don't ignite conversations.

Don't run away from those risks: Embrace them instead, and then build your campaign around these five key principles:

• Embrace a powerful point of view. Leadership means choosing a direction for others to follow and providing a compelling reason to follow that path. you can't base a thought leadership campaign on just putting all the options on the table with their pros and cons. That's confusing analysis with opinion. Tell the audience what you believe, and make it clear why they should care.
• Be provocative. One of the greatest values of a thought leadership campaign is its ability to spark a conversation around your point of view. Unless you create that spark, though, what's there to talk about? Trying to make your point in a way that pleases everyone will inspire no one. Think about what grabs your attention: things like conflict, controvery, contrarian views are going to get your audience to pay attention. 
• Say something new and timely. Leaders are, by definition, ahead of everyone else. Putting an old idea in a new package isn't going to put you ahead or earn you mindshare. What will do that is a fresh approach, a different prism on the issue, an unexpected idea, that's relevant to the audience. 
• Offer solutions and a call to action. It's not enough to talk about all the problems out there -- once you tell people why they should care, tell them what they can do about it. If you're talking to the right audience, they probably already know what the problems are, because they are experiencing them. If you're going to lead the discussion, then don't rehash the problems: Show the way forward.
• Be transparent. Transparency is the key to credibility. There's nothing inherently wrong with having a point of view that aligns with your business interests. But you should acknowledge where those interests lie. Otherwise, the conversation will soon focus on what's in it for you​, not for your audience.

Finally, even if you follow these principles, a thought leadership campaign rarely succeeds overnight. It takes time to earn a following and respect with a target audience. One of the most successful thought leadership campaigns of my career, which a colleague and I developed for a major global technology brand, developed quite gradually over 18 months. We were fortunate to have a CEO who both embraced the risk and was willing to invest the right level of time and resources. Setting expectations at the outset will help ensure the campaign has the opportunity to deliver its full value.