Mike Nash Of KS&R: 5 Things You Should Do To Become a Thought Leader In Your Industry
An Interview With Abe Alon
Continuous Learning — R and expand your views on a regular basis. I try to start each day with an hour of catching up on general news, industry journals, alerts, and feeds I have set up around specific areas of interest in my areas of expertise.
As a part of our series about how to become known as a thought leader in your industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Mike Nash.
Mike Nash is the President of KS&R — a global market research and consulting firm, working closely with clients in a range of industries to improve their market position, increase returns on marketing investments, and to define/ implement market entry strategies that achieve positive results. Prior to KS&R, Mike worked at the State Capitol for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. His expertise often finds him speaking at industry-related events and conferences on topics such as how to conduct research to support the creation of thought leadership content and how emotions influence B2B decision making.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?
I started with an Economics degree from the Colleges of Hobart and William Smith, in upstate New York. I also spent some time in our State Capitol working for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, calculating monthly unemployment rates and conducting surveys to determine fair wage rates in the apple industry. At the same time, considering a future political career while obtaining my Masters in Public Administration from the State University of New York at Albany. After all that, I unexpectedly ended up answering a small, non-descript, want-ad in the Syracuse Newspaper from a company that turned out to be KS&R — a nationally recognized strategic consultancy and marketing research firm dedicated to helping businesses make better decisions. That was almost 30 years ago!
Can you briefly share with our readers why you are an authority about the topic of thought leadership?
The advantage I bring to this thought leadership conversation is my ability to gain direct insights from the very audience we are seeking to inform and engage. At KS&R, we have the privilege of hearing directly from consumers and business leaders who are using a particular solution or have daily experience with the issue at hand. By collecting and analyzing this data, we gain a deep understanding of the specific marketplace, whether it’s related to cloud deployment, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, or ESG policy debates. We express our leadership point of view through the lens of those individuals who are actually living and breathing the topic, providing insights that enable businesses to make informed decisions that drive success. With our expertise and understanding of the marketplace, we are well-equipped to offer valuable guidance and support to our audience.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?
This is a tough one. There have been many interesting places I have seen and compelling people I have worked with (colleagues, supplier partners, and clients of course). Maybe the one experience I think the most about was the fact that I was in the air — flying to Dallas — on 9/11. We were put down in Chicago and then a 5-day odyssey of planes/trains/automobiles ensued, trying to get myself home to Syracuse. I’m still grateful to the people I met on that trip home and the individuals who helped me with no expectation for anything in return. I approach thought leadership in that same way — we put information out there with the hope that it is helpful to someone.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the main focus of our interview. In a nutshell, how would you define what a ‘Thought Leader’ is? How is a thought leader different from a typical leader? How is a thought leader different from an influencer?
I look at thought leaders as sources of unique perspective and lived experiences in a certain topic, method, approach, way of thinking, etc. This also needs to come with a “sharing mentality.” As a thought leader, your desire to publish and offer points of view must be in a way that can benefit (add value) to others.
Leaders in general — and thought leaders specifically — both tend to communicate with an inspirational mindset. In many ways, both are trying to convince individuals to change behavior in some way or follow them to some new, unknown endpoint.
I tend to have more of a negative view of “influencers” who typically are pushing a product or brand from a mere sponsorship perspective. They are often more transactional, self-serving, or contrived in nature, at least in my experience. I like to think that “thought leaders” are more authentic than what I envision when thinking of an “influencer.”
Can you talk to our readers a bit about the benefits of becoming a thought leader? Why do you think it is worthwhile to invest resources and energy into this?
Markets are crowded and competition is fierce. No matter what vertical or domain you excel in, there are likely many others doing similar work. Thought leadership strategies offer a way to differentiate and separate you and your brand’s identity from the masses. Thought leadership activity also allows you to see trends or pending challenges in your specific space long before others, giving your business time to prepare and shift strategies as required.
Let’s talk about business opportunities specifically. Can you share a few examples of how thought leadership can help a business grow or create lucrative opportunities?
To me, thought leadership is fundamentally about building trust in your company and the solutions or services it offers. As an example, in the early days of KS&R, we knew that our potential customers would appreciate our work if they gave us a chance. However, it was challenging to get that shot without having established credibility. This was especially true for high-investment or high-risk research engagements. Thought leadership played a crucial role in breaking down some of those unknowns and building trust in our firm. It helped to establish a level of credibility that was crucial in winning over potential clients. Additionally, word of mouth and customer recommendations reinforced our position as a thought leaders in the industry, further enhancing our credibility and reputation.
Ok. Now that we have that behind us, we’d love to hear your thoughts about how to eventually become a thought leader. Can you share 5 strategies that a person should implement to become known as a thought leader in their industry?
Continuous Learning — R and expand your views on a regular basis. I try to start each day with an hour of catching up on general news, industry journals, alerts, and feeds I have set up around specific areas of interest in my areas of expertise.
Collaboration — Collaborate with colleagues and peers who work in the same areas. None of this can be achieved individually — the body of knowledge is too great. Conferences, working lunches, and workshops all help bring energy around certain ideas and help make connections between different aspects of the business and key thought leadership topics.
Publish your ideas –As a firm, we frequently share our point of view through social media, blogs, media, podcasts, and more.
Build a point of view –Understanding a nuanced view to promote can be challenging, but it’s critical to establishing yourself as a thought leader. It takes creativity and understanding the marketplace in great detail. We spend a lot of time watching what others are doing. It’s painful to put in effort and realize after the fact that 3 other firms are saying the same or similar things.
Experiment — With each of the angles above, always look for different ways to execute and deliver against each of those strategies. I have been late to the video and podcast elements of the game but starting to experiment with more of those formats. Better late than never.
In your opinion, who is an example of someone who has done a fantastic job as a thought leader? Which specific things have impressed you about that person? What lessons can we learn from this person’s approach?
I often look to athletes, coaches, and artists for thought leadership inspiration. Individuals who are experimenting, pushing boundaries, re-inventing in some form or fashion. I come back to John Wooden a lot (UCLA basketball coach back in the 60’s-70’s). Lessons around authenticity are plentiful. As well as this notion of service to others (now talked about as ‘servant leadership’). As thought leaders, you really need to put your audience first. Provide something helpful to their jobs/roles/lives, as the priority. Obviously, you are looking to build your brand and help your company — but those are secondary motivations. It’s very hard to keep that order in check.
I have seen some discussion that the term “thought leader” is trite, overused, and should be avoided. What is your feeling about this?
Maybe — the term is certainly over-used. But the phrase is clear, simple, and descriptive which I like.
What advice would you give to other leaders to thrive and avoid burnout?
The recent research around mental health makes it clear that we all need to take some time for ourselves. You cannot ALWAYS be ‘on.’ But I think the natural curiosity required to be a thought leader and interacting with likewise individuals who are passionate on specific topics tends to keep one fresh and continually learning. Which, at least for me, helps to create that thriving mentality and minimize the staleness that I find leads to greater burnout.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
Wow. There are any number of worthy causes. We try to support many of them at KS&R — from homelessness, to food disparity, to environmental equity, the list is long. But maybe the single greatest impact to bring the most good to the most people, would be giving every child access to a quality education. In Syracuse, we have a Book Buddies program — which uses community members (professionals, retirees, college students, etc.) to come into the city schools and spend an hour each week with a child and have that child read to their book buddy. Hard to imagine how you can succeed or contribute without being able to read. We need to do more, but this small effort has proven to be a good start.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Good question. Each year I give my kids a t-shirt to start the year with a theme or focus that range from famous quotes to Buddhist mantras, etc. One theme from a few years ago that I have thought a lot about recently; ‘control the controllables.’ You can only impact certain items, wasting energy on those items outside of your control is a waste of time and potentially damaging to your final destination. Focus intensely on those items you control — your effort, your attitude, your commitment to the process, etc. Other decisions and influences are outside of your control. And in most cases, the actual outcome is outside of your direct control. It will drive you nuts if you think you can impact those external forces.
We are blessed that very prominent leaders in business and entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world with whom you would like to have lunch or breakfast? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)
I have always been a Warren Buffett fan, given his consistency (doing it for decades), humble/understated approach, and philosophy around incremental improvement. You don’t need to hit home runs every day, just keep improving at the edges every chance you get; stick with it long enough and you will end up in a positive place.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
You can find me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-nash-ksr/ or get in touch via email at mnash@ksrinc.com.
Thank you so much for your insights. This was very insightful and meaningful.
