Sheila Murphy Of Focus Forward Consulting: 5 Things You Should Do To Become a Thought Leader In Your Industry

An Interview With Abe Alon

You will only be a thought leader if you share your ideas. This concept may sound obvious, and yet I have known brilliant and creative people who had excellent and innovative ideas and yet did not feel comfortable sharing them within and outside the organization. They also felt frustrated by a lack of acknowledgment of their ideas.

As part of our series about how to become known as a thought leader in your industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Sheila Murphy.

Sheila Murphy is the CEO of Focus Forward Consulting, LLC. After almost 25 years, as an award winning senior corporate executive at Fortune 50 company, where she hired, developed and mentored talent, Sheila now provides career, business development and executive coaching. She prides herself on taking her clients from uncertain and uninspired to unstoppable.

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?

When I started in the corporate world, I was an extreme introvert whose dream role would be to sit at my desk, do my job, and go home. I did not want to speak up or out. My reluctance to speak up hurt both my career and deprived my organization of my thought leadership.

I realized when I heard that the company was promoting one of my peers. Unlike me, this gentleman continually voiced his views. And to be honest, he often did not know what he was talking about. And I realized his raising his opinion had boosted his career. I then thought, what would it be like if I spoke up when I knew what I was talking about. So I began to use my voice. By the time the gentleman left the company, he was reporting to me. And more importantly, my company had the benefit of my ideas. I want to help people learn from my missteps and have a more substantial impact on their organizations and have the careers they deserve.

Can you briefly share with our readers why you are an authority about the topic of thought leadership?

Since I had my epiphany, I made a concerted effort to become a thought leader in helping my organization drive business forward and be more inclusive and efficient. For these reasons, my organization increased my responsibilities and promoted me.

I did not limit my efforts internally. I wanted my thought leadership to have an impact outside of my company. For this reason, I volunteered my time and shared my expertise with outside organizations as a speaker, member, and strategist. As a result of these efforts, other groups sought out my leadership and recognized my contributions by honoring me with awards and recognitions.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?

I was working at the World Trade Center in New York for a law firm when the first terrorist attack hit (the one before 9/11), and what struck me that day was the people, no matter what their level, who exhibited real leadership. They took care of others before themselves, stayed calm amid chaos and no information, and made a difference. As leaders, I think that is what we should strive to achieve every single day.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I was given a fairly straightforward assignment on my face to research something that you would have thought there would have been a thousand resources on, and I could not find one. I spent a tremendous number of hours trying to find something on the subject. When I finally had to tell my manager that I found nothing and spent days looking. He was not thrilled and asked why I had not come to check with him and get more guidance. I learned from that experience to ask questions and seek out others with expertise to help you.

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?

A thought leader is constantly looking for knowledge to improve an organization or the world. They focus on learning and how to apply that to different situations to drive a vision forward.

Thought leaders are unhappy with the status quo and never want to hear or say that we do it that way because we always have. Thought leaders, unlike other leaders, approach and look at the business and issues differently because of both a deep-seated knowledge of the subject matter and at the same time broad expertise and learnings from other areas they leverage. On the other hand, influencers simply want to influence others’ decisions for a result — they are not improvement or purpose-driven.

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?

Because of their learning agility and focus, thought leaders drive more substantial and innovative results. The changes that they make can create quantum leaps of improvement and progress. For this reason, they are sought after by organizations both internally and externally because their profiles scream cutting edge visionaries. This has never been more relevant when organizations to be competitive cannot afford to only look at their issue through the same old lens.

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?

First if you leader of a business that provides services to other organizations, it is critical that you are a thought leader. Other companies and business only want service providers that have strong professional reputations and are known for innovative approaches. No company invests in service providers who bring a standard uninspired approach to the table.

Second, thought leaders have the ability to see new markets, products and approaches that enable them to grow their business.

Third, thought leaders who are known for process and talent improvement, drive their companies forward by freeing up capital to use elsewhere, as well as creating an engaged, empower and efficient work force. For example, one executive I know by implementing process improvements that he heard of in a different industry was able to redeploy the capital he saved into developing new products that increased his reach in his primary market.

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? Please tell us a story or example (ideally from your own experience) for each.

Let’s start with the understanding that being a true thought leader does not happen overnight.

It takes a continuous and concerted effort.

This effort begins with understanding your industry or business exceptionally well, focusing on what could bring vast improvements. This depth of expertise allows you to understand its

pain points, efficiency opportunities, and where and how new ideas could bring about quantum leaps of progress.

An example of this is Gary Vaynerchuk. After graduating from college in 1998, Vaynerchuk took charge of his father’s liquor store, Shopper’s Discount Liquors. He renamed the store Wine Library, launched sales online, and in 2006 started Wine Library TV, a daily webcast on YouTube covering wine. He grew the business from $3 million a year to $60 million a year. In 2011, Gary stepped away from the wine business to build a digital ad agency. Gary saw a different way to sell and market wine that would appeal to clients. By knowing your area, so well, what are the opportunities you see to do things differently?

Second, this commitment to learning must be broad. You want exposure to different ideas and ways of doing things in your industry and others. What made Gary’s approach revolutionary at the time- was selling wine differently than it had in the past. He applied techniques used in other markets to this market and dramatically changed his company’s and career trajectory.

One General Counsel I know gave his staff at least one day a year to try a different experience. He did not care what the experience was, and afterward, all he asked from the team was that they think about how that experience could improve their company or culture. He was committed to a continuous learning culture and spur innovation.

Third, thought leaders have broad and diverse networks that allow them access to different ideas and ways of thinking. And more importantly, they are open to thinking differently about issues. The more exposure you have to other ways to view a problem, the more likely you will find a creative solution. For example, when looking at a strategic initiative such as diversity or leadership development, I would talk to business leaders in all industries to see what they were thinking about. This approach broadened my thinking to see what more could be possible and propose new ways of addressing issues.

These broad networks also gave me access to initiatives and approaches that other companies were thinking about, such as ESG and mental health initiatives. It spurred me to think about how I could look at them differently and propose even more impactful solutions.

This exposure to various ideas enables you to view issues through different lenses and develop other ways to address concerns. For example, many departments’ employees feel stretched, yet the associates focus on lower-level tasks rather than strategic ones. This situation happened in my department when in a corporation, and I embarked to think about how we could approach what we were doing differently. I learned how my company in other departments and other organizations used outsourcing to improve skills and be more efficient and effective. I brought these learnings to my area that had not approached outsourcing before. What was important to me was that this was a true up-leveling where the existing staff was re-trained and developed. This approach provided a huge benefit because the team had tremendous historical knowledge that would be difficult if not impossible to replicate, and the up-leveling investment would have been less than the knowledge loss.

Another example of how exposure to new ideas creates innovation was when I attended a presentation on data analytics, a specialty very far removed from my day job. However, being exposed to this new information impacted me significantly. I began to think about how that could change the way I and others work, make us more effective, and free us up for higher, more strategic work.

Fourth, you will only be a thought leader if you share your ideas. This concept may sound obvious, and yet I have known brilliant and creative people who had excellent and innovative ideas and yet did not feel comfortable sharing them within and outside the organization. They also felt frustrated by a lack of acknowledgment of their ideas.

While it is unfair, thought leadership takes hold most often when presented confidently and by someone with has a robust professional profile. To be a thought leader, you must be comfortable advocating for different approaches and ideas and that they may not all be accepted.

Finally, to develop an external thought leadership reputation, you need to create thought leadership channels to share your ideas. These can include writing, speaking, and podcasts. It also can consist of being on influential committees in your industry or on topics where you can present your ideas and views. You also want to expand your network to increase the impact of your thought leadership. For me, who wants to be known for having helped more women attain more powerful positions in the law. I have spoken and written on it and leveraged my social media to amplify my thought leadership on this topic. I also became involved in organizations that aligned with that mission.

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 believe that Kat Cole has done a terrific job as a thought leader. She has a unique perspective and story, as well as innovative ideas. She also uses various channels to relay her message to others and has created a robust, engaged network that inspires her continued thought leadership and spreads and supports her ideas. My take-aways from Kat is to carefully hone your professional story and profile and use that as a platform to amplify your thoughts. I also want people to understand that Kat did not become a thought leader overnight- it took time and effort.

I have seen some discussion that the term “thought leader” is trite, overused, and should be avoided. What is your feeling about this?

I understand why people may feel that way because many people who have not done the work lay claim to the term. And yet I have not found another term that conveys what the concept means. So, I believe that if you are a thought leader then you should own it and use it. And I also do firmly believe though that you should not use the term if you on a resume unless you can provide evidence of it during an interview.

What advice would you give to other leaders to thrive and avoid burnout?

I often talk to my clients about the power of the pause and the need to take a break to rejuvenate, renew and restore. I suggest that people who have trouble doing this calendar self-care and time off like they do other tasks. People who do this outperform and are more creative than those who “power through” work. More importantly, you are an example for your team, and if you do not model these behaviors, your team will not adopt them, and it will not be as engaged, effective, or innovative as it could be.

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. :-)

I would love to inspire more people to take a stand to make sure that girls have equal access to education that boys do in many countries. I am proud member of CARE’s NY Women’s Initiatives that among other issues focuses on this topic. By creating equal access, we can have a tremendous impact on the economic future not of just women but of society as a whole.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Fearlessness is like a muscle. I know from my own life that the more I exercise it the more natural it becomes to not let my fears run me.” — Arianna Huffington.

This quote speaks to me because what I have learned over time, the more I act fearlessly, the more I accomplish, and the easier it becomes to take action. I also found that the more I share with the world my thought leadership, the more I can have the impact that I desire.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Readers can follow me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheilamurphyfocusforward/ or Twitter at Sheilamurphy_. They can also sign up for my newsletter on my website: www.focus-forward-consulting.com.

Thank you so much for your insights. This was very insightful and meaningful.