Thought Leadership
And How it can Make You a Better Leader
Ok, I know what you are thinking; here is another attempt to define leadership by creating a buzzword for something that already exists. As Ralph Stodgill so eloquently states; leadership has as many definitions as those willing to define it. Probably one of favorite definitions of leadership comes from Warren Bennis where he states; leadership is like the Abominable Snowman, whose footprints are everywhere but who is nowhere to be seen.
So instead of footprints, I would like to discuss thoughts, more specifically leadership thoughts and why creating collective thought momentum is good for leadership.
The idea of a Thought Leader was first coined in 1994 by Joel Kurtzman, editor in chief for Booz and Co. magazine, as he was referring to business leaders that had come up with novel ideas that warranted attention. More recently, the idea of thought leadership has been discussed in academic circles as somewhere between current leadership (day to day) and discovery leadership (Christopher Columbus). Or according to Mckinnon;
Robin Ryde is a little more literal in his book on Thought Leadership stating that leadership starts with thinking and gone are the days when the leader could retreat and think alone inside a vacuum about an organizational dilemma and return with the decision. Thinking today is a collective social enterprise that involves all parts of the leadership environment. Everyone in the group is their own author with their own narrative and this is the essence of thought leadership. Thoughts spring from the collective and everyone’s thoughts matter and more than likely will help frame the leadership dialogue and provide alternatives that may have not been considered by the leadership. Good ideas can come from anywhere so therefore the challenge for the leader is how to use the process of social thinking to create new ideas.
So, now that we have a sense of what thought leadership is, how do leaders go about facilitating the process of social thinking? Michael Brenner for Forbes magazine provides possible anecdotes to achieve a thought leadership environment. For the purposes of this essay, these have been modified to remove the heavy business jargon, however the context remains intact.
- Identify the questions your people are asking. Identify them all and then prioritize them.
- Answer those questions across multiple formats and multiple channels in a way that adds value to your people. Start with the most important and work your way down the list.
- You have to “give to get”; eliminate regulations and barriers to free expression.
- Make the conversation interesting, leaders tell stories and offer inspirational anecdotes.
So, the essence of thought leadership is social interaction…hmm, this is probably not that revolutionary and sounds very similar to brainstorming, but it may help create a new perspective on how to better prepare our leaders. I would add to Brenner’s list an understanding of how the social psychology of groups influences the leadership environment. There has been revolutionary research done relative to Social Identity Theory and the implications of group distinctiveness and the impact on the formal leadership. Remember, the idea here is to get good ideas and different perspectives and create an environment for thoughts. The leadership controls this environment and can no longer isolate themselves from the people they lead. Followers are demanding to have a voice and it is up to the leadership to listen to them.
