Over the last few weeks, I have had conversations with several senior executives who have a lot in common – they are all smart, capable, hard-working, and have a commitment to make the world a better place. Unfortunately, none of them are thought leaders. They all struggle with different aspects of the thought leadership journey and I hope their experiences will help you move forward on yours. …You’re Waiting for Perfection Executive number 1 is a planner and has been spending months mapping out her possible path forward. Now, I am a huge fan of planning, but not if it’s about looking into eve ..read more

I was recently consulting with a woman entrepreneur, I’ll call her Rose, prior to her participation in an industry association meeting. Her goal for the meeting was to move forward some change initiatives in her industry and gain more recognition for her start-up. Since she was not an invited speaker, we knew she would have to work harder to gain attention for her ideas and gain the notice she deserved. Here are the six ways we identified that she could use this event to advance as a leader and a thought leader in her field. Craft Memorable, Repeatable Messaging It’s easy to participate in a ..read more

For many years I’ve been fascinated by the concept of archetypes as they provide an efficient and useful shortcut to understanding complex ideas. And while I am no Joseph Campbell, I have spent the last dozen years working with and studying thought leaders and learning about and writing about thought leadership. During that time, I have identified 7 different (and sometimes overlapping) archetypes that summarize the motivations of the thought leaders that I have met. Builders: Motivated to build, create, and show a new path forward. Collaborators: Motivated to create connectio ..read more

A few years ago, I was invited to do a fireside chat at a large tech company and one of the audience members asked me a question that I’ve never forgotten — can political leaders be thought leaders? At the time, I had never given the question much thought and my answer reflected a certain bias against the idea, maybe because of my own experience working full time on a large political campaign, where I must admit I met few thought leaders! I had always put political leadership in a separate bucket from thought leadership, although I would include political advocacy work as a key component of a ..read more

I was taking questions following a webinar on thought leadership last week (with the amazing Carol Emmott Fellows of 2022 – check out what they’re doing) when one of them asked me about something that has long been on my mind. How, she wondered, do you keep going when you are fighting for change in an arena like racial justice, where every day you see evidence that the fight is unwinnable? I can relate, I assured her. The two issues that I have been fighting for throughout my career – women’s access to capital and women’s right to choose – also feel like un-winnable battles. After decade ..read more

If you’re like me, you subscribe to and read a lot of newsletters. Every morning, I get between 10 and 20 daily, weekly and monthly newsletters in my mailbox and some of them I read religiously (Dave Pell’s Next Draft), while others get an occasional glance if the headline catches my eye. These are all things I have chosen to subscribe to and while I look forward to many of them, I really don’t need any more. Which is why I surprised myself this past week by diving deep into a 3000+ word newsletter from a company whose product I don’t use, whose mailing list I don’t recall subscribing to, and ..read more

I was on a call with a client last week and she asked me something that fired me up. We have been working together for several months and during that time she has advanced from being unknown outside her community of colleagues to finding her voice, honing her niche, identifying her thought leadership topics, creating a strong LinkedIn profile, and sharing content related to the future she envisions. She has also been invited and contributed chapters to two books and has begun one of her own. Yet, even with all that great progress, she was still thinking that maybe her thought leadership effor ..read more

Ever been with someone at a networking event or a business meeting where they failed to introduce you? It can be both painful and awkward…and it doesn’t have to be that way! Here’s a technique that I learned from my friend and mentor, Sam Horn about how to not just introduce but to ‘credentialize’ someone so that you’re making true connections. This can also be a great thought leadership technique when used online or off because it helps spread important ideas and brings attention to overlooked people and perspectives. Read the newsletter. The post Don’t Just Introduce…Credentializ ..read more

Are you struggling with moving forward on your thought leadership journey? Most of us get stuck in some very disempowering thought distortions that take us out of the game. Here are a few that may be holding you back. Which one resonates with you? Read the article. The post What Thought Distortions Are Keeping You From Becoming a Thought Leader? appeared first on Thought Leadership Lab ..read more

Over the last few weeks, I have had conversations with several senior executives who have a lot in common – they are all smart, capable, hard-working, and have a commitment to make the world a better place. Unfortunately, none of them are thought leaders. They all struggle with different aspects of the thought leadership journey and I hope their experiences will help you move forward on yours. …You’re Waiting for Perfection Executive number 1 is a planner and has been spending months mapping out her possible path forward. Now, I am a huge fan of planning, but not if it’s about looking into eve ..read more