Are You A Thought Leader?
Posted on May 31st, 2009 by admin in Leadership
By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
Thought Leadership…What is a thought leader, and what does thought leadership mean in today’s business world? As much as some people wish it wasn’t so, a thought leader is not someone who simply restates someone else’s views and positions. Furthermore, beyond uniqueness of thought, a true thought leader’s positions also challenge established norms and conventions. Moreover, the true litmus test for a thought leader is when their unique ideas are implemented in the marketplace, they tend to create disruptive innovation, and often change the way we view the world. In today’s post I’ll examine the subject of thought leadership in an attempt to separate fact from fiction…
Robert Gates is the 22nd US Secretary of Defense. He has served 8 US Presidents, was an officer is the US Air Force, his history with the CIA ranged from an intelligence operator to the Director of the Agency, and he even served as a college president along the way. Regardless of your opinion of Mr. Gates, there is no dispute that he has spent the majority of his life in leadership positions, and is thus very qualified to put forth opinions as to what it takes to be a great leader. Rather than comment on his positions and perspectives, I’ll let Mr. Gates words speak for themselves. In the text that follows I have excerpted text from his May 23rd commencement speech at West Point:
As a CEO Coach I can share that expectation management is no small matter for CEOs. The art and science behind making commitments and managing expectations has always been a critical skill set for CEOs to master. In fact, understanding how to come out on the right-side of the expectation curve can often be the difference between average performers and corporate superstars. This is evidenced by the fact that the consulting industry has zeroed in on the importance of this issue such that it has evolved into an emerging discipline known as ”Promise Management”. In this blog post I’ll discuss the value of promise management as a discipline.
While the art of closing a deal requires great skill, it takes almost no effort whatsoever to blow-up a transaction. One of the fastest ways to watch a deal vaporize right before your eyes is to let your ego write checks that your skill can’t cash. If you want to close the deal, be sure and check your ego at the door. Over the years I have watched over inflated egos kill more deals than virtually any other single factor. In today’s post I’ll discuss how to avoid letting your ego interfere with your success.
Social Media 3.0…Okay, I said it and I’m sticking to it. It is time for Social Networking tools, applications and platforms to live up to their potential and make the iterative leap to next generation Social Networking, or “Social Media 3.0″ if you will…While I have no intention of disputing the commercial success of YouTube (Google purchased it for $1.65 Billion dollars when it was only a 9-month old company), FaceBook, MySpace, LinkedIn, or any number of other organizations that have monetized on their first mover or early adopter advantage, Social Media is still in its infancy. For Social Networking to make the next leap in maturation it will need to move beyond advertising driven consumer models, and evolve to an enterprise class business platform. In today’s post I’ll examine what needs to happen for Social Media to go 3.0…
Brad Smith is the President and CEO of Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU). Intuit is a leading provider of financial management, tax, and online banking solutions with more than $3 billion in annual revenue, and more than 8,000 employees. While Brad is well known for his strong commitment to innovation, and is worthy of praise for his leadership and stellar performance alone (Intuit has consistently produced double-digit organic growth with expenses growing slower than revenue), it was my personal interaction with him that prompted me to author today’s post…In an era where CEOs seem to be column-fodder for media rants and public scorn, Brad Smith is a true breath of fresh air.
Looking for a way to enhance your direct marketing initiatives? Look no further than Twitter. Why is Twitter so hot? Why is it the fastest growing microblogging/social media platform on the planet? Because it produces real value, and it does so very quickly. Twitter is arguably the best and most powerful direct marketing tool to come along since email assuming two things: 1,) you understand how to use it, and; 2.) that you do in fact actually use it. In today’s post I’ll provide a few thoughts on how to leverage Twitter without going into the technical aspects (there is already plenty of information in circulation on that).
What’s wrong with our economy? Why can’t we seem to fix it? Where do we go from here? If you listen to our new administration, they’ll tell you that they have “our best economic minds” engaged in solving this crisis, and therein lies the problem…Put simply, the real problem with economics is that most economists don’t have a clue…An economist is commonly defined as “an expert in economics, especially one who studies economic data and extracts higher-level information or proposes theories.” If you closely examine the preceding definition, you’ll quickly see that one of the problems we face is that our nation is trusting a small handful of academic theorists to turn the titanic around. What we don’t need is more academic rhetoric from over-glorified analysts studying data and putting forth theories…What we do need is action from those that actually understand the real issues…business leaders and entrepreneurs.
I’m often asked how to tangibly measure personal brand equity and my answer is quite simple…The value of a personal brand is directly proportionate to its ability to create and wield influence. When it comes to the subject of personal branding much has been written about authenticity, transparency, marketability, thought leadership, etc., but it is the ability to leverage the sum of these individual brand components for influence that determines the true strength of a personal brand. Put simply, a personal brand that cannot open doors, or influence actions and decisions, is not much of a personal brand.