The Mechanics of Thought Leadership

Here’s what has to happen for someone to create an artifact of thought leadership (note usage of the noun – this is how we extract value from a specific piece of media). I’ve dialed it down to four steps/phases/stages.

1. Experience

Something interesting needs to happen, either a specific…thing (acute), or some observation or realization someone has had from their body of work (aggregate). Someone has to do the work.

2. Discovery

Someone needs to realize that whatever #1 was, it’s a thing that should be shared. In more commercial terms, someone needs to know what things can be “packaged” or “productized” into thought leadership artifacts.

3. Creation

That person needs to have the skill (or engage with people who have the skill) to turn that experience into an artifact that effectively and enjoyably (?) communicates the experience from #1. (I say “enjoyably,” because some content is just more interesting to read – and more likely to be shared – than other content.)

4. Distribution

The content asset from #3 needs to be effectively promoted and distributed so that other people see it

…

I’ve talked about #1 elsewhere. You need to do the work to have work to talk about.

#2 is something that’s just inherent to certain people – there’s some native sense that tells someone when an experience would make for interesting content. (There’s clearly some intersection with narcissism here.)

#3 is easier for some people than others. Some people know how to explain things; they know how to tell a story. Others… don’t, and that’s a little heartbreaking in some ways. There are so many great experiences that don’t get told because the source isn’t skilled at communicating them (or they have the skill, but not the confidence.)

#4 is probably out of the person’s hands. It’s really a function of their organization’s marketing skill or their pre-existing networks.