8 levels of thought leadership to maximize business value

In my business experience and consulting with the beginnings, as well as mature organizations, I find that most believe that they are offering thoughtful leadership in their market messages and customers, as well as providing products and services. However, they have no idea whether their messages are working at all, or what return to ROI (ROI) they are taking for their efforts.

Leaders of the large industry, including Amazon in e -commerce, and IBM for technology, attribute most of their success the image of the expertise they present on the market through industry talks and contributions, the experiments they document and focus their marketing message through the right to channel law. Construction and expertise construction receives a real investment.

I have never been sure what was involved in leading the thought, and how to measure the return of this investment, so I was pleased to see this key business element addressed in a new book, “the guidance of leadership of Thought, ”by Cindy Anderson and Anthony Marshall. They are both leaders at the IBM Institute for Business Value.

I was particularly impressed with their sketch to self -assess your position of organizational thought leader based on one of the eight archetypes that I have paraphrased and summarized below. These will help you pass your prejudices and your intimate knowledge of your industry:

1. Rtow leadership – just start traveling. Your leaders are convinced that producing the content of the leadership of thought creates value, but they have not built or acquired the ability to create convincing stories that provide a unique perspective. We recommend working on improving skills, creating research programs and building media relations.
2. Academic-Likes in the production of high quality content. Your organization has deep expertise in analyzing data, mainly driven by an individual author or sustainable faculty. Content is rarely fully related to the strategic objectives of the organization. I recommend a focus on building relationships and expertise on sales and account management teams.
3. Narcissist-unique content only in its self-promotion. Most of the contents look only internal, perhaps authorized by an old manager, and set in sales and account teams mainly to motivate customer or client engagement. Look to improve the extent, substance and authority needed to ensure guidance of thought in the general market.
4. Impact – messages of leadership through social media. Influencers have wide internal networks and use each channel to their largest advantage, and, as a result, brand recognition is high. They know how to impose leadership messages in media stories, key speeches and lever ecosystem partners for increased impact.
5. Pioneer – Contents related to the enterprise road map. A powerful start, but messages must pass from stretching to reach by expanding their influence through strong promotion in all channels, inside and outside the organization. Engage ecosystem partners, account representatives and sales teams, to create loyalty and strengthen relationships.
6. Nomad – good content but lacks clear direction. Despite the excellence in the ability of content and the achievement of the market, the power of attitude of the leadership of thought is endangered because it has no point of view in accordance with the brand or goals of the enterprise. Help Nomad test modes to refine focus, suggest related topics and add business goals.
7. Claimant – the view of the content that is not supported by the data. Organizations that need to supplement their veneer with more substances can build residence power with a research program that can provide evidence to support their viewpoint. Use the generator to suggest survey questions and analyzing the data as they entered, eliminating working hours.
8. Superhero – compelling content anchored in research. The organization has the ability and resources to create convincing content of guiding the opinion anchored in original research and data, with full strength and marketing support, public relations and a network of ecosystem partners. These reach a tremendous return of their differentiation investments.

After understanding where you and your organization today in leading your thought in your industry, and how to improve it, the next step is to measure the cost against the return of investments. All of this is an indispensable ability to continue and lead in today’s highly competitive business environment. Don’t leave behind.