Thought Leadership Part One: Escape Velocity

This is what it looks like to observe a space shuttle launch from above. Shot somehow from the International Space Station, this image depicts a space shuttle punching through the clouds that cover Earth, rocketing upwards, and inserting itself into a stationary orbit around the Earth. To do this, the thing has to reach a speed of around 18,000 miles per hour, and it has to escape almost all of Earth’s gravity. This is a nice metaphor, I think, for what we in professional services call thought leadership. Thought leadership is a widely used, and abused, marketing term, but it’s what makes careers. I’m going to devote several blog posts over the next few months to discussing and dissecting it, because it’s fascinating.

Thought leadership, in a sentence, is developing a reputation or a brand as someone who is recognized as an authority in a field, whose expertise is recognized, known, and rewarded. The thought leader is the person who comes up with the innovative, out-of-the-box concepts, who always seems one or two or ten steps ahead of everyone else in the field. The thought leader is who everyone looks to for the 30,000 foot perspective, and the strategic, game changing ideas. Oh, and they have to do this consistently, over a period of time. Thought leaders are real, no-kidding, game-changers.

One of the first I ever encountered was this guy — Peter Arnell. Several decades ago, I was a copywriter in his ad agency in New York. Peter rose basically from nowhere with incredible speed, and he ran his business like nobody else, before or since. He was completely, utterly, unflinchingly devoted to sheer creative quality, and he would happily run over anyone who got in the way of that, clients included. To Peter, advertising was, could be, should be a kind of art. He charged astronomical fees. He worked with the best people in the world. He signed his ads, which was absolutely unheard of in those days. He threw temper tantrums. And he created some unforgettable, legendary work.

Peter was a thought leader because he consistently thought about advertising differently, from a higher, much more demanding creative perspective. That, along with his weapons-grade networking skills, made him a legend in that business, and a role model for anyone who wants to understand what thought leadership is all about. The same thing Peter did in advertising can be done in almost any field, and especially in professional services, where thinking is what you’re selling.

And the rewards are incredible. If and when you establish yourself as a thought leader, someone who comes up with the Big Ideas, you are quoted in the press. You are invited to speak at conferences. You write. People listen. Oh, and your rates go through the stratosphere (Space Shuttle metaphor again). Thought leadership is a kind of marketing singularity, where marketing, professional expertise and strategic thinking all kind of merge together, and you become the person to tell the world not just what’s happening, or going to happen, but what it all means.

The term “thought leadership” is thrown around a lot, without a lot of depth, but it’s a genuine thing, and it can be developed. How? Stay tuned — that’s the subject of upcoming blog posts.