Thought Leadership Development: Creating a Culture and Community
By Robert O'Halloran
The premise of this discussion is that thought leadership can and should be developed as part of a business culture. I view thought leadership being tied to overarching business concepts like leadership, innovation, sustainability, and communication. The inferences from thought leadership in general, is to have an authoritative source share what s/he or a business see as the future and or the changes in a business sector or in the economy in general.
To develop thought leadership skills, one should establish expertise in a niche area, be consistently creating high-quality original content, establish an online presence, actively engage with an audience and industry, and also maintain authenticity and consistency over time to build a thought leadership community culture.
Some researchers define thought leadership as “knowledge from a trusted, eminent and authoritative source that is actionable and provides valuable solutions for stakeholders.” Note that the two terms thought, and leadership imply connected concepts. Thought in this case refers to a connection to knowledge, vision, and strategy. Leadership as is talked about by many, is a direction to lead a business, firm, or brand to success outcomes by being creative and innovative. Leaders see what others do not and because of their ability to think reflectively and thoughtfully. Therefore, by doing so, identify opportunities that others do not see. The combination of thought and leadership can form a significant and powerful tool for people, businesses, and industries.
To have people identify with you as a thought leader, individuals need to have results based on the theories they are sharing. Thought leadership is the delivery of original insights to position your organization as a leading voice. By sharing this value, you can elevate brand perceptions and earn the trust of decision-makers. Thought leadership is also often aligned with marketing, communication, and business development goals to gain competitive advantage.
According to Jake Dunlap , CEO of Skaled Consulting, thought leaders draw on the past, analyze the present and illuminate the future to create a comprehensive, unique, and impactful view of their area of expertise. “They possess an innate ability to contribute to the conversations happening today while also being able to speculate on what is going to happen tomorrow,.” “Rather than chime in on every topic, they set the pace for the industry and offer intelligent insights and informed opinions.” Additionally, we need to remember that thought leaders don’t have all the answers , and they’re never done learning.
Mark Rogers, Psy.D., founder, and CEO of Insights Without Borders, noted that it’s important to admit what you don’t know and remain humble enough to listen to what others say. Learning from others in your field is a great way to stay connected and expand your knowledge. “True thought leaders genuinely understand and listen to each other’s stories.” “Thought leaders’ treasure [the fact] that we are all in the human journey and the authors of our own lives.” Thought leadership can be seen as an extension of someone’s personal brand . Today more than ever it requires building an authentic online reputation and social media presence via social media business platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter .
Planning a Thought Leadership Culture
The steps to building a thought leadership community and culture starts with a strategy to create that community. Building from that beginning, thought leadership touches all aspects of operations, marketing, branding and more. Thought leadership can be comprised of companies, brands and personalities who reach their target groups and are listened to as an authority in their field. The path to becoming a thought leader can begin immediately. Attaining the status of “thought leader” is an elusive goal many true leaders and business executives strive to achieve. The combination of the right tactics, dedication, patience, and education may enable your professional presence and start your career path to becoming a reliable source of insight and information.
The thought leadership path starts with establishing a strong expertise in an area of your field. For example, in my case, while it may be arguable that I am a thought leader, I have, over the years, developed expertise in hospitality and tourism education, and the ability to see the intersection of education with hospitality and tourism operational applications. Note that thought leadership is more than memorization and facts, it also involves having a passion for your subject. The ability to think and make decisions and recommendations through reflective judgment processes is vital for thought leadership. The content connections for myself are the latest trends and innovations in hospitality and tourism that can and or could be made to advance the professionalism, efficiency, and effectiveness of the industry.
In my scenario, regular interaction with business operators, recruiters, advisory board members, guest speakers and students/ employees provides a unique perspective of the intersection of industry and academia. Your goal can be to assess your strengths and skills and select a niche that you can focus on and be passionate about and ultimately, be recognized as a Subject Matter Expert (SME).
One needs to create thought leadership content and potential opportunities for sharing their expertise. Activities like event speaking, being a panelist, contributing to a blog, and or guest author opportunities are channels to consider. Some experts note the similarities with social media influencers and thought leaders. Note there is a real difference between thought leadership for the advancement of a business, an industry, and or brand versus influencers that seek to be personally famous. I have had students in the past share that they wanted to be social influencers. That is fine, but my questions are how they will develop their expertise and plan for sharing their thought leadership concepts and content. I recognize that personality counts, personal presence, charisma, and strong communication skills are all part of sharing thought leadership and creating a thought leadership culture. Like travel authenticity of destinations, thought leaders need to strive to be authentic (be yourself) when sharing theories and strategies.
It is also noted that a thought leader needs to do their homework. Conduct the research required and understand what the trends are in a specific field and what the challenges and problems that are in the hospitality, tourism, and service sectors. Thought leaders should follow the ABCD rule, Always be Collecting Data.
Additionally, organizations that are recognized as Professional Service Firms (PSF) are also often Knowledge Based Organizations (KBOs ). For example, higher education-colleges and universities, and consulting firms in functional business areas, etc. all have the opportunity and the obligation to participate in creation of a thought leadership culture and community. Shared knowledge from a trusted source needs to be consistent, reliable, and trustworthy, which can establish and build your reputation as a thought leader. In a university setting, tenure and tenure track faculty all have a research obligation, as well as teaching and service responsibilities. Faculty can share through publications etc. and other channels their research findings. In the modern era, online journals, publications, and periodicals are numerous and found throughout the internet and in print.
Additionally, as noted previously, the use of social media, to share thoughts and ideas is critical to creating your brand. As faculty do with students, engage social media and its users as your audience by promoting discussion and encouraging questions. I recall a course in graduate school course where the professor was a globally renowned expert in executive development and taught in a one-way communication manner, that is, him sharing his content with us, the students (lectures). Though I will say he used carefully selected videos to make his point. His course was planned for content delivery and content processing days. Processing was to be left to the professor’s graduate assistant (GA). On one occasion in a content session I raised my hand in class to ask a question about the content, and the professor immediately said, “No questions,” that is why we have processing day with the GA.” I pursued my question, by saying, with all due respect, your GA is not the professor for the course, and I think we should be able to ask you!
It was all very respectful but given I had asked, many of my classmates joined the cause and he finally relented to have a day with him, dedicated only to questions. A small victory while in graduate school, but note, he only did it once during the semester. I share this because while the professor had great expertise, experience, and knowledge we were not the audience he was targeting fully. He was a major consultant to global companies, (in my opinion, they were his target) and we were graduate students with whom it shared content. For the professor, knowledge sharing in the classroom was sufficient. Do not misunderstand, it was an exceptionally good course, I learned a lot, enjoyed it, and earned an A. However, I still remember that story to this day! Memorable, but I think my experience could have been enhanced with regular two-way communication, questions, and discussions.
To me, thought leadership needs to be shared fully and to do so, helps to create greater networks and potential collaborations. Other options for engagement can be to participate in industry events, trade shows and conferences, chamber of commerce events, webinars, all of which can enhance your brand network and your visibility.
The Forbes Coaches Council shared Steps to Develop Thought Leadership as:
- Identify Your Niche and Expertise
- Develop a Fresh Perspective
- Create High-Quality, Original Content
- Be Consistent and Prolific
- Leverage Multiple Platforms: blogs, social media etc.
- Build Your Profile and Engage: photos and portfolio
- Connect with Your Audience, and
- Find a Mentor or Coach.
A framework for thought leadership considers the framework for thought leadership via what are described as the four pillars, which embrace and identify credibility, profile, how prolific one is, and the depth of ideas. These pillars refer to trust, reputation and more whether you are talking about a brand or a person.
Thought Leadership: Content and Higher Education
Thought leadership, by its very nature, is multi-faceted and serves a purpose wider than one function of business. Thought leadership can mobilize and encourage collaboration across internal teams and departments. This sounds a lot like a good fit for colleges and universities. Universities are prime examples of knowledge organizations and diverse academic units that are knowledge based and engage in thought leadership at multiple levels. Additionally, universities are full of potential thought leaders, who are faculty and students.
Faculty as noted are engaged in research and then publications that share their finding and expertise. and practicing thought leaders. That knowledge may be a new method of application, a new use of products and or creating a new product using familiar ingredients. Research programs and findings can be funded grants (harder to obtain these days), or refereed articles, presentations and more.
For example, channels for sharing knowledge content may be any and all of the following: academic journal publications, (blind reviewed), blog posts, case studies, e-books and other online content, infographics, columns and opinion pieces in news and trade periodicals, podcasts, speaking events, videos, webinars, whitepapers, or business reports.
Thought leadership can be a strength in a university or knowledge-based firm and can earn a university competitive advantage in the marketplace. Faculty members that are writing and publishing prolifically can build trust with industry partners and develop a brand that a university will be identified by and sought out by students and other faculties. Inserting thought leadership activities and content into a curriculum can also be beneficial for students and upon graduation the alumni of a university. These activities can include writing exercises, presentation, research, field work and more.
Notably, the Forbes Coaches Council shared suggestions on forms of thought leadership and ways to become established. Some of these included sharing LinkedIn articles, focusing on the most sustainable media, authoring a book, sharing genuine stories, focusing on your natural strengths, practicing your presentation skills, defining your value as a thought leader, and creating your action plan.
Influence through expertise and the ability to provide influence can also lead to positioning your business, Through what experts are referring to as a ripple effect your business can leverage thought leader positions and then become industry leaders in innovation. Therefore, the key words in this process can include trust, authenticity, networking, change, creativity and innovation, life-long learning, being agile, and adaptable, collaboration, curiosity, challenging, and elevating thought leadership.
Thought Leadership: Hospitality and Tourism Going Forward
“True thought leadership is really determining a new approach to an underlying problem, whether present or future, as a collective rather than one part of the ecosystem. By solution building in collaboration, you cement your position as an authority in the ecosystem, especially in times of uncertainty. You build credibility not just at the customer level but through the whole industry chain.” – Gurpreet Purewal, Vice President Sales – Thought Leadership, iResearch Services
Consider the value of thought leadership and how you can become a thought leader. We are in a new era, and it is often referred to as an era of disruption. Can you become a voice of authority in that era? That is your question to yourself.
Not everyone needs to be a thought leader, but if you have created for yourself a great base of knowledge, supported by content, authenticity, authority, and reputation thought leadership might be part of your future. Some experts talk about the evolution of thought leadership, indicating that future of thought leadership lies in sharing insights, driving innovation, and fostering transformative change. They also offer assessment questions that can help measure growth in an area: What results am I proudest of? What actions are taken to reach goals? Have I quit or lost interest at some point? Is your thought leadership mindset positive? And finally, what is the thought leadership plan going forward? As a business, university or organization, identify your internal thought leaders , and secure team buy-in for a thought development plan and focus on idea development and repeatable processes.
Universities by having skilled and talented faculty, students, and alumni who people turn to for inspiration, education, and problem solving, is a powerful marketing tool. By delivering high quality content including social media posts, and other forms of content, and driving engagement and interaction directly with the targeted audience, thought leadership status becomes attainable and sustainable. Thought leadership acts as a catalyst for reflective thought leadership and the results can be beneficial to faculty, students, and universities.
A former colleague, whose expertise was in communication, media, and marketing, described thought leadership as: when an individual or entity owns or shapes public conversations about topics, issues, technologies, or industries. For hospitality business faculty thought leadership is an extension of what faculty do through teaching, research, and service. The opportunity is for a university to support the positioning of its faculty as experts in specific content and disciplines. “It’s showing that faculty experts know their industry and business partners’ critical needs and challenges, and how vital that knowledge is in bringing solutions" .
For hospitality professionals, faculty, consultants, and students and soon to be graduates, it is important that they can explain thought leadership and provide examples. For example, Ted Talks, where you can hear new and surprising things or a great basic idea (that your audience has maybe already heard) with a compelling new argument behind it that challenges beliefs and perspectives. An idea takes certain evidence or observations and draws a larger conclusion. Sources of thought leadership can be counter-narrative opinions, personal narrative, network connections, industry analysis, and data storytelling.
Where does hospitality business education fit in the world of thought leadership? The world of higher education includes numerous participants: faculty, students, alumni, advisory boards, recruiters, educational partners, and related service sectors. To reiterate, faculty as thought leaders have channels of distribution inclusive of creativity, innovation, entrepreneurism, research, teaching, and service and topics across the business of hospitality and tourism. These channels are connected to topics like technology, digital transformation, revenue management, policy and planning, creation of value, sustainability, regional transformation, leadership and much more.
In the world of higher education, the preceding topics can be tied to student recruitment, cutting edge curriculum including methods of delivery, branding, assessment, marketing, and supply chain issues with a focus on reflective thought leadership. Finally, below are a sample of resources on thought leadership, which are “how to” articles (Links), referred to as Think Wise guides and reports:
ThinkWise Guides
- How to use the power of storytelling in your thought leadership content marketing
- How to form a thought leadership strategy that goes from brainstorming concepts to measurement of your goals
Thought Leadership Reports
- How Professional Services organizations can steer towards equity and inclusion
- How to accelerate sustainability initiatives in the technology sector
- Global insights on the war against misinformation
- The ten Ps you should include in your b2b thought leadership plan
These resources and much more are available on the internet and can help individuals and businesses create a culture of thought leadership and make it productive and useful in their communities.
Prof. O'Halloran
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