Wednesday, February 26, 2014

How to Become a Thought Leader




"People use the term ‘thought leader’ as if all you have to do to become one is set up a Twitter account and start tweeting. This is hardly the case. True thought leaders have expertise, passion and a track record of changing the world.” – Guy Kawasaki in the foreward to “Ready to Be a Thought Leader?”
The Twitterverse is littered with the dead hashtags of those who thought they could become thought leaders and failed. There are hundreds of moldy blogs that attest to the challenge of maintaining a lively, consistent following.
So how do you break out of the pack and become a thought leader? Anita Bruzzese recently spoke with Denise Brosseau, author of “Ready to Be a Thought Leader? How to Increase Your Influence, Impact, and Success.”
AB: What is a thought leader?
DB: Thought leaders are change agents who move and inspire others with their innovative ideas, turn those ideas into reality and then create a dedicated group of fans and followers to help them replicate and scale those ideas into sustainable change.
One example of a thought leader is Avinash Kaushik who was the director of web research and analytics at Intuit when he began his journey. He started a blog, “Occam’s Razor,” to share his day-to-day experiences and his expertise. As he started to gain a wide readership, Wiley Press invited him to write a book, compiling his blog posts as well as additional content. His thought leadership attracted new people to his team, led to a promotion and opened the door to many other new roles and opportunities. He’s since written a second book and today he is the Digital Marketing Evangelist at Google and his blog is read by chief technology officers and beginners alike.
AB:  Why is it important to become a thought leader?
DB: Thought leadership is the key that unlocks a whole new level of professional accomplishment and achievement as well as career and personal satisfaction.
As exemplified by Avinash’s story, as a thought leader you can amplify your impact, multiply your influence and have the opportunity to leave a legacy that matters. Avinash told me that every day he gets emails from around the world from people telling him how his blog posts have helped them find a new career and solve their (and their company’s) challenges. He told me what joy it gives him to receive these emails and they keep (read more here)

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