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Thought leadership / 6 min read

What is
thought leadership?
A side a competitor
would argue with.

Thought leadership is a point of view on your field, published under your name, that buyers can’t get anywhere else. If a competitor would sign it too, it isn’t thought leadership yet.

Tony DrummondFounder & Client Success
An executive talks into a microphone as a paper ribbon becomes posts, a video strip and an envelope, ending at an open door.
An executive talks into a microphone as a paper ribbon becomes posts, a video strip and an envelope, ending at an open door.

The thinking is done. The one person who could write it down is busy running the company.

  • Across the table

    The opinions come fast.

    On the page

    Everything stalls.

  • Across the table

    “The cheapest bid will cost you more by year two.”

    On the page

    The post sits in drafts for a month.

  • Across the table

    “Nobody on your team will read that monthly report.”

    On the page

    Or someone else writes it, and it comes back sounding like a brochure.

Definition

Thought leadership takes a side

64% of buyers said thought leadership was more trustworthy than marketing materials and product sheets for judging a company’s capabilities.

Edelman and LinkedIn, 2021 survey of business executives. Both firms sell services around this kind of content.

A post counts when a buyer learns how you think from it, and a rival would push back.

A topic
  • “Five trends in freight”
  • Anyone in freight could write it.
A side
  • “Most mid-size shippers pay for tracking they never look at.” Then it says what to buy instead.
  • A rival would argue. A buyer now knows where you stand.

Test a thought leadership post with four questions

Ask four yes-or-no questions of every draft. One no sends it back.

Ask four yes-or-no questions of every draft. One no sends it back. Would a competitor disagree with it? No: it’s a fact sheet. Could only you have written it? No: a competitor could sign it. Did a buyer ask you about it? No: start with the questions you hear on calls. Would you say it on a sales call? No: cut it. Four yeses lead to the highlighted result: worth publishing.Ask four yes-or-no questions of every draft. One no sends it back. Would a competitor disagree with it? No: it’s a fact sheet. Could only you have written it? No: a competitor could sign it. Did a buyer ask you about it? No: start with the questions you hear on calls. Would you say it on a sales call? No: cut it. Four yeses lead to the highlighted result: worth publishing.
  1. If every firm in your field would nod along, it’s a fact sheet.
  2. Strip out your stories and a competitor could sign it.
  3. Start with the questions you hear on calls.
  4. If you’d hedge it in person, cut it.
Your turn

Write one sentence about your field that a rival would push back on. That sentence is the first argument worth publishing.

Your best material is already in your sales calls

Your next topics are the things you keep saying on calls. On your next few, listen for these:

You could give any of these as a post without preparing. You’ve already said them out loud.

Number 5 is the hardest to publish, and I think it tells a buyer the most. A story about getting it wrong shows your judgment better than a list of wins.

Skip the writing and get interviewed for an hour

On your own

You ask yourself why a client should never do something.

You write one tidy sentence.

With an interviewer

They ask what happened the last time a client did it.

You tell the story, with the names and the cost.

If you think out loud, an interview gets more out of you than a blank page.

How the hour runs:

  1. Before

    Someone studies your site and your competitors’ sites, then brings the questions your buyers ask.

  2. The hour

    A recorded video call. You answer. Nothing to prepare.

  3. After

    The strongest answers become drafts, written to your voice rules, a short page on how you sound. Each piece is designed and scheduled on your own accounts, and you read it before it goes anywhere.

Hand off everything after the interview

One good hour holds a month of posts, as long as someone else does the rest.

Spread those over a month on the channels your buyers already use. To them, you publish all the time. Without someone running it, the interview ends up as a transcript in a folder. If nobody on your team has the time, hand everything after the hour to a team that runs it.

Your turn

Before you pick who runs it, block one hour a month for the next three months. If that hour keeps moving, no system will save the program.

Thought leadership pays off when a post leads to a booked call

A post makes money only when the reader can see the next step.

Without one, a buyer reads a post they agree with, nods and closes the tab.

Thought leadership pays off when a post leads to a booked call. The post, then the page they land on, a short form, follow-up emails, and, highlighted, a booked call.Thought leadership pays off when a post leads to a booked call. The post, then the page they land on, a short form, follow-up emails, and, highlighted, a booked call.

I’d build that path before publishing a second post.

How do you know it’s working?

Listen on first calls with new buyers. If one quotes a post back to you before you’ve pitched anything, it worked.

Approve every piece, because your name is on it

Someone else can write it. You still sign off on every piece.

How to sign off
  1. 01
    Read it the way a client would.

    Would you recognize yourself?

  2. 02
    Strike any line you wouldn’t say across a table.
  3. 03
    Strike the same kind of line twice, and it goes into your voice rules.

    Next month’s drafts start closer to you.

Ghostwriters are fine. Bare AI prompts aren’t.

Using a ghostwriter is normal. What readers catch is a post that sounds like nobody in particular. AI drafts from a bare prompt are the usual cause, since they say what everyone says and fail question 1. A draft cut from your interview starts from a side you argued out loud. Your voice rules and your sign-off keep it there.

Signing off is quick. Skip it and you’ve put your name on a post you never read.

Pick the first argument worth publishing.

Book 20 minutes with Tony. Bring this post and your questions, and leave knowing which argument to publish first.

Book a call

Questions executives ask about thought leadership

  • What is thought leadership?

    A point of view on your field, published under your name, that buyers can’t get from anyone else. If nobody would argue with it, it doesn’t count.

  • Why does the phrase “thought leadership” make people wince?

    Because most of what wears the label is a restated headline or a tip anyone could write. If it bothers you, call it publishing your opinions.

  • What does thought leader mean?

    Someone whose opinions on a field buyers and peers go looking for. Readers hand out the title. You can’t claim it yourself.

  • What is an example of thought leadership?

    A post arguing one position from your own work, such as the kind of client you turn down and why. “Five trends in your industry” isn’t one.

  • How do you demonstrate thought leadership?

    Publish positions you’d defend on a sales call, taken from your own work and from what buyers ask you. Then keep going. One good post is easy to forget.

  • Can you build thought leadership if you don’t like writing?

    Yes. Get interviewed for an hour and have the recording turned into drafts in your voice. Approve each one before it goes out.

  • How do thought leaders make money?

    From the work their reputation brings in. That only happens when each post ends in a next step, such as a link to book a call.

  • Is it fine to use a ghostwriter or AI for thought leadership?

    Yes, if the opinions are yours and you approve every piece. Readers notice a post with no real position behind it, whoever drafted it.

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