Amplifying Expertise

How to Spot, Support, and Sustain Thought Leadership

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I’m sharing a piece on thought leadership today. Why? I'm working on a project to raise up our brightest thought leaders at Texas Children's Hospital. So I thought I'd pass along some of what I'm working through myself and presenting to my leaders.

If you could pass this along it would be great. I had a really busy week on LinkedIn — some of the stuff that might be in a typical digital exhaust letter can be found there. Feel free to check it out and follow me.

I've been thinking about thought leadership. What is it and why it might be more important than ever.

As I dove into this I realized that thought leadership has devolved into a suitcase word. Something thrown around to describe any expert without any real understanding of what it is.

Maybe it's time to redefine it. Or rethink it.

What is thought leadership?

It’s not just subject matter expertise.

It’s what they do with it.

A thought leader is someone with subject matter expertise and unique abilities:

1. Sensemaking. They help us understand. They distill complexity, connect dots, and make meaning where others see noise. They translate the future into terms we can use. They are the sensemakers.

2. Signals. They're the seers. Thought leaders can hear the signals talking often before we do. They can see the broader connections as they appear. They see around corners—and help us prepare for what’s coming.

3. Influence. Leadership itself is heavily driven by influence. Thought leaders are no exception. They offer guidance and inspire us to act when we might otherwise not. Inspiration and influence, of course, often call for a platform. More often a social platform.

Alot of what’s written about thought leadership focuses on how to promote yourself. For sure there are those who chase the spotlight. But the best are generous with what they bring us.

There are lots of experts around us who aren't so good at simplifying things, can't really see beyond the here and now, and do little to inspire us to do something.

So expertise alone doesn’t make a thought leader; it’s the value they bring through informing and inspiring us.

I like this quote from Jake Dunlap, founder CEO of Skaled, in Business News Daily:

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.

Why it's important

So why this important? And why now?

• Complexity and uncertainty. The world is confusing. We need docents to help make sense of it. Sure, the boom of generative AI has created a great expainer, but a great thought leader brings what only a human can bring: They put things in context in a way we can relate to.

• Public definition. Great thought leaders (if they can find their way into the public space) define an organization in the public eye. They embody your values and your vision. They elevate your brand. As users, customers, members and patients, we want to work with these folks who help us see things better.

• Trust in short supply. Healthcare institutions are losing credibility. And here's what's key: We don't trust institutions; We trust people. Thought leaders take it to the next level and put a face on the mission.

• Attention is scarce. Consumable content is everywhere. But insight is not. Good thought leadership helps cut through the noise by being sharper.

So I think it's just crazy not to have a human interlocutor out there putting this crazy world in to a frame we can understand.

How do you begin to build a thought leader?

You have thought leaders in your organization. You just haven't seen 'em.

Yet.

Here’s how to change that:

1. Spot them. Look for the superpowers I detailed above: sensemaking, signal detection, and influence. These are your seers, your explainers. They may not be the loudest voice in your org, but they’re the ones people quietly turn to for clarity. And make sure they understand their superpower.

2. Support them. Give them the bandwith to create and communicate. Thought leadership takes time and trust. It should be baked in to your operational strategy — but I would day it almost never ie. Carve out bandwidth for them to do what they do. Offer tools, platforms, and venues where their ideas can be developed. Sure, it's not a full-time thing, but it needs to be recognized as a really important job.

3. Empower them. You should repeatedly remind them that their insight has unique value. Many of these thinkers may have operated in this capacity in stealth mode without ever being told. So your support has huge currency.

And if they're generous enough to step up and speak out, they'll take it from there.

So, bottom line: you have to nurture them.

The dangers of thought leadership

Okay, grab a seat. There's a dark side to this.

When you give someone a platform and some space, their voice can grow. Which is what you want. But sometimes faster than the organization that gave them the mic.

And their personal presence can eclipse your organization’s identity. What starts as a way to elevate what you've got can quietly overshadow what you’ve got. And suddenly, it becomes more about them than you.

I've seen this a couple of times. And it's hard to double back on the thing you create.

It's the paradox of thought leadership:

If done well, it works.

And when it works, it can walk.

I don't have an answer for this one. But I know for sure that the solution isn’t to avoid cultivating TLs inside of your organization. It’s probably best to mitigate it with ongoing conversation, alignment, and mutual respect. But there's a piece of it you can't control, honestly.

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The future belongs to the sensemakers. We all have them.

We just have to see them. And empower them.

There’s alot more I could say here. I’d love to know your thoughts around this, or this style of Substack letter — email fox42@me.com