As a thought leader, you want to build trust, influence, and impact with your audience. But sometimes, you might unintentionally make some mistakes that undermine your credibility and damage your reputation. Here are some of the most common ones and how you can avoid them.
One of the worst things you can do as a thought leader is to pretend to be someone you are not. Whether it is exaggerating your credentials, copying someone else's ideas, or hiding your flaws, you will eventually be exposed and lose your credibility. To avoid this, be honest, transparent, and genuine with your audience. Share your stories, opinions, and insights from your own experience and perspective. Admit your mistakes and limitations, and show how you learn and grow from them.
Gone are the days of "Fake it 'til you make it" Authenticity is vital in becoming a credible thought leader. People are more attracted to people who know themselves than they are to people who say they know everything! The best thought leaders possess quiet confidence, brought about by their knowledge of themselves. They are also humble, transparent, and unafraid of sharing their real experiences- their challenges and vulnerabilities as well as their achievements. Authenticity stems from self-awareness. Working on emotional intelligence helps to develop self-awareness. This requires slowing down and improving practices like mindfulness and reflection as well as asking for feedback from trusted people.
"Authenticity to build credibility". Trying to avoid undermining your credibility is like trying not to think about pink elephants. It doesn't work. Instead, focus on the goal of building your credibility, with authenticity as the first step. But authenticity is hard. It's often not rewarded, as it may not be immediately relatable. It's difficult to maintain adherence to our true inner voice, when there are so many other voices vying for our attention and agreement. And sometimes, we just need to go along to get along at work and at home. But as much as you can... ...whenever you see the opportunity... ...plan ahead, and express your personal thoughts and experiences on a sustained basis. It'll pay off in the long run.
Authenticity is one big way to uniqueness in thought leadership or any other professional. The mistake some thought leaders make is to unconsciously mimic their mentor or whoever they look up to and start recycling thesame or similar contents with almost same point of view. This is not the best practice. The solution to the above is to understand the principle of what they read and thought, then they can plan the delivery in their own unique style. Using their own words of expression, examples and scenarios of their own as well, this makes a complete sense rather than repeating old ideas curated by others. This authenticity must be an attribute of a thought leader to remain credible.
I think focusing on credibility at the expense of relatability can end up costing the very thing we want. Credibility also needs warmth and EQ. It's not how 'smart you are'; it's how smart about people you are. Humor is a device that can demonstrate EQ and build connection. It can work to lift up or undermine connections. So keep humor 'warm' - inclusive and lifting people up. Focus on our commonalities (universal human things) or on YOUR experiences. Ask, 'am I lifting people up with this (YES, great), or is this laugh at the expense of putting a person or group down' (NO, don't!)? If you lead with relatability, don't take yourself so seriously all the time and lift people up...you are likely to be perceived as more credible.
In today's world it is especially important to be the voice which stands out instead of being a part of the echo or noise. One thing that I have found to be helpful is to not shy away from sharing the learnings from your own experiences, both good and bad. Sometimes talking about these makes you feel vulnerable but this is what also demonstrates that you are genuine and authentic.
Another common mistake that undermines your credibility is to offer generic, superficial, or irrelevant content to your audience. If you want to establish your authority and expertise, you need to provide value that solves their problems, answers their questions, or inspires them to take action. To avoid this, do your research, understand your audience's needs and expectations, and deliver content that is original, useful, and engaging. Use examples, anecdotes, data, or case studies to support your points and show your results.
Saying that you are a thought leader does not make you a thought leader. You have to provide industry insights based on your expertise and analysis and back them up with evidence. Your status as a thought leader becomes credible when others to acknowledge you as the visionary expert in your field.
Nothing worse than someone who posts for the sake of posting. Adds “great post” as a comment on everything they like, or even worse, posts and ghosts! The only path to success is to share your knowledge in a way that gives ?? value to your audience. Good luck! ??
Too many thought leader wannabes don't seem to understand that being generic provides no value. LinkedIn is cluttered with posts that are recipes for boiled water. There's nothing wrong with going back to first principles, but you can't simply repeat them. You must find a new way to sing them.
Value is key and it can make or erode your reputation. You must be congruent and align with your core purpose and capabilities. I always list out all my past experiences and share based on immersive insights to ensure that whoever is reading my post or watching a video I publish, has some unique value that is aligned to my competencies.
A third common mistake that undermines your credibility is to be inconsistent with your message, style, or frequency. If you want to build trust and loyalty with your audience, you need to be consistent in what you say, how you say it, and when you say it. To avoid this, have a clear vision, mission, and values for your thought leadership. Define your niche, audience, and goals. Create a content strategy and calendar that aligns with your brand and purpose. Stick to your schedule and deliver on your promises.
Inconsistency in message, style, or frequency can significantly undermine credibility. Building trust and loyalty with an audience requires consistency in communication. To achieve this, it's essential to have a clear vision, mission, and set of values guiding your thought leadership. Identify your specific niche, understand your target audience, and set clear goals. Develop a content strategy and calendar that reflects your brand and purpose. Adherence to this schedule and delivering on promises are key. This structured approach ensures your audience receives a steady, reliable stream of content that resonates with your core message and values, reinforcing your credibility and authority in your field.
There are two things that matter the most. One is leadership and second is following a system. Have a system in place to be consistent. Be specific and disciplined as well as focused ensuring you are congruent. You need to have a strong purpose and you must commit to doing what you set out to do in the first place. Results will surface later on but stick to what you are competent in.
Keeping on top of timelines and the times that you say. For example if you're running a project or completing a task, and you tell the person you're reporting to that it's going to be done by COP tomorrow. Then you better make sure that it is done by COP tomorrow, or if it isn't then ensure you keep that person up to date with progress and explain the delays. Being a reliable person with times is a really easy way to make sure that you keep your credibility.
In other words keep your word. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Walk your talk and talk you walk. All phrases of times past but to the point and principally timeless
A fourth common mistake that undermines your credibility is to ignore or neglect your audience. If you want to create impact and influence with your audience, you need to engage with them and build a relationship. To avoid this, invite feedback, comments, and questions from your audience. Respond to them promptly and respectfully. Acknowledge their contributions and opinions. Ask them what they want to learn from you and how you can help them. Show appreciation and gratitude for their support and interest.
Neglecting or ignoring your audience is a critical error in establishing credibility and influence. Effective thought leadership involves not just disseminating information, but actively engaging with your audience and fostering a relationship. To avoid this pitfall, actively encourage feedback, comments, and questions from your audience. Make it a priority to respond promptly and respectfully to their interactions. Acknowledge and value their contributions and opinions, demonstrating that their input is important to you. Regularly inquire about their learning interests and needs, and how you can assist them. Showing appreciation and gratitude for their support and engagement is essential.
If you don’t show up for your audience, how do you expect them to show up for you. Liking, commenting, sharing. Tagging a friend to bring an expert into a conversation or to help someone out. Sharing your expertise and experience. Engaging is one of the keys to success for thought leadership.
A fifth common mistake that undermines your credibility is to stop learning and improving yourself and your content. If you want to stay relevant and ahead of the curve as a thought leader, you need to keep learning and improving your knowledge, skills, and insights. To avoid this, read, watch, or listen to other thought leaders in your field or related fields. Seek new perspectives, trends, and opportunities. Experiment with new formats, platforms, or tools. Seek feedback, criticism, or mentorship. Challenge yourself and your audience to grow and achieve more.
By avoiding these common mistakes, you can enhance your credibility and authority as a thought leader and create more value, trust, and impact with your audience.
Lifelong learner is what you want to be. Consider learning as a journey and not a destination. While sticking to your domain is safe bet, it's okay to move out of your comfort zone and venture into the unknown.
The perpetual student is a phrase we don’t often hear but it is the best place to be. Staying abreast of new ideas and perspectives keeps us sharp and on purpose in our goals.
At a client meeting, this head of the media department took off on the client team berating them for choosing and sponsoring a program on television that was performing poorly. At the end of the soliloquy, the client team politely replied that they had chosen the sponsorship of the program on the recommendation of the media department, despite their own misgivings. The head exited the meeting red-faced and much chastened.
It's possible to be credible in our respective fields while admitting that we don't know everything. The first thing in my mind to diminish trust is carrying a persona that says, "I know everything." Leading with vulnerability and embracing imperfections demonstrates to others that it's okay to display confidence while remaining humble and willing to ask for help or seek resources. The people I trust and respect the most have achieved unimaginable success and still work daily to learn and improve.
"Animation is serious business" It can be a tricky balance working in animation. On one hand, we need emotional awareness and availability at all times in order to bring our stories and characters to life, believably and empathetically. On the other hand, we have weekly quotas to fill, technical challenges, and are potentially dealing with subject matter we may not be 100% enamoured with, from the extremes of preschool to adult animation. So how do we maintain credibility at all times? People show who they really are when they're stressed. So choose to inspire others to be drawn to you in a crisis, rather than someone people want to avoid. The key is to stay professional, and not to let a project affect how we treat one another.
Self praise to claim that a person knows everything is to be avoided. Active listening is important. Allowing others to share perspectives is vital.
Common mistakes include - Too much self-boasting can diminish your credibility. - Highlighting on the same milestones will create an impression of out of date - Drawing comparisons to prove yourself better is the biggest mistake of all High or Low, accept it as it is and be authentic about it. This way you can uphold your credibility.
When your actions match your words, when you follow through on your commitments & communicate transparently your credibility will be evident. Brands and leaders can fail and still remain credible providing they follow this approach.
Thought leadership is not something that you can demand. It's a role bestowed by a community not a title you can give yourself. You're not a Thought "Leader" until you have people following you, otherwise it's just thoughts.