What are the best ways to stay current in your industry and inform your Thought Leadership narrative?

- Read extensively to stay abreast of industry trends and developments. - Engage with industry communities to gauge current discussions and challenges. - Leverage social media platforms to understand prevailing sentiments and concerns. - Actively participate in writing, speaking, and listening to enhance your understanding and engagement.

obviously LinkedIn is a great source to be aware of what issues are current, and not on your radar yet. Also the tacit information and other viewpoints on subjects are critical. Next to trusted sources there are now a large number of important individual contributors on specialised topics or skills.

Continuous Learning: Engage in ongoing learning through courses, seminars, webinars, and workshops related to your industry. Online platforms, industry conferences, and educational institutions offer valuable resources to stay updated.

A thought leader should be able to generate thoughts that is original, though provoking, inspiring and practical. In order to be a thought leader, a person should be able to influence a team or a community in the first place. Unless you have a followership you are not heard. Once you have a following, you need to infuse the right thought process at the right time. This requires a good knowledge and knowledge is gained by experience, and reading. You cannot be a thought leader in all domains, but will need to select a domain or two in which you have your experience and expertise on and then work on getting more insights, so you can be inspired to do some thinking over your knowledge and come up with new thoughts that could be impactful.

Informal community (group chats, industry social groups) is one avenue that, I believe, is underutilized and not well leveraged. In cases where informal communities exist, care also has to be taken to ensure one is not plugging into a self reinforcing echo chamber that does nothing to challenge, stretch or grow the leaders perspective or understanding of the subject matter

As a thought leader it is important that you are able to join multiple forums within your selected domains and feel free to learn new thoughts from others whilst also exchanging ideas that could impact the communities within the domain. These forums could be small groups, online groups, forums, networking events, webinars, and other related community events. These could bring new perspectives, enrich your existing thought processes, or even endorse some of your thoughts, whilst also infusing new light into some of your ideas.

Share your insights and opinions on topics that matter to you and your audience, e.g., industry trends and developments, and provide value and education to them. Let's take Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He is known for his visionary and philanthropic ideas, such as eradicating diseases, improving education, and combating climate change. He also shares his insights and recommendations on various topics through his blog, podcasts, and social media.

Recently, I have found listening tours and interviews with other thought leaders to be incredibly helpful in shaping my decision making, solutioning and ideation processes. It has been very helpful for me to follow different influencers in my industries and take the time to sit down and discuss what is happening, more broadly. A lot of times we get trapped in what is impacting our organizations or industries, which is not a bad thing, but being able to zoom out and look at a broader perspective with additional lenses has been very helpful. I tend to send quarterly surveys within my organization and to those who are interacting with us, to better understand how what we do is resonating and landing with people.

Being up-to-date with the current market landscapes, trends and happenings it utmost important for a thought leader. With great tools available in the social media spaces, it is important a thought leader is able to select the most appropriate social media platforms and engage with the relevant domain experts and other peers by interacting with them and sharing valuable insights and build an online presence which is utmost important in this age. Though we do not negate the importance of offline presence within your domains, being online provides you with a wider visibility and a wider reach to your selected audience and could easily take your thoughts out their into the world.

Adaptability and Flexibility: Embrace change and innovation within your industry. Continuously adapt to new technologies, methodologies, and best practices, positioning yourself as an advocate for progress and adaptation.

One way to be an open and curious thought leader is to seek information to uncover new possibilities. You can set aside time to explore industry trends, recent data, and new ways of thinking. A well-known example of this is Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and Neuralink. He is known for his visionary and innovative ideas, such as colonizing Mars, creating a hyperloop transportation system, and developing brain-computer interfaces. He constantly asks questions, challenges the status quo, and encourages his employees to do the same.

Mentorship and Knowledge Exchange: Engage in mentorship programs to both learn from seasoned professionals and impart knowledge to newcomers. Teaching or mentoring can deepen your understanding and reinforce your industry expertise.

As a though leader, the process of learning and growing should never be halted or paused. We should be humble enough to learn from anything, everything and anyone. This is the only way we can continue to grow and develop our ideas and thinking and continue to move forward in life. As a thought leader it is also important to reflect upon the content you consume and ensure that you are able to carefully select your contents, so you are clearly focused on the areas you want to be a thought leader on, and not be all over the place, and be well known for your special attributes and thought process.

To be a thought leader, you need to have a clear vision and share it consistently; mentor and inspire others who share your vision and passion, and help them grow and succeed. You can acknowledge and appreciate the contributions of others who have helped you along the way, and offer your guidance and support to those who seek your advice. You can also collaborate and network with other thought leaders and influencers to share and learn from them.

Everyone can become a thought leader, but to be one you should have a clear and consistent message and be brave and willing to challenge the status quo. Here are some other things to consider when staying current in your industry and informing your Thought Leadership narrative: Be curious and open-minded. Curiosity and open-mindedness can help you explore and learn new things, and embrace and appreciate different perspectives and opinions. Be humble and respectful. Humility and respect can help you acknowledge and admit your limitations and gaps, and value and respect the diversity and expertise of others. Be authentic and ethical. Authenticity and ethics can help you express and align your true self and values.