“I’m a private person”- 5 Reasons why you aren't known as a thought leader in your sector

Last Friday, I had a conversation with a prospective client. An established business leader and CEO with over 3 decades of experience across multiple sectors.?

He said something that struck me.

“I want to be known as the Africa guy- The person who when people think about Business Strategy for emerging markets my name comes up.”

Up until when he said this, he told me “he was a private person who preferred to work behind the scenes.” For him, it was more about doing the work and putting the spotlight on that instead of on him.?

But he had now come to see the limitations of this approach as a business leader and how there was considerable goodwill that can be mined when visibility is done correctly.

I find many executives struggle with this, wanting to build reputation as industry leaders and attract global opportunities but can't seem to work out or implement the how.

Here are 6 reasons you are struggling with building a visible industry thought leadership brand

1. You are confusing visibility with popularity- Visibility, as I define it, is the strategic practice of letting the right people know about your expertise, experience, and accomplishments so you get opportunities to solve even bigger problems. It has nothing to do with the amount of followers you have or how many people know your name. I give this example all the time. I constantly share content on Linkedin, speak at events, and give press interviews, but many aspects of my life remain private. You can be an industry leader and still be a private person

1. You underestimate the power of your expertise - For some of the executives I coach, the first part of the thought leadership journey is usually getting them to see the value in the knowledge they have built. I regularly hear statements like “But this is common knowledge;” “Everyone has spoken about this already;” “I don't want to come across as bragging”. But as the famous saying goes, "no one else is you and that is your power". Few people have the same combination of your background, education, skills, and experience. This means you can provide nuanced perspectives on key topics in your sector.?

1. Lack of subject matter niche - many executives have multi sectoral and functional experience. This means it can be hard to answer the question “What should I write or talk about?” “What do I want to be known for”. Your niche is somewhere within the cross intersection of your area of expertise, your future aspirations, and the knowledge gaps of the people who can help you access those opportunities.

1. You don't have the right thought leadership models - If the thought leaders, you know, who are visible both within and outside your sector don't inspire you to build your brand, you may have the wrong idea of what a visible thought leadership brand could look like. I have had instances where potential clients say to me "I don't want to come across like x and y", but when I show them other authority figures in their industry they feel much more inspired to build their brands.?
2. You haven't built a relevant network, locally and/or internationally- this is a key one. As I mentioned earlier, thought leadership visibility is the strategic practice of letting the right people know about your expertise. Who needs to know about what you know? Where do they go? What do they read? Networking isn't about how many cards you can get, it's about building vital connections for value exchange.?

1. No one knows what you know - this is fundamental. To become known as an industry leader or a ‘go-to expert’ you must share what you know (with the people that care). Many executives reading this have achieved phenomenal feats in their careers, led their companies to unicorn status, turned a profit during a time of extreme currency volatility, and delivered an entire change management project in record time that saved the company billions, but no one apart from those involved in the day to day transactions of the project knows. The problem with this is someone on the other side of the world is looking for people with this exact skill. Someone who can replicate this same feat but there you are hidden, private, and intentionally invisible with the exact knowledge required to make a difference.

One key way to fix this is to share thought leadership content around within the area of your expertise. Content that contains your unique insights into industry issues and can help others solve similar problems.

If this is something you’d like to prioritize, I have just the thing for you. I’ll be hosting an Executive LinkedIn Content Strategy Masterclass aimed at helping busy executives and knowledge providers such as trainers and coaches create content that positions them as industry leaders and opens up global opportunities.

In this Masterclass you’ll learn?

-?LinkedIn thought leadership content mistakes to avoid?

-?How to build relevant and international connections?

-?How to demonstrate your expertise through your content on LinkedIn

- How to create content that attracts the opportunities you desire, board roles, international collaborations, speaking opportunities, and much more.?

We have limited spaces for this Masterclass, so please click here to join the waitlist.

#executivevisibility #womeninleadership #personalbranding #thoughtleadership

About Glory Edozien (PhD): Glory is an award winning thought leadership branding and LinkedIn visibility strategist for African Female Executives. She is a LinkedIn Top Voice and a member of the Forbes Global Coaching Council.