Why you don't need to be a thought 'leader'...

I was talking with one of my clients the other day when the topic of thought leadership came up.

To stand out in the executive job market you have to take different action to everyone else, and to this end I encourage all of my clients to build a personal brand.

Building a personal brand is not that difficult once you know what you want to be known for and who you want to attract. The difficulty though is often deciding who you are and what you want to do with your career, which is a key consideration before ever starting out on your executive job search.

For me a personal brand is what people say about you when you're not there. It's someone's impression of you whether they've met you or not, from what they nowadays invariably consume online. You have the choice to take what's given or to proactively influence your personal brand, in part through thought leadership.

To stand out in the executive job market you have to position yourself as an expert and understand the sector you operate in. What are the challenges or opportunities common to organisations in this sector, and what experience, knowledge or opinion do you have that could help?

In the executive job market it's rarely as simple as here's my CV / resume, hire me. See me > hire me rarely works and when it doesn't it can leave those who adopt this approach feeling disillusioned and confused.

In my 'Executive Edge' Programme I introduce my clients to what I call the 'hire cycle':

See me > like me > trust me > hire me.

Before an organisation will ever make a decision to hire you, they have to trust you first. Even if an organisation isn't currently hiring, this doesn't mean there aren't opportunities available. Anticipating the future challenges and opportunities a given organisation is likely to have speaks into the 'hidden (job) market' and as a senior executive this is the best place to start a conversation that could ultimately lead to your next executive position.

Though leadership involves communicating your expertise in a way that helps a future employer, see you, like you, trust you and ultimately hire you. It's a critical part of any successful executive job search strategy.

When I ask a client to write an article for LinkedIn that speaks to what we've identified as their target decision maker, they often become nervous.

What do I know?

Why will people want to hear from me?

What if I get negative feedback or comments?

The above are all things that are likely to flash through their mind. Thoughts that if left unchecked or unchallenged will stop them in their tracks from taking proactive and positive action.

Part of the problem (and the barrier to action) is that the term 'thought leadership' isn't particularly helpful and is in fact somewhat misleading.

You don't have to be the next Elon Musk to communicate your thoughts, you don't need to have the next big idea, you don't even needy to be a leading light in your field.

Your thoughts don't have to be leading or revolutionary, you just have to have some and be prepared to share them.

At the weekend, this was reinforced in a scene from the movie A Star Is Born. I've been meaning to watch this film for a while now and it's easy to see why it's received rave reviews from across the globe.

In this one particular scene Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) explains to Ally (Lady Gaga):

'Look, talent comes everywhere. Everybody's talented, f#####g everyone in this bar is talented at one thing or another. But having something to say and a way to say it so that people listen to it, that's a whole other bag. And unless you get out and you try to do it, you'll never know. That's just the truth. And there's one reason we're supposed to be here is to say something so people want to hear. Don't you understand what I'm trying to tell you?'

Wise words indeed and this is exactly what thought leadership can and should be. Everyone is an expert in what they do, everyone has talent, but are you prepared to put yourself out there? Are you really prepared to stand out in the executive job market?

[The film also mentions Frank Sinatra and observes that he may not have been the best singer, and there were probably a whole host of other singers at the time with better vocal talent. What made Sinatra different was that he was prepared to put himself out there, to get out on stage and communicate.]

So if you're yet to write your first LinkedIn article, there's no better time than now. There's no better time to share your knowledge, claim your space and stand out among your peers.

You don't need to be a thought 'leader', you just need some (thoughts) and the confidence to share them!

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