Why companies struggle with thought leadership and individuals flourish

• Share
• Tweet

If I asked you to think of three thought leaders, who springs to mind?  For me it is inevitably a handful of individuals as opposed to brands or companies. Even if I think of the question with my corporate hat on I come up with the individual’s names who represent those companies – Richard Branson, Mohammed Yunus, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Anita Roddick, etc.

 
Why do companies battle and individuals flourish when it comes to thought leadership?

 
Perhaps the answer lies in research conducted by Bliss PR in June this year www.blisspr.com/. The study entitled Social Media Landscape for Consulting Firms analysed 46 management consulting firms and found that not only did most of them make it challenging for clients and prospects to identify and directly engage their thought leaders via social media but most didn’t actively champion their thought leaders.

 
Furthermore the study found that 30% of them failed to clearly identify any thought leaders at all.

 
I believe this issue is the result of three corporate afflictions and an extra cultural dimension peculiar to the Australian market:
1. Unless you are the founder (Branson, Gates, Yunus, Buffett and Roddick) companies are loathe to invest time and effort in a thought leader champion because of the risks i.e. he or she leaves to set up on their own, they become a target for the competitors, etc
2. Companies are also wary of the making the individual bigger than the brand
3. Unless it is the CEO or managing director politics means it could be corporate suicide to develop a higher media profile than them
4. Finally, and this is the one peculiar only to the Australian market, you have to deal with the ‘tall poppy’ syndrome. Simply put this means that people are loathe to develop too large a profile for fear of being cut down to size by those around you – hey every culture has its peculiarities.

On the flip side individuals are more inclined to become thought leaders for the following reasons:
1. They are often hungrier than the large corporations
2. They keenly understand the need to differentiate themselves from their competitors
3. Many of them are already experts in some area of their field
4. They are more open to engaging with and sharing insights and information with their audiences
5. They are personally close to their customers or consumers – no customer care department here, they are the customer care department
6. They are normally passionate about what they do
7. They are prepared to take risks
8. They are courageous – after all they did start their own business.

Big business continues to grapple with how they can own a space and connect with their audiences in an authentic way. A way in which they truly share information and insights with their customers over and above the typical product or service pushes on which most campaigns predictably focus.

 
I take my hat off to those brave companies who have taken the plunge – they have and are still reaping the rewards. I say brave because someone has to make the decision to break the mould. Someone has stand up and say we are going to do things differently around here. It takes courage to do that.

 
Finally, I leave you with this thought. The McKinsey Quarterly Report of June 2009   http://tiny.cc/p21vQ  entitled Building corporate reputations says that that organisations will need to enhance their listening skills and reinvigorate their understanding of and relationships with critical stakeholders and go beyond traditional PR to successfully activate a network of supporters.

It is precisely for this reason that companies need to focus their efforts on powerful, long-term, values-led thought leadership campaigns.

2 Responses to “Why companies struggle with thought leadership and individuals flourish”

1. Elizabeth Sosnow says:

   November 29, 2009 at 19:19

   Thanks for including our study in your interesting post. I’ll add another reason I think that individuals are stronger at thought leadership…

   In general, individuals understand how to embrace and leverage change. The best thought leaders are constantly thinking about “what’s next.” That’s not a skill that is organic to most institutions or companies.

   I really enjoy subscribing to this blog and look forward to your next post.

   Best,

   Elizabeth Sosnow
2. craig says:

   November 29, 2009 at 22:50

   Thanks Elizabeth and I couldn’t agree with you more. Not only do they understand how to embrace and leverage change but they are very nimble when it comes to thinking about “what’s next” and more importantly acting on it.
   Good to hear from you.
   Cheers
   Craig