Infoguru and thought leader – one of the same?

Robert Middleton is a marketing thought leader.  He gives away a lot of wonderful free information and ideas and he clearly solves lots of people’s marketing challenges.  It was one of Robert’s posts many years ago that kick-started me down the path to writing my book Brand Stand: seven steps to thought leadership.

In a recent newsletter, Robert talks about how he made a mistake when he stopped marketing his Infoguru marketing brand and goes on to define what he means by Infoguru.  The reason I include it here is because there are some very strong similarities between his Infoguru definition and my views of what constitutes a thought leader.  But I must admit that Infoguru sounds a lot sexier and more memorable than thought leader.

Robert had this to say:  “As an InfoGuru, you need to approach marketing differently. You can’t market yourself like a consumer product or a commodity service. You need to stand out as an InfoGuru who leverages your information, expertise and wisdom to attract clients looking for results, not hype, improvement in their condition, not empty promises.

“InfoGuru marketing uses writing, speaking and the Internet to leverage that information, expertise and wisdom to educate and to demonstrate immediate value to prospective clients.”

I love this part of Robert’s definition.  Why? First because it is client focused and second because it talks about educating and demonstrating value.  Tie that to what he says in the previous paragraph about improving the client’s condition and you have the genuine intent of a thought leader or thought leadership campaign.

Robert goes on to say that an InfoGuru is in fact many things:

·         They possess practical information which they should apply wisely

·         They are business professionals who help their clients get results and improve their condition in a way that makes a real difference

·         They educate, inform, explore, and collaborate to gain engagement from their prospective clients

·         They don’t use hype, pressure or manipulation; they don’t have to

·         They market their services though writing, speaking and the Internet - all mediums suited to convey information efficiently and with impact

·         The most successful InfoGurus gain attention and notoriety for their expertise, insights and results.

Robert’s list of famous InfoGurus include: Tom Peters, Marshall Goldsmith, Alan Weiss, Seth Godin, Jim Collins, Jay Abraham, Peter Drucker, and John Gray.  Some of whom are listed in my book as recognised thought leaders.

So what’s the verdict?  Is an Infoguru a close cousin to a thought leader or is it in fact something entirely different?

…and more definitions of thought leadership

I have had some great responses to the post on the two definitions of  thought leadership from Eric Gruber and Dana vandenHeuvel.  While these appear in the comments section I thought they warranted a listing in a post.

The first is from Meg Wildrick from Bliss PR:

“ From a tactical standpoint, the term “thought leadership marketing” means different things to different people. As in traditional marketing, there are endless possibilities for inputs (e.g., statistics, stories, analysis, opinions), spokespeople (institution or individual),outputs (e.g.,books, videos, podcasts, documentaries,articles) and objectives (e.g., credibility, awareness, loyalty, positioning). But what’s unique about real thought leadership, to me, is that it’s edu-marketing. It’s one part promotion/persuasion, one part teaching/giving. True thought leadership helps audiences make sense of things — e.g., the world, a sector, an experience, the future. It’s marketing, of course, because it drives revenue by (1)boosting credibilty; (2) engaging customers; (3) creating differentiation and (4) triggering the reciprocity reflex. But it also inspires.”

The second is from Jim Pennypacker from Dance Communications:

“Thought leadership marketing is the active positioning of your company (or you ) as an authority, resource, and trusted advisor on issues of importance to potential customers. This positioning is accomplished using a variety of media, including books, newsletters, blogs, e-mail, events, etc. It allows you to earn trust and build credibility and recognition, differentiating yourself as one who clearly understands the business and needs of your audience. It’s a means of nurturing leads, improving customer retention, and expanding your market.”

Any other suggestions out there?  If so I’d love to hear them.

Two more definitions of thought leadership

I am constantly reading what others have to say about thought leadership and am always interested in how other people define thought leadership.  I would like to put up two definitions that I have recently come across.

The first is from Dana vandenHeuvel, from Marketing Savant:

“Thought leadership marketing capitalizes on your intellectual capital and unique point of view to actively position you or your organisation as an authority, a resource and a trusted advisor on industry issues.  Thought leadership marketing allows you to earn trust and build credibility and recognition differentiating yourself as one who clearly understands the business needs of your audience.  And most importantly, it mobilizes your audience to think and act - engaging with you over the long term.”

The second is from Eric Gruber:

“Thought leaders are experts who are recognized among their peers as an authority on innovative ideas within a particular industry. Thought leaders confidently promote their ideas. Most importantly, thought leaders have earned respect from the outside world for their deep understanding of their business, the needs of their clients and the broader marketplace in which they operate.”

There are three key words that stand out in both definitions:

• respect
• trust
• authority

To me these are the key ingredients of your positioning as a thought leader.  In particular, gaining the trust of your target audience is the nirvana of any brand positioning.  And therein lies the power of true thought leadership .

If you have your own definition please send it through, I’d love to hear from you.

Another definition of thought leadership

On reading a very useful paper on thought leadership by the Content Factor, ‘Is anybody following your thought leadership?  Five best practices that can help establish your company as a thought leader’, I came across a definition on thought leadership from Brian Carroll which I have not seen before.

“Thought leaders genuinely influence others by creating, advancing and sharing ideas.  Their objective is to help others.  In business, thought leaders revolutionise the way others (both inside and outside their companies do business.  That’s thought leadership.” 

For other definitions of thought leadership please click on my other blog posts under the category “Definitions of thought leadership” in the column directly on your right.

A reader’s definition of thought leadership

An ex colleague of mine and respected South African PR practitioner, Merle O’Brien has sent me this definition of thought leadership:

I have a definition on thoughtleadership to toss in the ring - the strategic practice of cultivating market insight and building foresight using business management tools (media scans, market research, statistics, trend analysis, scenario planning, forecasting etc.) that INFLUENCES organisational change, sustainability and brand integrity. For me - leadership comes down to influence - a leader influences change - managers implement the change - but lack the skill to change direction - leaders who can influence a change in direction based on their intellect (not money, status, charisma, power etc)- are the ones who are ruling the meetings these days.      

Wisdom is the highest level to which we can mature ‘data’ - first into knowledge - then we develop intelligence - and using a time-series we can then build insights on which to develop strategies - the process deepens our understanding of the dynamics influencing the driving forces of our market / business. Only then, do we reach a point of being able to take a sound / wise business decision. Many problems were created in 20th century by management not maturing the data - and their decisions are now tripping them up because it lacked depth, creativity and a systematic approach. I think a thoughtleader must also be a good systems thinker - able to respond to situations analytically and creatively (to join the dots into intelligent patterns and also not react to situations according to prescribed patterns). It is also interesting that social scientists now promote the view that there are 3 stages ‘beyond Maslow’s hierachy of needs’ - when after we self actualise (stage 5), we become more fulfilled by helping others grow (stage 6), then we evolve our awareness of our eco-impact on the world (stage 7) and then we come into unity consciousness (stage at which level wisdom is acquired and for these individuals - fulfilment is found in daily solitary reflection on how s/he makes a positive influence in the world each day. I imagine that a thoughtleader of the 21st century would need to be at stage 8 in order to navigate an organisation to a sustainable better place thro the 21st century’s complexity, chaos and paradigm shifts.

 I love Merle’s thinking on though leadership, particularly the way she has linked to the three stages beyond Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. For it is here that the true thought leaders of the next few decades will emerge.

There are many different levels of thought leadership but the great thought leaders are the ones who take their stakeholders to a place they didn’t know existed or enlighten/expose an audience to new thinking in a way that adds unexpected value to their lives whether that be in a professional or personal capacity.

Definitions of thought leadership

I have my own definition of thought leadership, it goes something like this: ‘Thought Leadership is establishing a relationship with and delivering something of value to your stakeholders and customers that aligns with your brand/company value. In the process you go well beyond merely selling a product or service and establish your brand /company as the expert in that field and differentiate yourself from your competitors.’

While there are many definitions I’d like to share a few. Professors Terrell and Middlebrooks of the Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and University of Chicago Graduate School of Business capture part of what thought leadership is about http://tinyurl.com/nc5due They say: ‘The key strategy is to be different from competitors…They break free from “be better”, internally oriented initiatives to be different’, externally oriented strategies. Being different is grounded in providing customers with unique value that they cannot get from any other competitor.’

A RainToday.com research report (www.raintoday.com) thought leadership, published in 2006, notes: ‘You cannot go after a market without something authentic and valuable to offer, without something spun from the passion you hold for your area of expertise…and you cannot continue to teach others and sustain your business as a whole without developing an ongoing relationship with your market. One without the other just doesn’t work.’

Wikipedia also has a definition: “Thought leadership as a buzz word or jargon ‘used to describe a futurist or person who is recognized among their peer mentors for innovative ideas and demonstrates the confidence to promote or share those ideas as actionable, distilled insights.

‘It is the recognition from the outside world that the company deeply understands its business, the needs of its customers, and the broader marketplace in which it operates.

‘Thought leadership is also an emerging discipline in its own right. Our ability to understand its core practices and then effectively apply them is key to positioning ourselves and our companies for next level growth.’

I like the second paragraph of the Wikipedia definition, but this only comes if you have first evaluated your own values, researched the deeper needs of your stakeholders/customers and then identified, sometimes in conjunction with those stakeholders, what will be important for them.

One of the common themes in most of the thought leadership definitions I have seen is that at its core, thought leadership revolves around developing a deep understanding of your business and customers and, more importantly, the needs of those customers and the broader market in which you operate.

Please send me your definition I’d love to publish it on my blog.