The Comfortable Corners of Thought Leadership | Org TL Minute

Transcript:

Today, I want to talk about the comfortable corners of thought leadership. While that phrase might suggest someone curled up in a window seat with a really good book and a cup of hot tea, I’m actually talking about a technique that you can use to create your best thought leadership ideas and content.

As a thought leadership practitioner, there are two types of comfort you need to be thinking about.

First, are you comfortable with the ideas working on?

And second, are you comfortable with the modality that you’re using?

When we put these questions into a matrix, the comfortable corners appear.

Let’s talk about how to use these corners to your benefit.

When you’re in the ideation phase, you’re naturally uncomfortable with the idea. It’s time to think deeply. So, choose a modality that you’re most comfortable with. If you’re a writer, write. If you’re a better verbal communicator, record a video of yourself talking about the idea. This part of thinking process is for you. Focus on the modality that’s easiest for you to use, because that’s where you’ll get your best thinking done.

And then, when you’ve become comfortable with the idea, you’re ready to share it with others. Here, you’ve got a choice. You can use a modality that you’re very comfortable with—and so ideas you’re comfortable with and a modality you’re comfortable with—that’s where you’ll shine.

Or you can try to explain your idea in a modality that you’re less comfortable with. You can explore new ways of communicating the idea.

The fourth quadrant is actually the most risky. If you’re uncomfortable with both the idea and the modality, you’re definitely going to struggle with both ideation and communication.

If you understand the comfortable corners of thought leadership, you’ll be able to make smarter choices on modalities you use both for ideating and communicating thought leadership.

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