My firm has challenged us to be more innovative. One of the outputs of this challenge is the “Thought Leadership Card”. It’s a document designed to share with a client in order to structure a conversation around a specific business topic, like “Mergers and Acquisitions” or “Packaged Software Implementation”. These have been used in every consulting business I have been with (now going on four). They come in different forms (decks, placemats, pamphlets, etc.), but the purpose is the same.

But they don’t work.

These material serve primarily to stroke the ego of the person or group putting it together. They make us feel like we are thought leaders because, well, we have the materials that say we are thought leaders.

But where are the followers?

Not once have I seen material like this inspire a client to follow our thought leadership. Instead, they see it for what it is: marketing material.

Why doesn’t it work? Why don’t they follow?

Because material like this is a pronouncement. We shout to our client “Look, we are thought leaders!  If you implement our ideas, you will be more successful!”. What they need is a conversation: an actual ongoing dialog between us and our clients. We share something, they listen. Maybe they think about it, and join in the conversation. They share something. We listen. Repeat several times. Then the group grows. The conversation becomes more valuable, more interesting. Eventually, there is a tribe, a group of followers waiting for us to lead the conversation.

That’s when we become thought leaders.

Not because we created a thought leadership card. But because we cared enough to start a conversation, to listen, to respond, to initiate further dialog. And the tribe grew because we inspired them, and they told their friends.

You can’t be a thought leader if no one is following. Find the followers, nurture the tribe, initiate the conversation, encourage communication, listen, share, etc, etc, etc. Eventually it works.

That’s thought leadership.