Thought Leadership: The Unsung Hero of Business Growth

If you are a small business, trying to approach the topic of growth can come in many different forms. It is very easy to focus on the standard ways of sales, marketing, social media trends, branding, mergers, and products, but have you heard of the term thought leadership?

Knowledge sharing is a key tool in the business market of the 21st century, and with the challenges that each and every business has now, the opportunity to get and receive information from your peers, partners and clients have never been so widespread. And thought leadership is a tool that you can use to keep ahead of the curve.

This is a different method for growth and opportunity, but it has been used by many big corporations for some time now, like IBM and Deloitte. As a business, you must now begin to assess what your best practices are, what knowledge you have that is different or unique, and package these nuggets of knowledge as resources to promote a bigger and better business.

This is the essence of new business as a strategy for growth. And it may sound like a counter-intuitive approach to be open and honest about what your business practices are and sharing them, it helps your business to let go of what it once was and keep both eyes firmly on the present. Thought leadership is integral in introducing new ways of thinking to make a positive change in many different areas, like the marketplace, employees, customers, and the working environment.

So how can this be achieved? As a business leader, you need to be fearless. Being a pioneer in business now is a lot more of a task than many years ago, and enabling your company to share the ways that you feel are unique and individual enough can warrant a few raised eyebrows, but this transparency is what will encourage growth and business opportunities, and also encourage an exciting workplace culture.

If you are the dynamic leader you say you are, you will take risks, and you will encourage your employees to contribute themselves in meaningful ways. With every marketing podcast is a podcast focusing on leadership, and we have a vested interest in people. We want to know what drives their thinking, why they do what they do, and who they are. This is the workplace culture of the 21st century, we are all budding entrepreneurs to a certain extent.

Businesses must start to show their execs as thought leaders to strengthen relationships between the client and supplier and to find new ways to grow better together. There is a distinct lack of open-mindedness in business, where people are keen to just rely on their rank, and this is why there are difficulties in achieving growth. The point of view of a holistic assessment in business now needs to be addressed, more than ever. Thought leadership is a tool which is leading the way in the shake-up of the business model, and with time, it will begin to come into its own and flourish.