Craig Badings, publisher of a blog on thought leadership strategy and author of the book Brand Stand, has put together a fascinating series of responses to the question:
What will be the single biggest change we will see in thought leadership over the coming year?
He received thoughtful responses from Bob Buday, Erica Klein, David Meerman Scott, Jeff Ernst, Rob Leavitt, Dana van den Heuvel, Matt Church, Fiona Czerniawska, Dale Bryce, Elizabeth Sosnow, and Marte Semb Aaasmundsen. He also got one from me.
I particularly like the response from Rob Leavitt, who is the Director of Thought Leadership at PTC, a $1 billion software firm focused on Product Lifecycle Management. As he puts it:
“I think we’ll see another whole wave of thought leadership development and marketing.
“Clearly thought leadership has gained tremendous interest, support, and investment in the last few years, but we’re still very early in a maturity cycle. Many companies are still getting a basic foundation in place in terms of defining issues to address, creating a publication engine, enlisting subject matter experts, and testing the social media waters.
“All this is critical, but much of it is not actual “thought leadership” if by this term we literally mean “leading thoughts.”
“Many of us are producing useful, non-promotional, educational content, but examples of more innovative and ground-breaking thinking is more rare, and requires far more investment, discipline, and experience.
“As more of us get past the foundation stage, I expect a great deal more innovative work in the next few years.”
Look for more responses in subsequent posts in Craig's compelling blog.
Buddy I agree with your expectations in 2012. It's really crucial good leadership upcoming time and I believe we will find a good leader next year. Except leadership I want see peace all over the world. I hope 2012 will bring lots of happiness for peoples around the globe. Thanks
Posted by: Joshua Willis | December 29, 2011 at 04:28 AM
I think the content will become more genunine. Easy access of information will ensure that people will not just copy and paste someone else's thoughts; but try innovating and creating real stuff.
Rasika Gokhale Athawale
www.mind-crunch.in
Posted by: Rasika Gokhale Athawale | January 21, 2012 at 10:23 AM