Peter Winick distinguishes thought leaders from influencers: influencers promote products for their own gain, while thought leaders shift how people think about ideas and work. Every thought leader can influence, but not every influencer becomes one.
Hi there, it's Peter Winick. I'm the founder and CEO at Thought Leadership Leverage, and here's the idea that I'd like to share with you today, and that's this: we're living in this age of the influencer. So what does that mean for a thought leader? Well, it means that every thought leader has an opportunity to influence, but not every influencer is ever going to be a thought leader. So what do you do with that? What do you do with that? You don't try to compete with the influencers who are influencing for the sake of influencing. They have their own agenda. By their very definition, they want you to do something that you probably would not have done without them. It's typically selling you some sort of product offering, service, whatever the case may be. And it's typically more of a B2C mindset. As a thought leader, you are trying to influence people, but what you're trying to influence them to do initially is to think about the world a little bit differently, to embrace your ideas, to lean into your work, to your research, to your writings, et cetera, and decide if it makes sense to them at that moment in time for their own benefit, for their team's benefit, or for their organization's benefit. So as a thought leader, don't just try to be an influencer and replicate the tactics of folks that are influencing for the sake of influencing. Stick to your knitting, stick to being a thought leader, but be mindful of the influence that you are having on the audience that you are looking to reach out to and the audience that is important to you and the audience that you want to connect with. Love to hear your thoughts.
