Peter Winick identifies three types of thought leaders: academics who rely on research, practitioners who draw on hands-on experience, and executives focused on results. Each has blind spots. Winick urges you to know which you are and adjust your approach when pitching different buyers.
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: as thought leaders, there are 3 unique perspectives that one could have, or 3 sort of places of origin, if you will, that most thought leaders come from. And I think that the issue is to realize what your default is and how to adjust when needed. So there's an academic perspective. You know, traditionally someone that comes from academia is research-based. They can quote the data. They come out of a very theoretical background. And that's incredibly rich and important when it comes to the work that we do. Then there is what I would call a practitioner perspective, a consultant, someone that works with folks solving the problems that you solve. And that has an interesting basis in origin. And then the last one is coming from sort of that entrenched experience, being the senior business executive in an organization that is tasked with or has the responsibility of X. So sometimes what happens is these 3 don't get along too well. So the academics can be too theoretical, right? The practitioners could be less could draw their work more from experience than data, and the business folks are a little bit less impatient and less concerned with the data and have to drive the results. They live under the pressures of time and the quarterly, you know, basis that they have to show the impact on. So what I would ask is 2 things of you. Number one, what is your default? Do you even know what it is? And can you move your default a little bit if you're a little bit more focused on the academic side, when you're working with a buyer that really needs business results, can you make that transition? When you're coming from a practitioner perspective and you're dealing with someone that might have a bit of a more academic bent, could you get into the data a little bit more? So anyway, what's your default and how does that play to your strengths and where do you need to adjust and accommodate to win in the marketplace more as a thought leader? Again, love to hear your thoughts as always. Thank you.
