Peter WinickFounder and CEO @ Thought Leadership Leverage

What Is Thought Leadership? Thought Leadership Leverage

29 Sept 2017 · 2 min

Watch on YouTube

1:30

In this solo presentation, Peter Winick, founder and CEO of Thought Leadership Leverage, defines thought leadership as a two‑part construct. First, the "thoughtful" element requires original, well‑developed ideas that offer a fresh perspective and reflect significant time, energy, and effort. Second, the "leadership" element demands that the creator not merely repeat existing concepts but actively position and guide those ideas so they become actionable insights for an audience. Winick stresses that true thought leadership is powerful but demanding: it requires sustained commitment, high‑quality output, and the willingness to put top‑notch content into the marketplace, as anything less is unlikely to be accepted today.

Chapters

Hi, this is Peter Winick. I'm the founder and CEO of Thought Leadership Leverage. People often ask me, what is thought leadership? Seems like a pretty basic question, and it's one I've thought about for a long time. In my view, I think there's 2 points to think about when you're thinking about the definition of thought leadership. The first piece is thoughtful. You've got to have something that is new, that's interesting, that you've invested the time, energy, and effort to put something out in the world that people will look at and go, that's interesting, that's thoughtful, that's a different perspective on something that I haven't thought of that way before. The second component is leadership. It can't be something that they've heard before. It can't be something that is simply other people's ideas, thoughts, and concepts that you've regurgitated and put a new wrapper on. You have to lead it. You have to take that content, you have to take those thoughts, and Position it in such a way that you're leading the direction of where that content is going, that you're giving people something to think about, you're giving them insight, you're giving something that's actionable. Thought leadership is powerful. Thought leadership is something that you can commit a lot of time, energy, and effort to, but thought leadership is not easy. You gotta put in the work, you gotta do the effort, and you have to put stuff out into the marketplace that is top-notch. Nothing else will be accepted today, and I think you gotta put the effort in to do it.