Thought leadership is a popular term right now, and that’s great, but how do you get to that place? It’s all well and good to say that you have a goal to become part of the vanguard of an industry, or to become the type of person that people ‘follow.’ But it’s not as easy as that — you don’t just snap your fingers and command an audience.

Reaching a position of visionary leadership takes a lot of time and hard work. Here are some suggestions from some of those who have started this journey toward becoming authorities in their fields.

Network Effectively

One key part of becoming more prominent in an industry is, of course, networking. But people think of this very differently. People might go to job fairs or do a lot of outreach at the beginning of their careers, so that they can ‘get a job’, but after they have that job, the networking stops.

Another way to think about this is that the types of people who can best command audiences capitalize most on the individual opportunities that they get. One easy example is a television appearance. It’s easy to sit back after this has happened, and wait for the accolades to pour in, but again, the best thought leaders and those who get branded as corporate visionaries are busy directly after an appearance, generating even more buzz and building a bigger networking web.

Get Others Involved

Another part of becoming known as a visionary thinker often involves getting rid of the ego, to an extent.

Many experts in brand building and personal networking would agree that one of the most powerful tools for someone whose star is on the rise is the ability to craft messages that address other people’s needs and not their own. Rather than assuming that people want to hear what they have to say, these people instead put themselves in the audience’s shoes, and think about what the audience would want to hear. Many of them also supplement this strategy with a proactive strategy of building common events, attending conferences and otherwise getting more opportunities to bring more people in on the ground floor of a project, to keep interest snowballing and to eventually garner more prominence for successful business efforts.

Craft the Message

In a lot of ways, it’s also important to hone a message that will reach people and, over time, build an audience. Job experts often talk about the “elevator pitch,” which is important at the beginning of a career or project. But it’s also important in thought leadership. Messages need to be accessible to people, and attractive to them. Most people are not going to wade through excessive technicality or long-winded speeches to follow someone’s vision. They want short, pithy messages that connect with them.

For more on solving the modern business puzzle, keep an eye on Full Steam Staffing as we continue to write about what affects our Ontario, California clients the most, and how we’ve seen businesses and individuals head toward a “business win.”

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