MUST READ: Thought Leadership and Social Media Tools

by Stefan Lindegaard

I have just read a very interesting report by the Bloom Group on how consulting companies have begun using social media tools to develop thought leadership positions.

Check this link: Thought Leadership Rewired: How Consulting Firms are Using Social Media to Market Their Ideas.

The key findings:

• Consulting firms are quickly expanding their budgets for social media.

• Social media will increasingly complement traditional thought leadership marketing channels.

• Other social media tools are gaining on traditional techniques.

• Running out of content and determining how to use it as a marketing tool are the two biggest concerns about social media.

• Effective thought leadership programs use research-based content.

Some snippets I liked in particular:

“In addition, a thought leadership microsite helps a consulting firm...

Sharp Insights: What Everyone Wants

by Stefan Lindegaard

Sharp insights that can help others develop personally as well as professionally. This is what everyone craves for and as a thought leader many will look in your direction for this.

A thought leader should look at insights in two ways. The first is about creating your own original insights and the other is about promoting insights that your community desires. On the latter, it is not only about promoting your own insights but also those of others if they are relevant to your community.

When it comes to creating insights this is the test where thought leaders rise above the pack. Almost every consultant or expert within a corporation is capable of producing content. The big question is whether you can move beyond mere...

Phil McKinney: HP’s Corporate Thought Leader

by Stefan Lindegaard

Can you work in a large corporation and still be a thought leader? Definitely!

One great example is Phil McKinney, who in his “day job” is the vice president and chief technology officer for Hewlett-Packard’s (HP) Personal Systems Group.

He is responsible for long-range strategic planning and research and development (R&D) for all of the company’s PC product lines, including displays, mobile devices, notebooks, desktops and workstations.

Besides this, Phil is a highly sought out speaker on creativity and innovation and its impact on business, industries, economies and society.

He creates his own original insights that he shares through his communication platforms – his talks, his blog, his podcast, Twitter, Facebook and his LinkedIn group....

Thought Leadership: What Is It and How To Do It?

by Stefan Lindegaard

According to Wikipedia, a thought leader is a futurist or person who is recognized for innovative ideas and demonstrates the confidence to promote or share those ideas as actionable distilled insights

How does this apply to the real world? I am still thinking on this, but here are my early reflections:

• You need to be original in your thinking.

• You must have enough edge to force people to have an opinion.

• You must address issues that broaden everyone’s horizon.

• You must act as a gate-keeper that finds and share relevant information.

• You need to build a following that buy into and help spread your ideas.

What do you think? What can you add?

Community Building, Free Give-Aways, Personal Branding and Other Lessons from Five Experts

by Stefan Lindegaard

In this and in a series of similar blog posts, I will introduce you to experts or aspiring experts having lessons that we can all learn from.

Dan Schawbel

Lesson: Dan is a good example on how to share insights and experiences within your chosen area of expertise (in this case personal brand building). Check his work at DanSchawbel.com and take a look at his community on Personal Branding Blog.

Chris Anderson

Lesson: When you publish a book titled Free, you should be able to get the book for free. Chris made this possible in the early stages of the launch of Free. I read several chapters online and then I bought the book. It is a great example...

The Pressure of Unpaid Bills: How Can Aspiring Experts Cope With This?

by Stefan Lindegaard

Are you working hard to establish yourself as a thought leader or expert? If so, then you have most likely faced the pressure of unpaid bills – or you will do so in the coming years.

I definitely felt it during the spring and early summer. My chosen area of expertise is open innovation as you can see by visiting my 15inno.com blog and I can assure you that the financial crisis has a big impact on innovation consulting, conferences and related services. It has been two years of hard times and we are not even through yet.

So yes, I have faced the pressures of unpaid bills and yes, I have had my doubts whether I could survive as an independent thought...

Why Can’t We Learn More From Our Failures?

by Stefan Lindegaard

I had an interesting comment to my Top 10 Reasons for Open Innovation Failure post on the 15inno innovation blog. Scott Taback wrote: “I typically like to concentrate on why things succeed rather than fail but that’s just me…the eternal optimist.”

My response to Scott was that I also try to take the positive approach to business as well as life. However, it is my experience that we often can learn more from failures than successes, but unfortunately most companies as well as most individuals are simply not wired to extract learnings out of their failures.

Why is this so?

A key reason could be that we prefer not to dwell on things that went wrong. We often just acknowledge that this project...

It’s Never Too Late to Go for Your Dreams

by Stefan Lindegaard

I just watched a critically acclaimed documentary about a heavy metal band called Anvil.

The documentary begins with footage from a Japanese 1984 super-tour being rocked by The Scorpions, Bon Jovi, Whitesnake – and Anvil. If you know music, you know that the first three bands made it big time.

Anvil did not. In the documentary, we follow the band members – now in their fifties – as they still try to get their career going playing in obscure places and doing odd jobs to survive. It is the kind of story where you really hope they make it and with great help from the documentary itself, they actually end up with a decent break-through.

REFLECTIONS:

First, it’s never too late to go...

A New Blog for Aspiring Thought Leaders

by Stefan Lindegaard

Who am I? What do I do? What do I want to achieve with this new blog for aspiring thought leaders? Good questions.

The short version is that I am 39 years old. I live in Copenhagen, Denmark. I have two lovely girls and I enjoy sports, movies, gadgets and other things.

I have always wanted to start things, and, having started four companies, I know a lot about entrepreneurship. In 2001, I decided to take my insights as an entrepreneur into the corporate world, and since then I have been helping companies on innovation strategies and how to identify and develop the people who drive innovation.

Today, I have a strong focus on open innovation and you can follow my work on