Thought Leadership
Author of a blog on the subject:
Philosophy:
Clients hire experts for their most important work. They will seek them out and pay them more. Therefore you must become an expert. One cannot become a true expert in anything about which one is not deeply passionate. You simply will not be able to sustain the time and dedication required to reach true expertise.
Once you have found your area of passionate expertise you must prove to your target audience that you are in fact a world class expert. No one believes everything you say about yourself. Therefore you must secure third party validations that you are an expert. These include references, testimonials and perhaps most important, the creation of true thought leading articles and presentations.
The process is called 10 Steps to Becoming a Rain Maker. The basics are published in my article in Consulting Magazine.
Why Thought Leadership?
To be perceived as an expert in your field, you have to be published in the prominent journals your target audience respects and/or those that publish articles authored by the experts your target audience hires currently to do the work you want to do.
A proven system for developing ideas, marketing these ideas to editors, crafting the article and getting it published. Co-authoring articles with prominent individuals adds to the value. As a result, professionals:
- Receive third-party endorsement as an expert from both the editor and the prominent co-author.
- Develop strong bonds with the co-author, which increases the opportunity to secure work from him or her.
- Are seen in print with him or her, raising the professional to the co-author’s level in the eyes of others.
- When the article is published, both the professional and the prominent co-author send the article to prospects, which means that the co-author is marketing the professional to new potential clients.
- Team with the co-author after publication to exploit the article through webinars, seminars and follow up articles.
While with UHY, Ned helped professionals secure publication of over 50 thought leading articles in prominent journals since September 2007. He has also arranged to have two professionals named members of the Boards of Editors for highly regarded Journals in their fields. Following publication, Ned has helped professionals secure selection to speak at highly regarded seminars and symposiums with other equally prominent experts.