READ THIS FIRST: Why Women Should Be Thought Leaders
And how I'm going to help you become one!
(My favorite picture from my first TEDx talk)
Ergh…don’t you just hate the term ‘thought leader’?
Nope. When I look around the world today, I firmly believe we need both more thought and more leadership. More ‘deep pool’ reflection and ‘bright fire’ inspiration. More courage in the face of criticism. And a bucket load more of standing up for what is right.
Play semantics if you like, but for me, that’s thought leadership. And women should be doing much more of it.
Just last week, a woman on LinkedIn tagged me in a post about ‘how can women like me get more followers and visibility for our ideas?’ Honestly, I don’t even have that many followers (about 27k) compared to others. But I didn’t know what to answer her and that bothered me.
It’s kept me awake. It’s made me ask questions of friends who are REAL thought leaders. It’s unleashed my autistic hyperfocus ability onto the problem,
And now I’m ready to help.
That’s what this newsletter will be all about. Why to be a thought leader and, crucially, how to be a thought leader if you’re a woman. I’m going to share my own advice (and mistakes), interview incredible women who are setting agendas and cheerlead/coach/pep-talk and gently bully YOU into getting your ideas out into the world.
My vision is that thousands more women become thought leaders (even in small ways). Why? Because it will make the world a better place.
What would that look like?
More women writing ‘big idea’ non-fiction books, business books, breakthrough idea books, how-to guides on world-changing topics, and books with white covers filled with big aggressive typography.
More women giving TED talks and keynotes, making after-dinner speeches, advising other leaders/policy-makers, opening conferences and being the subject of ‘fireside chats’.
More women pundits in media, on radio chat shows, being asked to comment on news stories, asked to write features, guest blogs and topping podcast charts.
More women on lists of experts, leading advisory panels, named in ‘top 10’ thought leaders, profiled in Sunday papers and asked for their ‘secrets’ to leadership.
More women as Top Voices on LinkedIn, being commented and shared, with their quotes being posted as wisdom, as quote of the day, their content shared and tagged everywhere.
And being paid very well for all of it.
Isn’t That Just A List Of Platforms? What About The ‘Thought’ Bit?
Yes, you will need some valuable, interesting and comprehensible thoughts to lead with.
But I promise that you already have some leading thoughts. You really do. If you’re a woman though, chances are you just don’t consider what you think to be all that leading.
Instead, you might accept you have:
The inside track and gossip on an industry, role, topic or issue
Opinions about how things could work a bit better
Experiences of things failing and knowledge of how to stop that from happening again or to others
Experiences of things working and knowledge of how to help that happen again to others
Good advice for people who might be starting out
Big questions about why things are the way they are
Things you’ve noticed about how people, business, society, etc, ‘tick’
An idea that just won’t leave you alone
Yep, this is ALL thought leadership if you can draw it out and mold it into something valuable, interesting and comprehensible by other people.
See, you’re on your way to your next TED talk!
(when I was upgraded to ‘big’ TED)
Ready For Some Action?
Here’s my first nugget of advice:
START SHARING YOUR IDEAS EVEN IF YOU THINK THEY ARE CRAP, UNFINISHED OR SHOULD BE A BETTER REFLECTION OF YOUR ABILITY.
Why? Because unless you’re already a thought leader with a huge following: no one is listening to you yet.
This is a precious window that if you follow my advice you won’t get back! This is a time of relative obscurity with very low jeopardy. Even if your ideas are crap, unfinished or a poor reflection of your ability, no one will know because so few people are listening…yet.
Social media is a perfect platform to start working out those thought leadership muscles:
Post some opinions about current events/issues in your sphere of interest/sector on LinkedIn. Just remember - it has to be an actual opinion rather than a regurgitation of the current situation or a helpful summing up. You HAVE to be for or against something.
Do a slideshow on TikTok in the same vein. You don’t have to show your face or do some stupid dance. Just write some opinions and post them.
Write a substack, medium or other blogging platform article of about 300 words. yep, just 300 (you’ll build up to the 800-1,000 word sweet spot).
There are lots of other platforms, but these are the easiest to get going on.
Why Am I Asking You To Post Some Half-Assed Ideas?
To find your voice, your style, how you like to ‘make a point’. I promise you, that won’t come just by playing with ideas in your head.
You actually have to really a) write them down and b) post them publicly.
That act of creation (especially when you KNOW you’re going to post them) will force parts of our brain to flick on, you’ll automatically start thinking about angles, word choice, narrative flow, rhetorical impact and a load of stuff I’m going to teach you to do PROPERLY over the coming weeks/months. But just posting something/anything will flick on some lights in that big brain of yours.
Please please don’t spend too long on your first attempts at thought leadership. Please don’t spend days fine-tuning your prose. Please don’t sweat over your references. For the love of all the gods, please don’t edit/re-edit/then edit back one sentence because you think it might be too out there/controversial.
Just bloody post the damn thing because no one is listening yet.
PLUS, YOU WILL NEVER GET STARS FOR EFFORT IN THOUGHT LEADERSHIP.
Some of my most carefully honed content has sunk without a trace, and things I bashed out with one hand while ordering a muffin ended up going viral.
Let me repeat: YOU WILL NEVER GET ANY STARS FOR EFFORT IN THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
What Happens Next?
Curl up in a ball of anxiety and shame at having got your ideas out there? Check every 5 minutes to see if anyone has liked or shared your first steps into sharing big ideas? Stay awake thinking about changes you want to make? Delete the whole thing?
You’ll probably think about doing all those things. Then you’ll remember that NO ONE IS LISTENING YET and go make yourself a cup of tea.
Then wait for the next few weeks ’ newsletters in which we’ll review what you’ve done. We’re going to deconstruct the thought leadership formula. And we’ll look at imposter syndrome and confidence.
This is just the start.
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Have you started scribbling down your ideas yet?
Why Should Anyone Listen To Me Anyway?
Good question. I have written award-winning non-fiction books. Created big idea guides with the UN and others that have been downloaded more than a million times. My posts are shared by and commented on by folks like Bill Gates. My TED talk has over 1.8 million views. But perhaps most importantly, because I’m the person who really really wants to help women like you become thought leaders.
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Please share this post/email with everyone who deserves to become a thought leader.
This is a great post, Solitaire - a reminder that half-assed ideas are far more useful than unshared phenomenal ideas... I look forward to future posts!