Are you a thought leader or an opinion pusher?  

I’ve experienced both this week … and it has exposed a new model on thought leadership.

To be a thought leader, you need to THINK and to LEAD!

Thinking is crafting an original thought, through good research and evidence that you LEAD others into discussing.

Opinion pushing is when you have a personal view that you push onto others, supported only by broad generalisations.

The problem with opinion is that it is informed by both information and ignorance – we need information to form an opinion and a level of ignorance to hold onto it, despite any contradictory evidence.

The often-overlooked reality is that EVERYONE we meet, knows something we don’t, and true thought leaders know this.

Thought leadership is fuelled by curiosity, exploration and ultimately a desire to discover more thorough conversation. 

A great thought leader is a student first … and thought leader second.

When we PUSH our opinion on others, they will COMPETE with us.

If we PUSH our hypothesis on them, they will RETREAT from us.

When we LEAD others based on OUR opinion, they will IGNORE us.

But when we LEAD them in a discussion about a hypothesis, they EXPLORE with us.

But … this is just my opinion, I’d love to hear your views.

#modelsmethod #thoughtleadership