Becoming a thought leader in times of crisis
American movie director Chris Koch once remarked, “Thought leadership is a way to build a relationship with prospects based on knowledge—not on products and services.”
Thought leaders are the informed opinion leaders and the go-to people in their field of expertise. They are trusted sources who move and inspire people with innovative ideas. In such a pressing post-pandemic period, there looms darkness of uncertainty and unpredictability for a large portion of global demography. “What will be the next?” is the most horrible question and no one has enough expertise to clarify this confusion.
Many people were unemployed before the pandemic, and during the lockdown period, a good portion of the working force went out of a livelihood. Such a scenario poses a turbid environment because of several complications. Moreover, the fear of getting infected from anywhere is now more than ever.
The important need of the hour is quality and influential advice that has the proper proportion of realism, optimism, and enthusiasm. Not another time pass discussion without a strong foundation but based on the changing work patterns, probabilities of the future, driven by facts and figures in favor and articulated in a way to inspire people to work better for their holistic growth.
This process- known as thought leadership, for its importance and need at the peak, has been in trends in the time of crisis; and the content related to thought-leadership holds a great relevance all the time. The Edelman-LinkedIn study-2019 concluded that 55% of decision-makers used thought leadership contents for the betterment of business and around 50% agreed that they go through such content for at least one hour on daily basis. 58% chose a business based on its thought leadership and 61% were found willing to pay a premium price to work with a brand that has articulated a clear vision through thought leadership.
Being a thought leader means being a well-informed opinion leader in a particular sphere of expertise and with innovative ideas and compelling communications, becoming a trusted source to move and inspire others.
For this purpose, thought leaders have the most important task of providing helpful content for the audience. The idea of interest and help for the audience change periodically, but the current crisis has come up with the following categories to talk about:
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Work from Home:
In contrast to being the new norm, many organizations and working professionals are struggling with the new work form for varied reasons. The technical and re-training solutions are needed to get the best out of this work pattern. Encouraging people to find better and productive ways to get work done, outsourcing methodologies, and gig-economy works are better in such hard times, and also needed by many.
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Process Automation:
This is the industry 4.0 era and the automated processes are also being the new norm. Creating related content and helping others is a great way to establish thought leadership now.
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Finance:
The current crisis has exhausted the reserves of many, and to be wise, moneywise, there is a great need for good financial advisers.
In addition to these top three segments, the solutions related to the new business opportunities that have been ushered is the best way to be a thought leader.
Winding Up:
Every cloud has a silver lining, and with a problem delimiting one thing, comes the opportunity to explore a better alternative. The same is the case with the current crisis as it has ushered the new ways of a job being done. Leveraging the possibilities to empower the people in crisis is the best way to be a thought leader in a time of crisis.
