Mental Model
The world is a competitive space, and it’s easy for your credibility to go unnoticed even if you think yours is impressive. Influencing the minds of people often takes time for key messages to solidify and associate them with your brand. Effective people continually “sell” their thought leadership in many forms such as writing, speaking, and how they carry themselves to build credibility over time and raise their visibility within the industry.
Overview
Similar to marketing a product, your career strategy needs to include marketing your credibility and reputation continuously. You can’t assume that people can easily understand your expertise and achievements. You will want to commit to a habit that produces thought leadership content that is valuable to your target audience.
Directives
1 – Write and Publish Consistently.
Pick a topic(s) where you need to develop expertise or want to expand the distribution of your ideas.
Plan a content calendar of short and longer written pieces.
Block time in your weekly calendar to write at least one piece of content.
Use your personal website as the primary distribution point of your content.
Broaden the distribution of your thought leadership posts through social media and your network.
2 – Join the Conversation.
Offer to be a guest speaker on a podcast if you are not well-known for your expertise yet.
Speak at industry events – this forces you to up your game and learn from others.
Leverage your affiliation as an alumnus to be a guest speaker at a school-sponsored event.
Create your own podcast to distribute your written content in audio form.
Resources
Stand Out: How to Find Your Breakthrough Idea and Build a Following Around It by Dorie Clark
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Revised Edition by Robert Cialdini
The 48 Laws of Power – by Robert Greene (Law 5 – So Much Depends On Reputation – Guard It With Your Life, Law 6 – Court Attention at All Cost)
Savvy Self-Promotion by Leslie K. John (Harvard Business Review, May-June 2021)