What even is thought leadership? ❌ C-Suite

What even is thought leadership? ❌ C-Suite

Thought leadership is B2B’s hottest currency — but the market has been overrun by counterfeits.

The pandemic sparked several digital shifts — over 66% of B2B leaders say they make purchasing decisions based on thought leadership content. But with the coinciding glut of low-quality content as everyone and their C-suite rushed to grab a piece of the social media limelight, breaking through the noise is hard.

As a result, 71% of B2B decision makers say less than half of the thought leadership they see provides valuable insights. We can break this down even further:

• 46% said it was too focused on selling

• 40% said it was unoriginal or lacked new ideas

• 31% said it was authored by non-experts

• 31% said it was too corporate

Our take: No one really understands what thought leadership is.

In the hype and commoditization of thought leadership, leaders ran to share generic thoughts and inaccurately framed “hot takes” (sorry, your opinion isn’t hot if everyone agrees).

Thought leadership is actually rooted in counternarrative — something most are afraid to shoulder. Genuine thought leaders lean into differentiators that set them apart.

Take 2: You’re choosing the wrong thought leaders for your business.

Most of the time, your C-Suite is not the right person to champion counter-narrative and drive original thought for the organization. They are often too focused on the big picture to tap into what the audience truly wants.

In B2B, credibility often falls on the C-Suite because of title. But credibility is only one small part of successful thought leadership. With time restraints, increased PR risk and limited view, these leaders simply aren’t set up to provide radical insights or take on the risk of potential blowback.

But don’t fret — odds are, your best thought leaders are already on your team. 

Here’s where to find them:

Locate your Thinkers. You need someone with enough time and passion who is an active practitioner with the willingness to share counternarrative opinions.

We often see the brightest stars in marketing, sales and RevOps.

Your turn: Where are your thinkers hiding? And how will you enable them?