Educate People

‘Thought-leader’ is a term used to describe people who share ideas and lead their industries with these ideas. They are often considered the leading experts in their fields.

YOU can be a thought-leader if you share valuable thoughts with others.  If you give people an insight that is useful, they will remember you and you’ll soon find yourself to be a trusted partner in their decision making.

There are 2 decisions for you to make:

  1. What thoughts to share?
  2. How should you share them?

What Thoughts To Share?

Ask yourself: What do people I want to build relationships with want to know more about?

If you know a lot about engineering and you think others don’t want to know about engineering, maybe you turn into something fun that people do want to know about… like “how __________ works.”

Or maybe pay attention to what the latest trends is in your industry, find out everything about it and teach everyone else the important points.

The important thing is that it needs to either entertain them or it needs to be valuable to them. Ideally you’ll do something that is both fun and valuable.

How should you share them?

There are many ways to share your thoughts and ideas in today’s world. Blogs are a great place to start. Once you’ve been blogging for a few months, you might consider using BrainBank, which is a system for publishing online training courses. This site is actually powered by BrainBank. You may also consider doing public speaking or writing a short book.

CALL TO ACTION:

  • Decide if this tactic is one you’d like to do in 2009.
  • If it is, list out 2-3 topics people on your list would like to know more about.
  • Decide what the right medium for distributing your information is. And yes, you can have more than one. Here are some ideas:
    • Blogging via WordPress, Typepad or other blogging systems.
    • Ecourses via BrainBank
    • Email newsletters via ConstantContact
    • Webinars via GoToWebinar, Adobe Connect Pro or WebEx.
    • Public speaking through chambers, associations, events and other groups.
  • Do it!

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