Is Your Thought Leadership a Waste of Time?

My colleagues at SourceforConsulting.com spend a lot of time sifting through the “thought leadership” work that consultants send into the market. I empathize with one of their contributors, Zoe Stumpf, who wrote, “I’ve recently spent some time looking at the thought leadership produced by a selection of global consulting firms and, to be quite frank, I now need a bit of a lie down.”

Why? Because too much of the so-called thought leadership in the market is an uninspiring mix of old ideas and unsupported claims. That’s unfortunate, especially given that Source for Consulting research shows that thought leadership plays an important role in clients’ hiring decisions.

In the context of a selection decision, clients will most likely check out a firm’s thought leadership–that is, if the work has relevance to their business and industry. Source for Consulting found that 62 percent of thought leadership fails that important test and doesn’t focus on a particular sector. Of the remaining 38 percent of thought leadership material:

• 82 percent isn’t eye-catching or topical enough to attract a client’s attention
• 74 percent doesn’t say something sufficiently new or different to make a lasting impression
• 85 percent is not based on enough hard data to convince a client to take it seriously
• 99 percent doesn’t create an effective link to the firm’s consulting services.

The message: If you’re engaging in a thought leadership strategy, ask at least these three questions before you publish:

Does the piece say anything new or different? Or does it offer a new insight on an old idea? If you’re just offering me-too ideas, you’re wasting your time.

Do you have proof for your conclusions? If you make specific recommendations for changing the direction or methods of a business, you need evidence to support your ideas.

Is there a connection between your thought leadership and your service offerings? If your clients can’t see how your ideas tie to your capabilities, you’re squandering the marketing opportunity that thought leadership offers.

In the last month or so, the largest 25 consulting firms in the world published almost 500 new books and articles. And their websites contain more than 16,000 pieces of thought leadership. You can save yourself from drowning in that sea of words, but you must focus on client needs, be rigorous in your analysis, and make the connection between your ideas and your work.