Thought leadership is a great way for introverted leaders to increase their visibility, raise their profile, and showcase their expertise. Because introverts typically don't want to be in the spotlight, demonstrating their thought leadership is a good way for them to become widely known in their organisation and industry for their knowledge and expertise. If you hate self-promotion, it enables you to self-promote in ways that don't make it feel like it is all about you.
What is Thought Leadership?
Thought leadership is the process of conveying your knowledge and expertise. This can be expressed in writing, speaking, conducting media interviews, giving a keynote talk, or being a panel speaker at a conference.
It can also be used to describe someone who speaks up and is an expert in their industry. Thought leadership can help you to position yourself for your next promotion, or career move, as well as to increase your influence as a leader.
If you are an introvert, and don't like being the centre of attention, this can make it hard for you to self-promote your expertise. This is something that lets many an introverted leader down when going for promotion or making a career move.
Failing to demonstrate they have the ability to perform at the required level because they focus too much on the ‘we’. They don’t sell themselves and their achievements well enough.
Why Introverted Leaders Need Thought Leadership
Thought leadership can be a very effective way to reach out to a larger audience and to share your expertise with people who would normally be unable to contact you directly.
As you make a bigger name for yourself as a thought leader, it is also important to build a reputation of trust and integrity with potential customers, stakeholders, and with employees. Thought leadership can help with this.
Our reputation often precedes us, and people invariably do an internet search of someone they don’t know when they want to find out more about them. Having thought leadership content published on different platforms will show up in an internet search of your name. This can prove beneficial when positioning yourself for your next move because it showcases your expertise.
How Can Thought Leadership Help Introverted Leaders?
Thought leadership takes the written word and turns it into an authority brand. It's about presenting information, thinking differently, and offering your perspective on a topic within your expertise.
It is a great way to demonstrate that you are a subject matter expert, that you keep yourself up to date with market trends, and that you have good insight.
Many think that leadership is about shouting from the rooftops, but you don’t need to be loud to stand out as a leader, but you do need to have presence. It can be challenging for some introverts to speak up and be heard over the noise in a world where information comes at us at a very fast pace. Thought leadership can elevate your voice above the noise.
An introvert's guide to getting going with thought leadership
To get yourself going with your thought leadership, think about challenges within your organisation or wider industry. What is your perspective on them? What solutions can you offer for them?
Write articles that address these issues and publish them here on LinkedIn, or on your company’s blog. Communicate your insights through your thought leadership. Share thought leadership articles that are relevant to your sector, or industry trends that your teams can learn from. Choose topics that they will find informative and helpful.
Contact the editors for industry specific publications. Let them know you would like to write an article for them and find out what their submission process is. You can repurpose the articles you write and record videos or turn them into talks.
Put yourself forward to speak at events and conferences. In one of recent newsletter's, last about using LinkedIn to raise your visibility, Chee-Sing, Lai a writer, content strategist and trainer commented that LinkedIn had literally changed his life and career trajectory. He said he went from an industry unknown to speaking to international audiences in just one year.
Also, in a recent episode of my podcast, Alina Timofeeva a senior manager in tech talked about how she utilised public speaking to raise her visibility and profile. She was promoted 4 times within 4 years. Having previously been someone who lacked confidence at speaking, she now does as much public speaking as she can.
Thought leadership can be a useful tool in increasing your visibility and in putting you on the radar of the people that need to know about you. Take your unique perspective and transform yourself into a thought leader. Use it to build your influence and authority so you create an impact and establish a stronger presence within your organisation and beyond.
How are you using your thought leadership to raise your visibility and profile? Let me know in the comments.
First published on LinkedIn.
If you are an introverted woman and a senior leader and want to increase your confidence, influence and impact, take my free assessment and get a report identifying areas to develop. You can take the assessment here.