Marshall Goldsmith Blog

You know you have talent in your organization … do you have thought leader talent?

In the November issue of Leadership Excellence, Ken Shelton included a list of top 100 thought leaders in the leadership field, and ranked them using a list of seven criteria:

• Academic and professional preparation

• Character (including values , ethics, beliefs , purpose , mission , integrity, and walking the talk)

• Principles (your big message, point of view, tenets, main points)

• Personality (charisma, style, originality, authenticity, one of a kind)

• Performance (inspiring action, real-world performance, work ethic)

• Experience (national and international reach)

• Expression (substance and style in writing, speaking, coaching, consulting, mentoring, training, or teaching)

• Influence (making a difference, results, change, transformation)

In the February issue of Leadership Excellence, I wrote an article with Marilyn McLeod on the value of thought leaders in your organization.

You can probably identify leaders in your organization who have expertise in a specific area. Most thought leaders are specialists, and add value within their fairly narrow area of expertise.

Think of ways to tap their expertise for presentations, coaching, training, and mentoring. Consider their area of expertise, current position, achievements, publications, media coverage to date, and availability.

Now, look for opportunities for improvement within your organization and paint a picture of the value that thought leaders could add by applying their expertise in these areas.

Internal thought leaders can be chosen, in part, by their dedication to their specialty. Internal thought leaders can be even more specialized than external thought leaders by focusing on their company’s unique market and industry.

Thought Leadership comes from outside and inside. You may uncover opportunities for improvement that your internal experts aren’t fully prepared to address, so in some cases you may look outside your organization for expertise.

Internal thought leaders can speak at industry conferences, functional conferences, or market conferences that are important to their company. They can write in industry journals and company publications. They can work with external thought leaders on shared publications.

By knowing external thought leaders—and developing internal thought leaders—you can be better prepared to face the learning challenges of the future.

You can find the complete article at Leadership Excellence - ask for the November and February issues.

Life is good.

Marshall

MarshallGoldsmithLibrary.com
Thought Leadership - it comes from outside and inside.