Go to any company and they'll tell you they need to be doing more "thought leadership." I cringe when I hear this. The message behind the message is that they really want a whitepaper or marketing program or something that sales can dump off on prospects. I've never met a prospect that thinks of this as thought leadership. If that's really what people want, let's just call it clearer and/or more marketing materials. I don't know about you, but I've never run into any materials a company has created and thought, "wow, now that's thought leadership." Instead, I usually think, "Stop dumping on me."

Everyone can't lead

I've met some people who thought-lead but not many. Not everyone can or should thought-lead. And not all thought leaders always lead. I know a few thought-leaders who are pretty damn good thought participants and thought followers, too. That's part of what makes them great thought leaders.

If a company wants to be a thought leader, they need to create some kick ass products that lead by example. They need to surprise me. Create a culture that shows me something new. Develop legendary support. Everything they do needs to make me think.

Oftentimes early adopter customers are called thought leaders when really they're just companies who take the risk of giving it a shot. We need those people but that doesn't mean they're thought leaders, they're leading by example.

Thought participation

I think companies should start saying, "we need great thought participation." They should start by participating not by trying to be the expert. We're not stupid, we know who most of the experts are. Even if you think you could be one, start by joining the conversations and adding value, first.

How cool would it be to hear a company say, "we're not a thought leader but we do have active thought programs. For example, check out this team: Mary is proactively responding to someone who seems to need help. Tim is monitoring the web for issues that our customers might have and making sure everyone here knows what they are. Martha is working on a product that is going to thrill our customers above and beyond anything they could have imagined. Doug just created something innovative that will help everyone better understand how to more effectively use our stuff."

Next time you hear someone say, "thought leadership," call them to the mat and invite them to start following or participating, first.