Saturday, December 05, 2009

Thought Leadership

It has widely been a tradition for businesses to blindly follow the footpaths and the ways of what a successful company does. They don't hesitate to imitate each other and saturate the market with the same kind of offerings instead of offering something new and different. For any business to create its identity and build a sustainable organization, 'Thought leadership' is essential.

'Thought leadership' is a term used for a person or a company who actively promotes innovative ideas in the pursuit of doing things better and different from others. It enlivens the old processes and methods with new ideas to create a unique identity and makes a person or a company the pioneer in the industry.

As said by M.K. Gandhi "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win." Thought leader is one who shows willingness to risk group rejection and win the peer-base using logic, knowledge and actual demonstration.

As rightly said by Elise Bauer, a distinguishing characteristic of a thought leader is "the recognition from the outside world that the company deeply understands its business, the needs of its customers, and the broader marketplace in which it operates."

Great brands and organizations like IBM, Microsoft, Google, Apple, etc., built on the very same 'Thought Leadership. To remain competitive, organizations need 'Thought leaders' and these thought leaders can be created only by encouraging new ideas let that be from top level professionals or bottom level trainees.

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