Thought Leadership

Three Steps to Becoming an e-Commerce Thought Leader

Posted by Constance Ward on May 23, 2013   |   No Comments

3 steps to lead in e-commerceBecoming a thought leader in the B2B, B2C or C2C arenas will require focus on improving the overall e-commerce experience in three ways. You must, step-by-step, strive to become:

  1. The best people to shop with
  2. The best people to do business with
  3. The best people to work for

To be successful at the first two steps, you must make sure that your employees truly believe that you have achieved the third step. Companies have permeable walls through which such internal messages seep to the outside world. Any mismatch between your internal and external reputation as an e-commerce thought leader will destroy credibility.

Countless articles on this website address the fact that ”thought leadership begins at home.” If your own team members don’t believe that you and your company are

Your employees are also ”message multipliers” who take your viewpoints into the world.

thought leaders who excel in a given field, then you certainly won’t be able to convince external stakeholders you are.

Your employees are also ”message multipliers” who take your viewpoints into the world…the virtual or the real world. But you’ll need to remember to simplify the messages so that your staff can amplify the e-commerce messages you want to deliver.

Does your e-commerce thought-leadership approach need a refresh? Ask, assess, then act. We’re here to help!

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Resistance and Renaissance: A Metaphor for Managing Change

Posted by Constance Ward on May 13, 2013   |   No Comments
Renaissance Resistance West Zurich

Renaissance or resistance? Diverging views on change may stall or stop important initiatives. Photo: www.westnetz.ch

In the trendy western part of Zurich is the Renaissance building, a tall hotel-apartment complex that has continued since its conception to draw the ire of some vocal Swiss opponents who object to the placement, size and scale of the ”skyscraper” with 15 stories. Local residents have staged a form of permanent protest by attaching a sign to an older, more traditional building in the neighborhood. That sign, in the same font and style as the Renaissance one nearby, declares the owners’ point of view: Resistance.

The juxtaposition of the two buildings presents a metaphor for cultural change in the world of business. How often do you, as a leader, try to regenerate your company and meet with reluctance to change? Are you looking to promote a rebirth or renewal of your firm for the future only to find that some employees are still holding tight to the past?

How can you effectively achieve that Renaissance and mitigate any Resistance you might be facing? Ask, assess, then act. We’re here to help!

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Three Ways to Electrify Your Organization

Posted by Constance Ward on April 27, 2013   |   No Comments
Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Air 1816 Painting Benjamin West Philadelphia Museum of Art

Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky 1816 – Benjamin West (Public domain) via Wikimedia Commons

As a thought leader, you may find it more difficult to build your reputation internally than externally. Think, for example, about the saying that ”Genius is never recognized on its own soil.” Your communications team can and should help you build your professional brand internally while they work on developing your reputation in the industry.

My husband trained as an engineer and uses a great metaphor about electricity when he coaches team leaders. Applied to communications, these message-multiplier teams can help to electrify your organization in three ways. At the least, communications teams are transistors or transformers. At their best, they are transducers of the energy inside their organization.

Transistor teams simply send out messages like radio signals, rather than acting like radar, which also listens for responses. This is the least effective of the three ways to communicate internally.

A transformer communications team takes the same energy inside the organization and

At the least, communications teams are transistors or transformers. At their best, they are transducers of the energy inside their organization.

boosts it up or steps it down as appropriate to the situation. When false rumors are floating around inside an organization, for instance, a transformer team might communicate hard facts to take the energy out of the watercooler discussions. Or when a new sales campaign is launched, the transformer team might energize their employees with an electrifying communications campaign.

The third, most effective way to electrify your organization is by establishing a transducer communications team that will create a different form of energy within your company. Transducers will convert the strategic energy that exists at the top of the organization and the operational energy and dedication of the employees into a new energy source to drive the company.

Do you have transistor, transformer or transducer communications teams to help electrify your organization? Ask, assess then act. We’re here to help!

See related post: Sending the right and wrong signals

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Creating Crowd-ed Sidewalks

Posted by Constance Ward on April 19, 2013   |   No Comments

As a college student decades ago, I learned an important lesson about crowd-sourcing ideas that still applies to the world of business today.

Construction was ongoing at the time throughout the campus of my small university in the U.S. Midwest, Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Missouri. Joplin is today best known for the unfortunate reason of being the place where the deadliest tornado in America struck on May 22 two years ago.

maps shows sidewalks following students natural paths

Well before concrete sidewalks were installed, students found and developed the natural path between buildings.
(View full map)

The part of the university campus I’m referring to here was not badly damaged in the tornado, so this map shows approximately where two buildings (numbers 14 and 17) were built in the 1970s and how the sidewalk connects them.

What happened when the buildings and sidewalk were built shows an early understanding of the value of crowd-sourcing an idea and channeling the wisdom of the masses.

Both of the buildings were built on a horseshoe-shaped commons area on campus. Rather than pouring concrete sidewalks between the facilities, the university let the students first make a footpath across the commons.

The students naturally found the shortest way to get from one place to another and over time wore a muddy path between the buildings. Then the university paved the sidewalk on top of the route that the students were already using. The unofficial shortcut then became the established direction for foot traffic.

Getting input from the end users of your ideas — by crowd-sourcing or cloud-sourcing the concepts — is an effective way to develop ”sticky” ideas before they are set in hard concrete.

Are you using the wisdom of crowds and clouds and stakeholders to find the best, most effective path forward? Ask, assess, then ask. We’re here to help!

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Putting it together: read our most popular Thought Leader Zone Post Series

Posted by tlz-admin on April 7, 2013   |   No Comments

post series part 1 2 3 thoughtleaderzone.comSome topics demand more than a single blog post. That’s why we’ve discussed several timely, key topics as a multi-part series. This compilations list provides easy links to our 5 most most popular series.

Leadership, Communications and the Annual General Meeting

Being a Social CEO

Planning for the CEO’s First 100 Days

Pink Matters: Female Leadership

Gray Matters: Cross-generational Leadership for Age 50+ Executives

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Being a Social CEO – Do Keep Up! (Part 3)

Posted by Constance Ward on April 1, 2013   |   No Comments
reasons ceos don't use social media

Some of the reasons CEOs stay away from social media
(Full infographic is here.)

Right now, 70% of all Fortune 500 CEOs don’t have a presence on social networks. An estimated 16% of CEOs use social media to keep up with their customers currently, but that number is expected to jump to 57% in the next three to five years, according to an IBM survey published recently. See the survey results in infographic form or in a short video at the end of this post.

Another survey published on that site presented a finding that may make you want to be an early adopter and lead the way with social networking. Continue Reading…

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You’re Cordially Invited to a C-Suite CV Clinic

Posted by Constance Ward on February 8, 2013   |   Comments Off

c-suite cv clinic at thought leader zoneAre you a thought leader with an ailing CV? Does your resume need a dose of dazzle and a shot of wow to make it stand out? Here’s your chance to get an accurate diagnosis. Thought Leader Zone is offering a free “C-Suite CV Clinic” on Skype during the week of 25 February.

The inspiration for this clinic comes from some client work I’ve tackled recently. Last week I finished reviewing an executive’s CV – a seven-page resume that demonstrated an ability to accept increasingly challenging responsibilities. Continue Reading…

Three Actionable Steps to Make Your AGM a Thought-Leadership Showcase (Part 1)

Posted by Constance Ward on February 4, 2013   |   No Comments

empty speakers podiumAhhhh, the Annual General Meeting (AGM). The Chairman’s Office owns it. Legal runs it. Investor Relations designs it. Finance provides the figures. Communications and Marketing create the messages. What could possibly go wrong!

AGMs offer a once-a-year opportunity to display the best thinking your company has to offer investors and other attendees. They’re also the ideal brand showcase for you as a thought leader. Don’t waste this magic moment.

It’s soon reporting season so now is the time to take a close look at what your AGM says about your company and about you. Are you focusing only on past results or are you also presenting at least a snapshot of the present and a glimpse into the future? Continue Reading…

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How to Know If You’re Sitting in the Catbird Seat

Posted by Constance Ward on January 28, 2013   |   No Comments

catbird tweeting sitting in the catbirds seatWhen it comes to thought leadership, are you ”sitting in the catbird seat”? The question you might ask is, ”Would you want to be sitting there?”

The answer should be yes, but I’ve found that Americans are more familiar with that English phrase than Brits or others as it was the title of a popular short story by U.S. humorist James Thurber called ”The Catbird Seat.”

You can read more about Thurber’s short story and other uses of the term on Wikipedia. But here I’m using ”sitting in the catbird seat” in its original meaning of ”being in an enviable position.” Continue Reading…

What’s Coloring Your Decisions? Color’s Critical Role in Branding

Posted by Constance Ward on January 21, 2013   |   No Comments

Last summer a series of blogs on this site focused on a color theme and looked at pink matters and gray matters and even the varied colors of the Olympic rings. But is there a color connected to thought leadership?

color increases brand recognition by up to 80%

Over the last few months, a new communications group I belong to has been considering that question as we put together our consultancy website. More about that in the future; but in the meantime, I invite you to review some of the interesting articles I’ve found on using color to market products…products like ”brand YOU.” Continue Reading…

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