Real Thought Leaders Constantly Reinvent Themselves

I’m as convinced as anyone that a true thought leader needs to take a unique, advocacy position on something of unique value to the customer and share their knowledge with their constituents. However, nowhere in the definition of a thought leader does it say that they must hold steadfast to a position ad infinitum. In fact, when you do a survey of the landscape of the brands that have leveraged thought leadership marketing to their benefit, you’ll find a storied path of reinvention that has made those organizations what they are today.

In fact, many brands do reinvent themselves to get back in touch with their original identity, however, as a thought leader, always listening intently to the market, you know in advance what issues are on the horizon that will affect your clients’ efficiency, effectiveness, and competitiveness in the near and long term. Just as we hold teachers, elected officials and other public stewards to a higher standard, thought leaders are held to a higher standard by the market in that both clients and competitors look for them to respond to and ideally lead change in the marketplace.

I call these reinvention opportunities “thought leadership moments”. These are moments when you recognize that change is afoot and take into account the meaningful insights that the market provides to reshape and reinvigorate your strategy. A recent book by Craig Stull, Phil Myers and David Meerman Scott called “Tuned In” highlights a number of thought leaders in their respective markets such as FedEx, Apple, GoPro and Zipcar and illustrates how they not only listen to their customers, but have a highly tuned sense of where the market should be, and then stake out a position on leading the market there. It’s rather brilliant, really.

How then does the emerging thought leader even know when to reinvent? How do we know what to listen to in order to stay out in front? Here are two examples with great lessons that we can learn from marketers who’ve used reinvention to stay out in front.

Gillette - One of my favorite brands for years. I don’t buy any other type of razor. Ever. These guys, as recently as this year, have decided to move well beyond the razor cateogory. Peter Clay, a marketing VP on the Gillette brand said consumer research led Gillette into the new categories and that their new position is to “cover the morning ritual.” What we can learn from Gillette is that they have:
1) Extreme focus on the market they serve
2) Superior credibility in their market that affords them the
3) Ability to leverage their knowledge + credibility to expand the offerings

While Gillette is over 100 years old – the original Gillette Company was founded by King C. Gillette in 1901 as a safety razor manufacturer – similar lessons can be taught by a start-up company. Enter Zipcar.

Zipcar - These guys didn’t reinvent themselves as much as they did a market. That’s the essence of being an emerging, start-up thought leader. They took an unresolved market issue, tapped into the voice of the consumer, created a unique advocacy position that departed from the traditional way that consumers thought of shared-use or rented automobiles and now have created an entirely new industry that’s spawned new competitors and a good game of catch-up from the traditional players in the market. Avis trying harder to be number two is nothing compared to where these guys are at. What we can learn from Zipcar is that they:
1) Deeply understood the unresolved issues in the marketplace
2) Created a substantially different customer experience that they
3) Articulated to the marketplace as their unique viewpoint and leveraged
4) Superior process, technology and community “assets” to deliver on their promise

The Avis vs. Zipcar comment above leads me to my final point. Thought leaders are not incrementalists, at least not generally. While incrementalism isn’t necessarily bad, it just doesn’t take the high road to market leadership like true reinvention does. Ask yourself in your next campaign or marketing strategy session. Are we reinventing and revitalizing, or are we merely “incrementalizing?”

Related posts:

1. Herding Cats: Turning Subject Matter Experts into Thought Leaders
2. “Thought leadering” without thought leaders
3. Thought leaders as problem finders
4. ‘Thought Leading’ Your Way to Premium Brand Status
5. When Should Thought Leaders Play Defense?

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