There are a number of reasons that experts and leaders decide to write books, with positioning themselves as thought leaders frequently topping the list.
Although the term “thought leadership” has been cited for years, there is still some question regarding what, exactly, a thought leadership book is and why someone would want to write one.
Let me try to explain.
A thought leadership book is a nonfiction book that typically shares the author’s findings, insights, observations, methodologies, or predictions within a particular field. The goal in packaging this line of thinking as a book is to position the leader as an expert and visionary.
Beyond just reporting on what’s been occurring in an industry, market, or field, thought leadership books represent the author’s unique and distinctive perspective based on their own experiences. This approach to information-sharing helps differentiate the author from others in their field, both through what they share and how they share it.
A tool for differentiation
In Freakonomics, for example, University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and New York Times journalist Stephen J. Dubner took an unconventional approach to explaining economic concepts. They used stories about human behavior and pop culture examples that brought dry and confusing material to life.
Similarly, Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In shone a spotlight on women in leadership and what it often takes to get to the top. The book, which is believed to have sold more than 4 million copies so far, sparked a movement.
There are plenty of other examples of thought leadership titles, from Simon Sinek’s oft-cited Start With Why about business leadership to W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne’s Blue Ocean Strategy, about competition and carving out profitable markets, to Mindset by Carol Dweck, which is reshaping what we believe about education and continuous learning.
What helps set these books apart is not just the author’s unique ideas but the stories that are used to illustrate, educate, and explain the concepts shared. When the author connects personal experiences to broader frameworks and principles that help the reader better understand their world or how they can succeed through a transformation, you’ve got a winning combination.
The goal with these books isn’t so much prescriptive, such as 10 Ways to Engage Employees or How to Convince Workers to Return to the Office – which are not real books as far as I know – but rather to help the reader view the topic in a new light. The focus is on aha moments rather than tactical instruction.
Strategies for establishing thought leadership
Now, you may be wondering how to structure a book in such a way that you come across as a thought leader, an innovative thinker, and/or a visionary. Fortunately, there are several tried-and-true approaches. These frameworks include:
The Case Study. Commonly used in business school education, case studies offer an in-depth look at a particular company, area, industry, or field. Case studies can either explore how an organization bucked a trend to become super successful, or they can dissect what went wrong. Either way, a case study provides a before-and-after look at a situation, often overlaying a particular theory or strategy. They frequently conclude with action items that the reader can take to implement the lessons learned or to avoid what caused the problems discussed.
Problem-Solution. This approach is similar to a case study, where you first identify a problem or pain point in your industry or field. For example, in retail, one of the biggest challenges is shrinkage, when inventory is unaccounted for, either through damage, loss, technical glitch, or theft, among other culprits. After you point out the problem, you offer a potential solution — preferably innovative and previously unexplored — backed up by research as often as possible for credibility. Then you follow your solution up with recommendations for implementation and execution. That is, how do you get the best possible results from this novel approach?
Contrarian Perspective. Thought leaders are individuals or teams who present new ideas that often fly in the face of standard practice. That’s what a contrarian perspective is, in book form. In a contrarian book, you lay out how your industry’s situation has historically been addressed or viewed. This is a lot like the problem in a problem-solution framework. Then you offer proof in the form of research or statistics to validate this unconventional approach. And you wrap up the book by painting a picture of how things will be different if this new approach is adopted.
Personal Story. Some thought leadership books are built around the author’s own experiences. Typically, those experiences are transformative in some way or illustrate a major breakthrough they had in their thinking and what that looked like. For example, many books on leadership are based on the author’s own takeaways from challenging leadership situations, often when they struggled and then figured out how to turn things around. They are often vulnerable and full of personal anecdotes, which help connect with the reader.
Research-Based. On the other end of the spectrum from the personal story is the research-based book, which relies heavily on original research the author has conducted themselves or on an analysis of existing research using different technology or techniques. This type of thought leadership book presents a new look at the data using compelling examples and lots of charts and graphs that help bring the story to life.
The Big Idea. Introducing a counterintuitive concept that calls into question conventional wisdom is at the heart of the big idea. Along with this strategy, you’ll want to come up with a catchy name for your concept or model, like Malcolm Gladwell’s “tipping point.” In addition to presenting this new way of thinking, you’ll also need to pair it with examples, case studies, and statistics you can cite that prove your point or idea.
Building a Movement. Some thought leadership books are designed from the outset to garner support for a new idea by building a supportive community around it. Members of these communities typically become advocates as a result of reading a book that is designed to engage them. Think back to Tim Ferriss’ book The 4-Hour Workweek, which started out as a quasi-instructional manual for becoming a virtual entrepreneur but helped fan the flames of business ownership. These types of books share new ideas and approaches and may offer a platform where like-minded readers can gather and connect.
As you’re contemplating writing a book, it can be helpful to determine if it is a thought leadership title or if you can reframe it using one of these thought leadership strategies.
But why are thought leadership books so valuable? Because of the opportunities that can be created once the book is published.
Benefits of thought leader status
While some authors write books with an eye toward the revenue to be earned through sales of individual copies, many thought leaders are more interested in the new business opportunities to be created.
Thought leadership books that strike a chord with an audience can lead to, among other things:
- Speaking invitations (which can also lead to book sales, especially when bundled or sold on-site)
- Training engagements (being hired to teach employees how to implement the takeaways)
- University teaching (authors can be fast-tracked to adjunct status)
- Expert witness requests (establishing yourself as an expert can lead to lucrative courtroom invitations)
- Consulting projects (after demonstrating a new approach, organizations may hire you to advise them)
- Joint ventures (partnering with other companies in the application of your expert ideas)
- Follow-on books (sequels, workbooks, audiobooks, and other supplementary materials)
Although there is no guarantee that a thought leadership book will automatically generate these opportunities, a book is often a prerequisite to these types of invitations.
The biggest advantage of writing a thought leadership book is that it can change how others in your industry view you. Your reputation can be enhanced, and respect for you can be increased. This is especially true when individuals and organizations outside your industry start turning to you for counsel.
Of course, this can occur with other types of books as well, such as prescriptive nonfiction, narrative nonfiction, how-to, and others, but the thought leadership genre is the most effective way of garnering attention from those in your field, as long as the book is well-written.
If you have an idea for a thought leadership title you’d like to chat about, feel free to get in touch with me at marcia at marcialaytonturner.com