Our stance on thought leadership
The courage to think clearly
The new case for thought leadership
In response to environmental rollbacks, pressure from activist investors, and public scrutiny, many companies are now shying away from taking a stance on social, environmental and other issues that matter.
When you don’t make public promises, you can’t fail to live up to them, surely? But this ‘safe approach’ is illusory. Staying silent is the riskiest thought leadership strategy of all.
When companies and leaders stay silent, they pay a price:
- Missed opportunities: to build trust and credibility with stakeholders, to mobilise and empower your own workforce and let your people’s expertise shine through, or to unlock new ideas for change.
- Someone else seizes the narrative and moves it in their direction. When you don’t contribute, you let others define what good looks like for you.
- And without a critical mass of voices shaping public debate, progress might stall on the very things you’re trying to achieve.
So what does courage look like?
It looks like thought leadership grounded in your purpose – in the core of who you are and what you do.
It looks like honest and transparent conversations about outcomes and impacts, not just inputs into a snazzy new initiative.
It looks like clear positioning and clear thinking, often arrived at through a process of good-faith debate and dialogue and reconciliation.
We're calling for a new view of thought leadership: to understand that it's not just a way of building reputations, but a lever to shift systems, a bridge between divides, and a catalyst for collaboration at scale.
'In our report 'The courage to think clearly', you'll find:
- The five new pillars of thought leadership
- Six principles for building solid thought leadership
- How-tos for measuring the value of your thought leadership investment, designing thought leadership research, and more.
For over a decade, we’ve worked with leaders and employees across sectors to transform how people think, learn and act on what matters. Now, we're calling on business to exercise their power, influence and responsibility to bring fresh ideas that challenge convention, strengthen reconciliation and perhaps most importantly, harness collective intelligence to solve problems and advocate for a brighter future.
