Thought Leaders are Made Through Innovative Ideas, Unique Perspectives, and Verifiable Results

Thought leadership is a title many business leaders, entrepreneurs, and coaches strive for. It’s a moniker that suggests innovative ideas, unique perspectives, and a system or process that is new or different but successful.

Some of the world’s most renowned thought leaders include:

• Simon Sinek
• Cy Wakeman
• John Baldoni
• Cindy Solomon
• Robin Sharma
• Pradeepa Narayanaswamy

You don’t need to make a top 30 list of influential thought leaders to be considered one, though. However, there is something this list of thought leaders has in common, and that is they’ve all authored books.

A Business Book is the Key to Thought Leadership

The most influential thought leaders in the world built platforms off their ideas and strategies, developing methods to help businesses, organizations, and individuals in various areas of their lives. A lot of the thought leaders in the top 30 guru list started companies, ran companies, or were somehow involved in corporate life, and they took what they learned from it, branded it, and turned it into something inspiring and helpful for others.

How does a business executive, CEO, entrepreneur, or coach take that step from business leader to thought leader?

One of the first steps is authoring a business book.

When you take your system, process, or thoughts on leadership, innovation, business operations, etc., and put it into a book that inspires others and is helpful for them to learn new strategies and find new levels of success, you’ve taken your first step to becoming a thought leader.

A business book is your key to new stages and platforms, such as speaking engagements, TED Talks, podcasts, and radio and TV talk shows. The merit you establish for yourself in a business book is what you use to pitch yourself for those opportunities, growing your platform and influence from there.

Being a thought leader is much different than being a social media influencer. Thought leaders provide something tangible and executable that can reverberate across many areas, such as career, personal life, business operations, and work/life balance, among others.

It doesn’t take anything new or innovative to become a social media influencer, just a lot of interaction with your posts, which can be bought or otherwise manipulated. It’s not as easy to buy your way into being a thought leader. What it takes is creativity, uniqueness, and a teachable system that is repeatable and has verifiable results.

Writing a business book is the perfect medium for showcasing that creativity and your repeatable system. It also gives you a place to introduce case studies and real life examples to bolster your expertise and the verifiable results.

If you’re looking to break out as a thought leader, authoring a business book is a good first step. Not only do most thought leaders author at least one book (many on the list author several books), but book authors are far more likely to land speaking engagements, podcast slots, TED Talks, and radio or television talk show interviews. So, the book is the tool to become a thought leader, and it is the entry point to gain attention as a thought leader.

Look at Oprah’s beloved show. She interviews a lot of authors and keeps recommended reading lists, both fiction and nonfiction.

When you put yourself out there with a business book, you open the door to becoming a thought leader and inspiring others with your innovation and creativity.

What Should a Business Book Have to Support Thought Leadership?

 It’s true that everyone has a story to tell, based on their experiences, expertise, and goals. However, not every story can propel the author into thought leadership.

The key components of a book that will help you become a thought leader are: a powerful hook, an inspiring tone and call to action, and content that is innovative, creative, unique, and successful.

In order for your creativity to shine, your book needs to be noticeable, and that’s where the powerful hook comes in. The one sentence or idea that captures audiences and readers and makes people curious about your book’s content. A strong hook will help you when you pitch yourself for speaking engagements and the like. Conferences, podcasts, and television shows get so many pitch requests; your voice really needs to stand out to make the cut, and that’s why the hook needs to pop.

Of course, the book’s content is important too, because it needs to elaborate on your hook, but it is there that you can elaborate on your experience and expertise. Almost every business leader, entrepreneur, and coach has innovation and creativity, whether they know it or not. It’s hard to build or run a business on anything less. Taking that business to the next level is where becoming a thought leader is helpful, and knowing how to turn that creativity and innovation into compelling chapters in a book helps you get there. You can also use the pages of your book with examples and case studies that show the success of your ideas.

There’s more to a thought-provoking book than unique content, though. The tone in how you write the book is important. It should be inspiring and uplifting, make your readers believe in you and your methods. Some books are very dry and a slog to get through or have an unsatisfying conclusion. You could have the most innovative idea, but if the presentation isn’t engaging, no one will engage with it.

Similarly, your call to action has to be exciting and inspiring enough for your readers and audience to want to learn more from you, to take that next step in their life or career, and in their relationship with you.

These qualities drive the successful business books that separate the influential thought leaders from the business leaders who author a book and never get anywhere with it.

To make a thought leader, a business book has to be more than good ideas. It has to have personality, an engaging voice, a powerful hook, and an inspiring call to action. When you roll these elements together with your innovation and creativity, you’ll have a book worthy of thought leadership.

Becoming a thought leader is work, but when you commit to it, you can get your foot through the door by authoring a business book.

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