By As you well know, the humans we focus our work on, here at Harbour 32, are knowledge workers – people who have intangible value that can be tricky to articulate, demonstrate and put a marketable value on.
While I can support and facilitate my clients in identifying their strengths and indeed their genius… they also need to calibrate where they sit in comparison to others in their field.
In this blog post I’m going to help you to look at one element of this contextual comparison and that’s in defining what kind of subject matter expert you really are, at the heart of you. Are you highly proficient, or are you the crème de la crème of experts…and indeed a thought-leading visionary?
(At the end I have also given you some extra resources for this topic and I went on Finola Howard’s ‘Your Truth Shared’ podcast to dig into this more with her. Be sure to catch that.)
High importance of personal branding today
If you are in an industry where there are many others doing what you do, or you have a lot of, adjacent industries that potentially blur into what you do…you definitely want to think about which camp you are in – the proficient expert or thought leading visionary. Because it’s probably hard to stand out right now.
If you haven’t done the deep reflective work of personal branding, you may find it even harder over the next 2 to 5 years to really make a mark in your field and stand out.
You have the power to help the people around you (or those who you want to attract) by clearly articulating where you stand comparatively to who else is in the market place.
Give them the much needed context and light they need to SEE and HEAR you…and most of all understand why they NEED you (over someone else).
Levels of Subject Matter Experts
I’m going to narrow your attention here into the level of your thinking, in order to place your worth as a subject matter expert. (You will be able to then work out if you are a Thought Leader as well.)
Let’s be honest, our way of thinking as experts is really what defines us from others.
How we cognitively absorb information, dissect it, seek connectivity, challenge beliefs, and craft paths or solutions for clients…is what ultimately makes us unique. (Over and above the more obvious personality aspects.)
I think this points to an extra level here to subject matter experts, where we may identify one over another because we enter into the concept of being thought-leading.
What does a ‘Thought-leading Expert’ look like?
In essence, my gut feeling is that there is a top tier element of subject matter expert who can be described as thought-leading.
These professionals are definitely specialists (or subject matter experts) on a micro level because they have the years of tactical or practical experience, in the subject that they are advising and guiding people on.
However, over a period of time, my feeling is that this top tier of around 20 to 25% of subject matter experts also have this ability to look at things on a much larger, macro level and they can almost perceptively feel the winds of change.
In simple terms, they not only deeply know their topic or subject, can meet their client where they are in their journey and give them a solution to better their condition or position but, they can also do something else.
They have the ability to see where things might be potentially going in the industry or market place the client is operating in, not to mention within the context of perhaps society and the world in general.
They can almost extrapolate their thinking between space and time.
‘Proficient’ vs. ‘Thought-leading’ Expert
I feel that the fundamental and magical difference is this:
A proficient expert can see where things are going, meet the client where they are, and then prepare and pull them into that future.
A thought-leading subject matter expert however…is where you’ve met your golden match. Not only do they advise and guide the client on what’s going on in their present situation, and help them to prepare for the future, they also challenge and inform the way the client thinks and provide them with foresight on underlying information.
My Thought Leader toolbox
Are you curious to know if you are operating on a higher plane and possibly are thought-leading? Ok, let’s see.
I think there is a metaphoric Thought Leader Toolbox which includes a:
- Sponge
- Swiss Army knife
- Thermometer
- Radar
- Fire blanket
As I explain each item below, I want you to think about whether or not you have each of these items in your toolbox or not.
1. SPONGE
This represents a beginner’s mindset to learning. For me, curiosity and an open mind is key for a thought leader. Someone who gets fixed in their mind that they “know everything” – is a dangerous sort of expert.
I feel like, in order to be thought-leading, being open to new information and ideas is key.
2. SWISS ARMY KNIFE
This presents great communication skills.
Honestly, being able to articulate information or messages to someone else is a massively under-talked about skill of a subject matter expert, but particularly for a thought-leading expert. Having the ability to flex how effectively you communicate, based on a situation and who’s in front of you – is a highly sought-after skill.
3. THERMOMETER
A little tongue in cheek, but this represents a human temperature check.
For me this means: being highly tuned to the macro picture of humanity, the world, technological advances, and the micro picture of nuance, empathy and diplomacy. A thought leader is aware of all the moving parts and is sensitive to it.
4. RADAR
This represents the ability to spot trends and predict big things coming your way. Thought leaders adjust what and how they think about something based on the pulses they naturally feel when change is afoot.
Change might be fleeting, like a trend or activity, or may be longer term – like when an economic earthquake like a pandemic fundamentally shifts a whole way of doing something.
They don’t jump on bandwagons for the sake of it. They patiently weigh up the event or new information in the scheme of the past, present and future.
5. FIRE BLANKET
This quite neatly represents the ability to handle crisis.
I’ve added this one, because my gut instinct is that thought-leading subject matter experts don’t flinch under fire.
They have quiet, embedded confidence that comes from having built deep knowledge and understanding that change is inevitable and that there is much that we cannot control in the world.
The thought leaders I continue to look up to, are the ones who know how to handle themselves in good times and in bad. And…don’t just shine when everything is going swimmingly.
When a crisis hits, a thought leading expert is humble and thoughtful. They gather all the information they need about what’s happened and then navigate their clients diligently and eloquently through it.
Are you a Thought Leader? Do others think that?
Do you have the tools I explained above? Some bad news….there’s ONE more thing to take into account:
To truly be thought-leading – you need others to recognise that you have these tools.
Much like a subject matter expert needs 3rd party recognition that they are an expert – this is even more important for a Thought Leader.
You are only a Thought Leader – if people experience you as that and point to you as thought-leading.
What does that mean? Well, you have some work to do in articulating your genius and building your communication skills – so that you are behaving and marketing your genius in a way that it gets recognised.
Basically – work on your personal brand and build in a heightened focus on your thought-leading genius.
Need help with that? Great! Book in a call with me (or one of my team) and let’s start your journey.
I have also written a blog post sharing the 8 steps I think that you need to work through to being recognised as a thought leader.
Extra resources on this topic for you:
I have done two podcast episodes on my Brand Compass Show on this topic which may help colour it in a bit more for you. You can find the show anywhere you like to listen to your music or podcasts.
- EP17 – My Subject Matter Expert Manifesto (what I think one looks like) Apple | Spotify | YouTube | Shownotes (holds video, audio & notes)
- EP28 – Proficient Expert or Thought Leading Visionary? Apple | Spotify | YouTube | Shownotes (holds video, audio & notes)
Then I went on Finola Howard’s ‘Your Truth Shared’ podcast and we talked about this at length. I think you’ll enjoy it:
- EP115 – The Big Leap: From Expert to Visionary (And Why It Matters Now). Apple | Spotify | Shownotes (audio & transcript)
