What's in, What's Out: Thought Leadership in 2024

What’s out in 2024? Two-dimensional brand and corporate-speak. What’s in? The rise of the personality; individuals with real, relevant opinions. Brand trust has been eroding for over a decade and right now nearly 70% of consumers trust influencers, friends, and family over information coming from a brand. So how do you humanize a company? Make executive leadership synonymous with the brand. From Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and General Motors CEO Mary Barra, all have built out robust public personas that have enhanced public perception of their respective workplaces.

As communications professionals partnering with businesses, it’s important we recognize and respond to this lack of brand trust by leveraging a brands’ executive bench as storytellers.

Good news: thanks to the steep rise in popularity of social media, newsletters, and independent journalism, executives can effectively share their perspectives, drive industry thought leadership, and even become a part of larger cultural conversations. What’s more, these executives are seen as humans, not corporate talking heads. They’re forming connections with stakeholders, establishing a level of familiarity formerly reserved for TV personalities or favorite authors.

A recent example of a C-suite executive driving conversation is Stephanie McCarty, CMO at Taylor Morrison. McCarty used her personal LinkedIn platform to share her leadership perspective on the business model of ad agencies. Her post went viral, boasting 5.2K likes, 170 reposts, and 1.1K comments (including McCarty’s replies). The post ultimately inspired AdWeek Executive Editor Jameson Fleming to pen his own thoughts. AdWeek then invited McCarty to formalize her insights in an op ed titled Here's My Beef with Ad Agencies. 

So what’s the formula for this kind of success? Here are six ways executives can drive conversation and gain influence as a result of their thought leadership platform:

• Move at the speed of culture. In a world where news and social media feeds are alive with chatter 24/7, timely contributions are key. Ideally, jump in on conversations as they are gaining traction vs. decreasing in importance.
• Listen as much as you speak. Consistently taking the time to absorb points of view from your current and potential audience will ensure you’re aware of what your audience cares about and is engaging with.
• Add value, not clutter. Add value to advance the conversation with unique, specific, and relevant inputs vs. simply regurgitating more of the same.
• Be authentic to yourself and the brand you represent. A point of view is only as strong as the proof points that support it. Be strategic and make sure an executive’s perspective always ladder up to a great brand value. 
• Leverage data to optimize your content strategy. Insights help inform what’s resonating and enable you to build or pivot as needed.
• Consistency is key. Remember that influence isn’t built overnight and anyone who is working to build a strong reputation needs to walk before they run. Consistently weigh in on topics that are meaningful to you and engage with other stakeholders to establish authentic relationships.

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A nimble and impactful thought leadership platform helps brands build their reputation, earn audience trust, and gain attention. If you’re looking to bolster your brand’s credibility, see what an agency partner can do for you. Drop us a line at corpreppractice@praytellagency.com. 

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