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Alan Weiss on thoughtleading
“You Literally Have to Lead”
In 1992, Alan Weiss PhD published Million Dollar Consulting (McGraw Hill), a comprehensive, non-nonsense, remarkably innovative treatise on how to become (and remain) a super-successful consultant. Today his book still tops best-seller lists at Amazon and other bookselling venues and Weiss himself has gone on to become the “Rock Star of Consulting,” sharing his provocative but effective notions via keynote addresses, published articles, mentoring, teleconferences and his Million Dollar Consulting College. For more information, visit his website www.summitconsulting.com
In this interview, our Chief Imaginative Officer Ken Lizotte asks Alan’s opinion of thoughtleading as a business development strategy, a frame of mind and a way of life.
KEN: Alan, what does it take to become a “thoughtleader”? How do you know when you’ve made it?
You have to be an honest-to-god content expert to be a true thoughtleader, and you have to manifest it and its process. You have to be an expert and act like one…
When the late Peter Drucker spoke, he would often cite an example of something he was explaining the same way he would cite a fact. Talking about the Great Depression, he once said that the government caused it thru malfeasance. He wasn’t afraid to say something like that. To me he was the pinnacle of thoughtleadership.
Another example would be Steven Jay Gould, the anthropology professor from Harvard, who died of cancer in 2004. He was a scientist who wrote 20 books. He stood out and said “Listen to me, I’m the leader on this.” And he got that way by knowing more about his subjects than anybody else in the world. Thoughtleaders do that, they say to themselves, “I need to know more.”
KEN: So thoughtleaders are voracious to know as much as possible about their content area?
Yes but there’s even more to it than that. I’ve met a lot of people who are good thinkers, and who I have learned from… but thoughtleadership in any discipline literally means being willing to stand out in a crowd and say here is the right way, so take your best shot… You’ve got to manifest your thoughtleadership and you need chutzpah to put your own ideas across.
The truth is that you literally have to lead, not necessarily by inventing an alternative to gravity or an alternative to teamwork but by helping people look at something in new way. You contribute to the state of the art.
KEN: You seem to be saying there’s a personal risk in manifesting thoughtleadership?
Leaders stand alone. In the Civil War the greatest percent of casualties was the brigadier general because he would walk across the field with his men behind him. Real leaders get on their horses and yell “Follow me!” and then ride off into the line of fire.
What you end up with is a 10-70-20 problem: 10 percent of people viscerally hate you, because they envy your success while they themselves are basically talent-less and stupid. So they try to shoot arrows at you.
Another 70% become followers, some of whom are going to go out and try something you said. The final 20% become acolytes. If I said, “Go march on Ames Iowa ,” they would do it, because they had gotten so much help from me that now they would basically do whatever I told them to do.
But it’s that antagonistic 10% that’s most critical for a thoughtleader because if you’re not pissing somebody off, you’re just not doing your job…
KEN: Who are some true thoughtleaders today that you admire, and why?
Fred Smith, Herb Keller, Jack Welch all qualify, and not because they always succeed. In thoughtleading, if you’re not failing, you’re not trying. The thoughtleader’s mindset is: “I will keep going and trying things to see what works” But you gotta be willing to fail too, you have to be prepared to be wrong.
KEN: What holds people back from becoming thoughtleaders?
I used to think that lack of capitalization was the most common ruin of entrepreneurs, but I now realize that’s not it… It’s a lack of esteem! You have to be able to stand up and know who you are. A lot of people establish their identity thru external influence, but what you really need is self-mastery. As a thoughtleader, I can say to someone “That’s a good point you just made, something I never thought of,” or I can say, “You’re full of crap.” That kind of polarizing manner and effect comes with the turf.
The true thoughtleader doesn’t care what other person thinks if he’s speaking the truth. Ultimately more people will respect you for that because if the thoughtleaders don’t tell you what your mistakes are, then who will?
KEN: What else does a thoughtleader need to do?
You certainly have to let people know it, let people know that you are doing good work, which is branding. You have to sell yourself. I have not only done good work but I broadcast it thru books, articles, newsletters etc. You have to let people know.
KEN: Wouldn’t people say that’s being immodest? That it’s uncouth to blow your own horn?
I always say that if you don’t blow your own horn, you can’t hear the music. Stephen Hawking for example didn’t just sit back and let people read his works, he gets out and promotes them, talks about them.
Steven Leavitt, author of Freakeconomics, just knew he had to popularize what he was saying. He didn’t want to just teach his students at Stanford all this stuff, he said, “I gotta get a book out.”…
If you’re not publishing and if you’re not speaking, then you’re not a thoughtleader. You’ve got to get out and sell your ideas. If you feel you can’t do that, you should content yourself to NOT being a thoughtleader.
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