I’ve noticed over the years that at first, the concept of Thought Leadership can be triggering for some folks.

It can bring up a recoiling feeling. (“No, I’m not a thought leader! Who am I to even think I could be a thought leader!”).

Or Resistance. (“Eww. Thinking you’re a thought leader is so ego based and wrong.”).

Or Frustration. (“Ugh. I’ve tried so hard to figure out my thought leadership and I just can’t figure it out.”).

Or Dejection. (“I thought I figured out what my thought leadership was, but no one bought the program”).

The concept of Thought Leadership can churn up a lot when teachers, coaches, and course creators:

— don’t believe they could ever have ideas that are good enough to qualify as thought leadership

–don’t believe their ideas are fresh or new or unique enough

–don’t even know what the topic or scope of their thought leadership would be

–believe that it’s being too “expert” to share thought leadership (this is biggie for people who value integrity because we don’t ever want to be advice givers or over-ride client agency, etc. etc.)

And yet here’s the thing: you 100% need to be clear on your thought leadership in order to create a curriculum that is transformational and effective at supporting clients to achieve results.

If you’re not clear on your thought leadership, your course doesn’t go as deep as it could and stays on the surface, you don’t feel like you’re really making the impact & work you’d like to be making, and…

prospective students won’t feel as compelled to take your course.

So here are some things I want you to know about Thought Leadership because there are a lot of myths about it in the transformational industry:

–Thought Leadership is NOT needing to be totally unique in every aspect of what you do

–Thought Leadership is NOT about being the ONLY ONE to be sharing what you’re sharing

–Thought Leadership is NOT about needing to have tons and tons of the freshest, most cutting edge ideas

To do any of those things would, honestly, be not only daunting, but pretty impossible.

==> Here is What Thought Leadership actually is:

1. Claiming your expertise in a certain area where you have powerful wisdom & experience to share

1. Claiming your unique way of articulating ideas in your area of expertise (even if pieces of those ideas are also being articulated in different ways by others – and I’m NOT suggesting here to copy from others; I’m talking about some of the natural exchange & transmission & revealing of ideas that simply happens when a topic is important)

1. Crafting methodology that deeply speaks to and resonates and works for your ideal client

1. Standing by any ideas you have that go against the grain of your industry (being a disruptor is a key to being a thought leader)

All of the above are ingredients to having the people in your community who are meant to learn with you, start to think of you and look to you as a thought leader.

All of the above ingredients are also what starts to make your curriculum and course not only unique and stand out from the crowd, but also perfectly tailored to fit your ideal clients’ needs.

So, I hope this myth busting takes some pressure off of the more mainstream concept of Thought Leadership, and…maybe even helps you see that being a thought leader can absolutely be possible for you!

The very first module in the Curriculum Lab program supports you to mine your thought leadership and create a framework and methodology for your curriculum that allows your ideas to shine as well as go deep.