Thought leadership

For a while now we’ve been sending out summaries of what we think is the best thought leadership on a given subject.  Leafing the newest selection, I was struck by material which, although aimed at client organisations, should also be required reading for consulting firms themselves.

“Our thought leadership production process is a well-oil machine.”  It was a throwaway line someone said in early December which has been reverberating around in my head ever since, for several reasons.

Leafing through IBM’s chief marketing officer study, published in the last few days, I was struck by one particular chart which compares the reasons companies think their customers follow them via social media sites and their customers’ actual reasons. Interesting in its own right, it’s also – I’d argue – directly relevant to consulting firms.