How to Become a Global Thought Leader – Speaker and Writer
“We know what we are but know not what we may be.”
Our thoughts are very powerful as they shape who we become and who we are. A powerful idea and motivation can lead a person to achieve their goals. That is what exactly a thought leader does.
What is Thought Leadership?
Every day we hear a lot about thought leader in the TV, magazines, social media. What does this buzzword actually mean? It is nothing but a simple thing. A thought leader is one who works for passion, in the field of their expertise. Having knowledge and expertise is one thing and sharing them among fellow aspirants is another thing. When we share our knowledge, it helps to deepen our knowledge and ingrains what we know.
“Thought leadership is the expression of ideas that demonstrate you have expertise in a particular field, area, or topic. Thought leaders share their thoughts.”
A thought leader drops an idea into a mind to learn more about a particular interest, then, conducts thorough research and gathers in-depth information. After getting the knowledge, he shares that idea with the public by becoming a speaker or writer or express those ideas with the help of social media platforms.
What is Thought? & The Growth Mindset
The Mechanism of Thoughts
Our thoughts shape our life. According to research conducted around 80% of our thoughts are negative. And we have around 12,000 - 50,000 thoughts daily.
Growth Mindset
How to become a Global and most powerful thought leader? For knowledge may be power but it is much more powerful when it is shared! Hence yet again we impressed upon the thought that if we know something we should aggressively share our knowledge.
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
Eleven Action Steps to Become an Effective and Powerful Thought Leader
The following are the sequential and strategic steps to establish oneself as an effective and powerful thought leader:
Practicing an activity that brings us joy can benefit our professional and personal life. If we are enthusiastic about a concept or exercise, then we may have discovered our passion. A passion is something that holds significant value for you or an activity that we enjoy doing.
Focus on what we know best and how we can get best from the experts.
There are ideas and matter to create content all around us. We must enjoy while creating the content. We must disrupt our space with something new and innovative. Every good content-marketing strategy begins with a plan. It can be flexible and take minutes to create, but it exists.
Preparation and practice are key. We must start speaking in front of audience. A thought leader is one who expresses their ideas by way of public speaking.
It is another mode of expressing views or what we call thoughts.
It can be done through social media platforms, magazines and join various online groups.
High standards and rigor ensure enduring credibility and reader loyalty.
We can reach out to people with the help of videos that convey the knowledge.
We must not limit ourselves. In fact, we must explore our ideas and spread it to people at large.
Only good teamwork can make us possible to become a thought leader. For any successful business or entrepreneur, good teamwork is required.
Networking is also equally important for reaching out our ideas and thought to the public at large. Suppose we started writing or we want to become speaker, it is important for the public to know about us. It can be possible with networking which can be enhanced with the use of social media, which is discussed in the article.
Become a Speaker: Principles of Engagement & Influence
Speaking has its own importance. It requires various skills and knowledge before speaking in public. Becoming an effective public speaker is not rocket science. Anyone can become a speaker if they have the passion to become that. Not only for speaker, in fact, in any work once we have a passion to become anything, we can become that. An effective speaker needs to be able to get his or her information across while also keeping the audience entertained and engaged.
Connecting Through the Audience’s Interest
Talking in terms of the other person’s interest is very important when we want to make people like us. Always try to ask what he or she may be more interested in. Most of the people open up when we start our conversation in terms of their interest. In fact, those who talk less, started participating in the conversation when we talk in their area of interest.
The royal road to a person’s heart is to talk about the things he or she treasures most. In order to get other people involvement, we need to first arouse some excitement and enthusiasm in them. Which can be developed by talking in terms of their interest.
For example—when our audiences are factory owners, we should talk more about labour, environment, production capacity. Then we may ask some questions like how they are managing productivity, about the machines. Then we can suggest some ideas to cost cutting, tax savings etc.
Become an Expert Writer
Writing is an art which anyone can learn by practicing it with dedication and discipline. The translation of human experience into an artful literary presentation is the art of writing. In order to become a writer, one must first realise their passionate area about which they want to write.
Writers who write simply for personal enjoyment and expression of inner sentiments.
Writers who write professionally to impart authoritative insight, establish leadership, and solve industry problems.
We must figure out what we want to write. In fact, we must write what we want to read. We must understand what our reader wants to read.
We are the James Bond of our life. Just as he has luxurious equipment and vehicles in his films, we too are given all the high-profile gadgets in our life - our human existence, our brain; our sense of imagination; our emotions; our abilities - to achieve whatever we desire. However, these gadgets are worthless unless we know what we desire.
Marketing Strategies for Writer – Selling Yourself
Market ourself well. How we perceive ourself to the outside world will determine how people perceive us, our idea, our belief in our idea and the success of it. Our first impression will make a lasting impression. To be successful we have to market our idea, our dream, our unwavering confidence in our goal, our personal services.
The Multiplier Power of Knowledge Sharing
Having knowledge and expertise is one thing and sharing them among fellow aspirants is another thing. When we share our knowledge, it helps to deepen our knowledge and engrains what we know.
Powerful social media tools such as Facebook, Linked-in, Gmail, YouTube, Blogs, websites, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram, e-articles, etc. allow us to share our knowledge and expertise and helps in connecting to people even though they are living miles apart.
“For knowledge may be a power but it’s much more powerful when it is shared! Hence yet again we impressed upon the thought that if we know something we should aggressively share our knowledge.”
Expanding Horizons: Global, National & State Non-Traditional Practice Areas
To truly establish global thought leadership, Chartered Accountants and finance professionals must look beyond conventional compliance and expand their expertise across non-traditional practice frontiers at global, national, and state levels:
- Internal Control measures: Design, testing, and operational evaluation of robust internal controls.
- Forensic services: Financial forensics, fraud investigations, and litigation support.
- Enterprise Risk management: Comprehensive enterprise-wide risk assessment and mitigation framework.
- Human Resource Management: Strategic talent structures, compensation models, and HR governance.
- Cyber security, Digital economy and data protection services: Data privacy advisory, GDPR/DPDP readiness, and digital security audits.
- E-commerce and Start-ups: Structuring, unit economics, regulatory roadmaps, and venture advisory.
- Global funding: Cross-border fundraising, debt syndication, private equity, and venture capital.
- Recovery mechanism guidance: Insolvency and Bankruptcy, SARFAESI, Criminal Actions, TORT etc.
- Drafting of business and legal documents: Contracts, joint venture agreements, shareholder agreements, and master service agreements.
- Outsourcing: Accounting, drafting, and cross-border knowledge process outsourcing.
- IFRS and country specific GAAPs, IPSAS: International financial reporting convergence and public sector standards.
- Opportunities under financial crimes and laws: PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act), Benami transactions, Black money, and Fugitive Economic Offenders Act.
- Competition laws: Anti-trust compliance, market dominance advisory, and CCI proceedings.
- Corporate Governance & Independent Director: Board advisory, stewardship roles, and compliance oversight.
- CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility): Policy formulation, project evaluation, impact monitoring, and reporting.
- Climate change mitigation - carbon credit: Carbon accounting, sustainability audits, and emission credit trading.
- Industry specific specialisation: Accelerating and architecting business growth within specialized industry sectors.
- ADR – Arbitration, Mediation: Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanisms, conciliation, and settlement facilitation.
- Valuation services: Business, equity, intangible assets, and statutory valuations.
- IPR Advisory Services: Intellectual Property Rights protection, patents, trademarks, and copyright monetization.
- International trade - Global import–export services: Customs advisory, EXIM policy, transfer pricing, and supply chain trade compliance.
- Professional Coaching & Motivational Speaking: Coach for self development, motivational speaker for topics like time management, emotion management, and personality development.
- Presentation before Tribunals: Dedicated business tribunal practice spanning 30 plus tribunals across India.
- A to Z of MSME, non-MSME: Registration, enterprise classification, delayed payment remedies, and statutory benefits.
- Mergers and Amalgamation: Corporate restructuring, demergers, arrangements, and NCLT approval schemes.
- Opportunities under Succession Laws: Estate planning, family trusts, will drafting, and wealth transmission.
- Hindu laws, family laws: HUF matters, partitions, settlements, and family property arrangements.
- NBFCs, Nidhi company: Registration, prudential norms, RBI compliance, and operational governance.
- Aatma Nirbhar Bharat projects: Advisory on self-reliant India initiatives, PLI schemes, and industrial incentives.
- Social Media consultancy services: Digital brand building, outreach strategy, and online professional communication.
- Subsidies schemes of nation: Central government capital subsidies, interest subvention, and export incentives.
- Coaching: Mentoring CA, CS, CMA, and law students for professional excellence.
- Finance for non-finance executives: Tailored executive education and capacity building programs.
- Virtual legal counsel / CFO: Fractional executive leadership, outsourced CFO services, and board guidance.
- Agriculture and rural development: Agritech, FPOs (Farmer Producer Organizations), rural credit, and agro-processing schemes.
- Sustainable economic development: Sustainable business modeling and ESG alignments.
- Opportunities under Company law: Oppression and mismanagement litigation, winding up, Liquidation, and corporate revival.
- Cooperative Societies: Registration, governance, state cooperative audits, and elections.
- Labour laws: State-specific welfare fund compliances, standing orders, and occupational safety codes.
- Stamp Duty: State stamp acts, adjudication, property deed duties, and merger stampings.
- Real Estate- RERA: Real Estate Regulatory Authority project registrations, quarterly filings, audits, and homebuyer dispute representation.
- Charitable Laws: State public trust acts, registration with Charity Commissioner, and charitable governance.
- Chit funds State laws: State chit fund regulations, licensing, and compliance oversight.
- Subsidies schemes of states: State industrial policies, SGST reimbursements, power tariff concessions, and stamp duty exemptions.