Comfortable Corners of Thought Leadership | Bill Sherman | 493

May 28, 2023

Some thought leaders focus on long form content, like research papers or books.  

Others prefer short form media, such as videos and infographics. It's simple: audiences gravitate to formats they prefer.

 

If you know your audience, you can use this information to get your content in front of them - but what happens when your ideas run into modality barriers?

Today, Bill Sherman, host of the Leveraging Thought Leadership podcast and the COO of Thought Leadership Leverage, goes solo to discuss the "Comfortable Corners of Thought Leadership" Framework.

Bill takes us through each of the four corners helping us understand as content creators how there is a difference between being comfortable with our idea and being comfortable with a modality. We learn that exploring a new modality while working through an idea can spell disaster while sticking with a modality you are most comfortable with while discussing a well-polished idea can allow you to shine!

However, what happens when your favorite medium is not one the audience is comfortable with?  Bill explains that on average the majority of your audience is going to have a low to mid-level of comfort with your idea, so leaning into a modality they are more comfortable with can help keep them engaged.

During this episode, Bill helps us to understand the nuances of using various modalities, from both the perspective of the content creator and the intended audience.

 

 Three Key Takeaways:

* Where is your comfort zone? Do you stretch yourself to new modalities? Is your comfort zone the same as your audience's?

* When looking at the four corners, remember to consider them from the audience's point-of-view.

* Avoid "sitting in the opposite corner" (no matter how comfortable it is there!) from your audience.