In the professional environment, the term, ‘thought leadership’ is often referred to as information that is contributed by an industry expert. While I don’t argue that it is beneficial to have individuals in management and executive roles contributing their point of view to our industry’s toughest problems, I fear that this perceived definition deters some individuals from contributing to thought leadership. Thought leadership, in its truest form, should serve as an entry point to develop relationships around the inherent desire to discover and curate creative solutions to challenging issues facing our industry today. The dialogue produced as a direct result of asking challenging questions is where I believe you will find solution-driven thought leadership.

I believe it’s important for every individual to participate in conversations that drive innovation and creativity. The foundation for thought leadership can be summed up in two words: intelligent awareness. It is not possible to articulate solutions without knowing and understanding the problem. For the first time in history, we exist in a society that is hyper-aware of issues facing the world today. Anyone with a smart device receives news alerts on a global scale. However, in most cases this hyper-awareness does not seem to translate to an intelligent awareness. Allow me to explain. We live in a “scrolling news feed” era, where most of our knowledge of current events is gathered from headlines. There is so much information made available to the average user, it can seem overwhelming and difficult to navigate. Finding the “truth” in each news story, is its own news story. So in a world where there is so much information and so many issues – how do you even begin to ask the right questions?

The first step in contributing to thought leadership is identifying your own passions and interests. The second step is becoming intelligently aware of issues pertaining to those passions and interests. Read the headlines, write down your initial reactions and thoughts, and then dive in deeper. Learn more about an issue from multiple sources, mixed mediums and educate yourself to the best of your ability. Throughout the learning and discovery process, write down your thoughts, challenge your initial reactions and then share your findings. Your thoughts matter and society benefits from individuals who become intelligently aware and are bold enough to ask questions. I’ll end this conversation with a quote from a man that was well-known for asking questions.

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, the just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after awhile.” – Steve Jobs

What’s obvious to you, and what are you going to do about it?