The Thought Leadership Secret: What’s Your Philosophy?

COMMS/NATION's take on the modern thinker. Are entrepreneur's the next modern philosophers? We say yes!

During consultation calls for Public Relations my job is to understand potential clients – business owners – and their business problems, their industry, and assess the problems in their strategy of their target markets. We cannot touch on execution just yet. Remember, this is all under an hour. The questions become extremely probing to get to the heart of the issues. While we can only get so deep, there are interview strategies that allow for greater access into the mindset, personality, and working style of a prospective client. But the most important item that I believe is overlooked by marketers is not delving deeper into the client’s business philosophy.

We can take a deeper dive in another post as to what philosophy could be, but for this article, we are only focusing on WHY philosophy should even be considered in your marketing assessments and interpretations of a perspective client.

What even is philosophy? It’s schools of thought and theories. Sounds lofty, but it’s really not. They can include principles to help you live by like, Benjamin Franklin had his growing set of rules. Everyone has a theory. It is up to the person to allow them to fully understand their own philosophical house. But, allowing yourself the time to explore your own philosophy will allow thought leadership to flow much more easily. It will also give you more confidence in saying what you have to say, putting yourself out there, and in navigating humility when you are wrong.

Why have separate philosophies? Personal philosophies and business philosophies – while they can overlap, there should be some differences because we use different emotional natures, and these situations often requires us to get different end results. Business can be black and white, while personal issues are always a mixed bag of colorful degrees.

For example: A personal philosophy could be HELPING THE NEEDY. While a business must take payment for their services, or that just creates entitled customers who will exploit your good nature and payment terms, unknowingly having your personal philosophy turned into ENABLING THE GREEDY. It’s important to have different philosophies.

Why is understanding philosophy important for marketing? Understanding that everyone’s views vary is obviously important. And, that our views are often influenced by our cultures, religions, preferences, and surroundings. When they say, show me the 5 people you spend the most time around and I’ll tell you who you are, they really meant it.

Think of the differences between Western and Eastern cultures. There are MANY philosophical houses, think of the famous Greek statue guys: Plato, Socrates, Aristotle. Then think of the famous thought leaders of today, those are our modern philosophers of our time: like Elon Musk, Esther Perel, Jamie Dimon, Kathy Woods, Yanis Varoufakis, or Mel Robbins.

Whether you like/agree with their thoughts or not, people are listening to them. So, if you want people to listen to you, you must first understand your own philosophy and what you want to say. It doesn’t have to be complex. Just start with the basics. What’s important to you and what is your viewpoint.

Food for thought: If you overlook your own philosophy, then others will overlook your thought leadership as well. We must remember that a business owner is a human. Ever evolving. Grasping new understandings. Ever pursuing. They must innovate. Good foundational philosophy is key to your growth as a business owner and as a person. People don’t just become entrepreneurs for the hell of it. There is a lot of investment that goes into your development so that you can become the optimal business owner.

If you are interested in knowing more of how to get started in becoming a thought leader, you can always book a consultation session with us by clicking here.

Andréa M. Garcia, managing partner at COMMS/NATION LLC, builds strategic award-winning PR and communications campaigns and thought-provoking leadership for ambitious business leaders who want to dominate their respective industries. She’s a trailblazer in communications and a dedicated advocate for minority entrepreneurs.