5 Examples of Great Thought Leadership Content
Looking to elevate your company’s influence and build more credibility? Thought leadership — using a leader’s voice to share expert knowledge and insights — can be a powerful tool to drive results.
Keep reading to find out how some of today’s top industry leaders are captivating their audiences with insightful thought leadership examples.
But first, let’s take a brief step back and look at the bigger picture.
What is thought leadership and why is it important?
Thought leadership is the practice of leveraging your expertise to influence an audience within a particular industry. It involves sharing innovative ideas and unique perspectives through mediums like articles, podcasts, video interviews, social media posts, speeches, and books.
At a high level, thought leadership is important because it helps executives cut through the cacophony that is the cluttered internet. Thought leadership helps business leaders stand out and form meaningful connections with peers, prospects, and other industry stakeholders.
How does thought leadership contribute to brand reputation and growth?
By publishing thought leadership content on a regular basis, CEOs and executives can enhance their company’s reputation and accelerate growth in several ways:
- Establishing authority by demonstrating expertise
- Building trust by serving up valuable insights
- Driving engagement by publishing compelling content regularly
- Creating opportunities by attracting new partnerships
- Increasing visibility by differentiating yourself and attracting new prospects.
5 examples of thought leadership content
Now that you have a better understanding of why it matters, let’s examine five real-world examples of exceptional thought leadership content.
1. LinkedIn article — Satya Nadella, CEO and chairman of Microsoft
Nadella recently spoke at Microsoft Build about the impact artificial intelligence will have on the way we work, learn, and build. To extend the impact of his insights, he published an article on LinkedIn that reflects those remarks. Anyone who’s interested in learning how AI will transform our lives would be wise to investigate how Nadella is thinking about the technology.
Why it works:
- A speech is repurposed as an article; Microsoft gets more traction out of the same content
- The article is broken up by several short videos, making it more interactive and reader-friendly
- Ends with an inspiring video of how AI can help people with disabilities consume art on a deeper level
2. Media interview — Whitney Wolfe Herd, founder of Bumble and co-founder of Tinder
Executives can learn from other entrepreneurs who’ve succeeded — like Whitney Wolfe Herd, founder of Bumble and co-founder of Tinder. In this short video interview with Forbes published on YouTube, Wolfe Herd discusses the importance of staying true to your mission, gives tips on how to find customers, and examines the importance of customer feedback.
Why it works:
- Provides actionable insights other founders can use to build their own businesses
- Published on a large platform; Forbes has 1.7 million followers on YouTube
- Content can easily be shared on other platforms (e.g., social media, company website, and email)
3. LinkedIn post — Melanie Perkins, co-founder and CEO of Canva
In 2023, Perkins — founder of Canva, the graphic design platform that’s achieved unicorn status — shared a blog post on LinkedIn where she answered 21 questions about what her journey’s been like in honor of her company’s 10th birthday.
Why it works:
- Leverages Perkins vast network on LinkedIn to drive traffic to Canva’s website
- Content is authentic about her journey, including behind-the-scenes vignettes and images
- Shares a ton of actionable tips other founders can use to build their own businesses
4. Book — Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, co-founders of Basecamp
Today, remote work is common. But back in 2013, the Basecamp founders had to sell the merits of remote work in order to sell their actual product. So they wrote a book on the topic, Remote: Office Not Required, which examines the benefits of virtual offices.
Why it works:
- Challenges conventional wisdom about working in an office
- Sparks dialogue within the industry about the future of work
- Provides unique insights from founders’ experiences
5. TED Talk — Brené Brown, professor, social worker, and author
In June 2010, Brené Brown gave a TED Talk, The Power of Vulnerability, which examines why it’s important to embrace vulnerability to foster genuine human connection. A professor by trade, Brown shares her research on the topic of vulnerability, flipping conventional wisdom on its head by saying vulnerability is a strength — not a weakness. In addition to using scientific data to prove her point, she shares personal stories about how embracing our imperfections can help us lead more fulfilling lives.
Why it works:
- Challenges a common belief of vulnerability as a weakness, provoking discussion
- Uses an engaging delivery style to captive the audience, with staying power demonstrated by 65.7 million views on the TED website alone
- Buttresses her points with credible research and real-world data, adding credibility and authority
Can you add thought leadership examples to this list?
If you’re an executive seeking to establish yourself as an expert in your field, getting started with thought leadership is a no-brainer. Not only does it build credibility and increase your reach, it also positions your company as an industry leader.
That said, thought leadership is not without its challenges. After all, it requires consistent production of insightful, original content that stays ahead of industry trends or bucks them entirely. And creating the content is only half the challenge — to be effective, thought leadership needs to be seen and heard by your target audience. Having a distribution strategy that includes owned channels like company blogs, social media, and earned channels like traditional media outlets is critical.
As an executive, you’re pulled in countless directions every day — which means you probably don’t have time to develop an effective thought leadership strategy on your own. By partnering with an experienced agency, you can overcome this challenge by leveraging experts at content creation — giving you more time to focus on what’s most important for your business.
To learn more about the easiest way to develop a thought leadership strategy that increases the chances you find yourself on a list like this in the future, read this.