Is Thought Leadership Dead?
“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people” — Eleanor Roosevelt
Hands-on Boards of Directors (BODs) of many industries are EXTREMELY concerned. No matter what sector you examine, the tenures of C-Level executives are getting shorter and their leashes — tighter. When I look back at my 30-year career in TECHNOLOGY, FINANCE & RENEWABLE ENERGY (TFE) sectors — I see an evolving pattern of discontent. Take Technology for example and read: The Last Days Of Marissa Mayer? Or, Finance and read: BofA CFO’s 4-Year Tenure: Shorter Than Average. You will also spot a similar trend in Renewable Energy: NRG Energy CEO David Crane Resigns. The writing is on a wall.
I view TFE as the intersecting pillars of a modern business world. The triple expertise allows me to bring a unique perspective to thought-leadership. It was Aristotle that so brilliantly observed 2500 years ago: “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” No surprise there: looking at challenges and opportunities in multiple sectors — sharpens your senses.
Point in case: my BOD-level recommendations are frequently aimed at a single objective: how to eliminate crippling losses AND secure multi-stream recurring revenues — all at the same time. I learned to focus not only on making the existing businesses better but also on what is missing.
As mentioned in one of my previous posts: During the first 10 years of my career, I focused on “running projects”. The most valuable lesson I learned: how to be PATIENT. During the next 10 years, I was “running people” — and learned how to be JUST. Since then, I ended up “running companies” — and strived to LEAD, MENTOR, AND INSPIRE.
Time and again, my recommendation remained the same: “bring the right people on the bus, before even deciding where the bus is going” — Jim Collins. I’ve said it before: even 100 mediocre musicians do not amount to one Beethoven — the same way 100 mediocre physicists are not a substitute to Einstein’s brilliance. People make all the difference.
You can find my additional thoughts about BODs in a previous post, entitled: On Board of Directors — And Why Competence Is Not Enough. Although in my examples, the lack of disruptive TFE business models is sector-specific, you will find similar challenges in other industries, too. Specifically to TFE: in Technology sector, we should pay attention to Content Marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO); in Finance — to FinTech; and in Energy — to Distributed Generation. And the list goes on.
IF I HAD A DOLLAR FOR EACH TIME I HEAR THAT “IDEAS ARE CHEAP”
Not a single day is passing by without hearing from Venture Capitalists (VC) that “ideas are cheap” and that the only thing that counts — is the “execution”. In many such prognostications, ideas, concepts, business models and even software used are worthless — as it is more about the execution that follows.
Not surprisingly, in many such cases, signing a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) is flatly denied and entrepreneurs quickly learn the meaning of The Golden Rule: He Who Has Gold Makes All The Rules.
You may ask:
- So what about Thomas Edison who went through 1000 trials before his light bulb idea finally worked?
- Or Steve Jobs, who was shown the doors at Apple by PepsiCo suits?
- Or even Elon Musk’s HYPERLOOP IDEA of high-speed transportation of passengers and goods in tubes?
My answer is quite simple: FINDING THE BALANCE IS THE KEY! We all heard that even the most brilliant idea can be ruined by poor execution. At the same time, even the mediocre business plan can turn into a successful venture by getting things done — flawlessly. The truth is that making a distinction between strategy and execution seldom works. We need paying attention to BOTH — until positive results are achieved and demonstrated..
Of course, NDA signing is a good thing. So is securing Patent Applications and Trademarks. You will be surprised, however, how many times it is not a DETERRENT. In many technology lawsuits, large corporations will DELIBERATELY violate third-party’s Intellectual Property (IP) — if doing so is profitable. The corporate giants can outspend and outlast any inventor — if they choose so.
No matter who you are dealing with: VC, or CVC (described in my post: Corporate Venture Capital — The Most Underutilized Factor Endowment Of Corporate Giants) — sharpen your Emotional IQ skills. My advice: stay positive. Negativity is bad for business — the same way it is bad for your health. No need to breed pessimism and see the glass half-empty ALL THE TIME.
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP IN THE CONTEXT OF BOS
No matter what is your market, as long as you’re focused on what the inventors of Blue Ocean Strategy (BOS) so elegantly elaborated in the past — you can outsmart the competition by:
- Creating NEW and UNCONTESTED market space
Instead of competing in the existing market
- Creating & Capturing NEW DEMAND
Instead of trying to exploit the existing demand only
- Making the competition IRRELEVANT
Instead of trying to beat the competition at their own game
STORYTELLING — BECAUSE A GOOD STORY IS BEHIND EVERY SUCCES
Heat brothers’ phenomenal book: “Made to Stick” was published at the time I presided as BOD’s Chair of children’s charity. We pored over many ideas leading to raising donation levels, and yet, we struggled to find the right campaign narrative.
Shortly after reading the book, I asked the directors to follow its framework. All were asked to present their thoughts based on six principles leading to: Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, Story (SUCCES.)
From that day, all our ideas and all our thoughts aimed not at features of the program, but at the benefits of solutions. We all understood the problems that needed to be solved. And we all agreed that the proposed solutions need to MOTIVATE AND INSPIRE.
Going back to my VC comments, I recently met with Paul Singh, who is driving across North America with a pickup truck and a custom-built Airstream travel trailer. Instead of waiting for their business plans to arrive at his office, Paul visits the startups all across North America. At each stop, this legendary investor creates a week-long series of events for ENTREPRENEURS AND INVESTORS.
Paul knows startups and small businesses better than anyone else. He invested in 1600 of them (yes, sixteen hundred). And yet, he is quite open about a dismal success rate within VC industry: only one in ten (1/10) of investments are successful.
To put it in perspective, imagine a $100MM seed fund investing $10MM in 10 different companies. The acceptable return rate within VC industry is: 4x. This means, that in order to generate a $400MM return to investors — a successful exit amounts to a 40x multiple of the original $10MM invested. Not an easy treat.
The Bottom Line: I can’t tell you how fast and how profoundly the notion of Thought Leadership will change. Perhaps in 10 years from now, VCs will start again paying a closer attention to IDEAS? Or, we will all look at TFE’s disruption through a different lens?
I CAN’T PREDICT THE FUTURE, but perhaps today’s state of the art in Content Marketing and SEO will be as laughable and farcical as the era of Industrial Musicals in the world of marketing? See for yourself and enjoy Terry O’Reilly’s Under the Influence: When Madison Avenue Met Broadway: The World of Industrial Musicals. It will make you THINK …
Oleg Feldgajer is President & CEO of Canada Green ESCO Inc. Oleg is positioning the company to become a leader in financing AI enhanced green energy projects and ventures. CGE’s mission is to guide DISRUPTIVE businesses in ENERGY & TRANSPORTATION toward profitable business models. Oleg is passionate about such mission, and firmly believes that without AI based innovation, we will all prematurely choke on polluted air and dirty water. CGE delivers 100% financing (levered and unlevered) to its clients — and utilizes large equity pools, and non-recourse debt. Oleg offers creative, fresh ideas to open-minded businesses — that embrace both: logic AND opportunistic intuition. CGE stands against mediocrity & its modus operandi is quite simple: If CGE is not invited to join your BOD, or Advisory Board — we failed!
