The Social Sales Engineer: Timeless Principles for Achieving Thought Leadership by Pissang Patrick

Author:Pissang, Patrick [Pissang, Patrick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ZEMP Golden Goose GmbH
Published: 2021-09-02T16:00:00+00:00

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Thought leaders understand why people follow leaders

R alf and Herbert are slowly opening up to Elias and his style. He might not understand the reasons why just yet, so let’s take a look at them.

In work or private life, leaders inspire us to do things we wouldn’t do otherwise. Have you heard the term Columbus leader 1 ? In most organizations, recruiting follows methodologies and checklists that evolved years ago and were iteratively improved. Employees in hierarchical organizations love answers. On the other hand, asking divergent questions––those questions that challenge processes and beliefs––are seen as disturbing or outright blasphemy. As a result, if companies choose a risk-free approach, nobody challenges how recruiting is done and whether the approach is still the answer to the current question. This inevitably leads to hiring managers who know how to get things accomplished in known territory. With a map in hand, they can cross the Alps with their team because they measure divergence of the current state from the target and adjust the route accordingly to stay on track.

Christopher Columbus 2 didn’t have a map when he set out to find a new route to India. But he had a vision. His only chance to get people to work for and with him was by inspiring them. A highly competitive market needs Columbus-style leaders. As a thought leader, you need to be inspirational, and rest assured that due to decades-old recruiting beliefs, there aren’t many Columbuses in your organization. And if there are, you will know them by their reputation as an interferer.

Do you have kids? Have they ever asked you with an energetic, irresistible smile to jump on a trampoline with them? How often could you say no? At some point, you will find yourself jumping with your offspring, wondering how you came up here as you had something more pressing to do.

It might seem like a tiny example, but it is your energetic, irresistible smile on social media that will inspire your followers to perform things they wouldn’t have done otherwise (albeit mainly in their heads). You carve out time and room in their lives for your ideas, nudges, questions, and provocative points of view.

And over time, that influences how your audience perceives you. At first, you are like a child; you have a small following, little interaction, and maybe no organic growth at all. You are contacting other people, asking them to follow you, share, and comment on your posts.

If you believe in yourself and stay persistent with your daily practice, this will flip, and people will become attracted to you once you reach a critical mass of followers, presence, influence, and familiarity.

So, post often. Don’t worry about reposting your timeless ideas. It’s fine; your new followers will enjoy the content. After all, it made your existing ones follow you in the first place.

Reach out to people who resonate with your message. Proactively connect with them. Jump on calls with them. Be interested in what they do. This, in turn, will attract more of them, and you will get an understanding of your followers.

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