Thought leadership

“If a consulting firm hasn’t written about it, we assume it doesn’t know anything about it.”

That off-the-cuff comment which we recently heard from a major buyer of consulting services is, in a nutshell, the thought leadership story of 2013.

Do you sometimes struggle to remember what you read on page 2 of a polished report despite having only made it as far as page 4? Yet you can still remember that Jane Smith, who you last saw with her school tie knotted around her head celebrating the end of fifth year, was going out for a curry on Friday night – a fact you read on her Facebook post?

All our research shows that thought leadership is more important – and more prevalent – than ever.  30% of organisations, we recently heard, now use thought leadership as one of the criteria for deciding which firms to invite to tender for their preferred supplier lists; clients tell us it’s one of the most effective ways in which a consulting firm can market itself.

So now seems like an opportune moment to slay a few thought leadership-related sacred cows.