Contrary Valley

7 Steps to Becoming a Thought Leader

A new blog by a company named Blue Flavored has a great post about Thought Leadership and how to get started as a thought leader. Their seven points (summarized here) are a nice,  concise guide for beginners, as well as a refresher for those who have already identified being a thought leader as a goal.  (Yeah, I know, thought leader may have already been condemned to buzzword hell.)

1. Start a Blog
2. Start Small
3. Create a Publishing Calendar
4. Know Your Audience
5. Turn on Comments
6. Write Guidelines
7. Stand By Your Principles

That's What I'm Talkin' About

When you are popular voice in the blogsphere like Seth Godin, you inevitably attract critics eager to cut you down. His recent post about the origins of the term "Windy City" attracted one such critic. This critic only proves a point of my previous post, "Are Women Smarter?" I think his harsh little rant made him (the critic) look bad.  And Godin's mea culpa made Godin look good.  And it was noticeable that in his mea culpa post, Godin didn't include a link to his critic's site, rather, to the site that contained the facts.

It takes a big man (or woman) to admit you are wrong. Any little man can try to make himself look better by denigrating someone else.  I like Seth Godin a little more today.

Marv Levy New Buffalo Bills GM

The great Marv Levy is back in the game, returning to the Buffalo Bills as GM at the age of 80. Those of us with Buffalo ties love this guy, not just for his record (four straight Superbowl appearances as coach) but for his wit and personality. 

Not that Marv is your average football coach (how many coaches do you know that have a Masters in English History from Harvard?) Should I live so long, I'm not sure that I'd want to be working so hard when I can technically be called elderly.  But somehow the term elderly just doesn't work when describing Marv Levy. 

Reported ESPN.com:  "The age factor means nothing to me," said Levy, noting he runs 3 miles five times a week. "I'm old enough to know my limitations and I'm young enough to exceed them."

Another Blog Hook

Clamblogger cites a recent post by Darren Rowse about essential "hooks" to draw readers to your blog.  One of the 7 hooks is thought leading content, another is personality of the blogger.  I'm going to add another hook that doesn't necessarily fall into any of these thoughtful categories: Change Agent.