How do you keep your voice and tone authentic in thought leadership?

I think a lot of folks strive for leadership first instead of the "thought." One way to keep your writing, presenting or posting authentic to your voice and values is to base it on your own original thoughts. Each of us is gifted with unique insights that the universe is eager to bestow upon us. When those come...then it's time to capture them because it is what the world needs. You can polish and tailor to the medium, but the original "thought," is the truth you plan to share. When you lead with "leadership," and try to come up with a thought to fit it...your words and concepts sound watered down, unoriginal and lifeless. How many "thought leadership" pieces that are really efforts at validating - and are repetitive. Educate. Inspire!

Here's a different take: Before you write anything, you need to have experienced similar situations and have delivered answers that have worked. I'll add that you need to spend enough time, and this is relative to the situation, to understand the complexities of the situation to be on point. Then you can deliver the content, not in theory, but with precision and with examples to support your arguments. Too often we're listening to those that don't do but write and speak.

This took me several years to formulate and I am always working on this as a leader and how I want to impact the world. Remember, understanding your audience's needs, challenges, interests, and preferences is a must. It's not about targeting a a certain group of people; it's about connecting with humans and the experiences they have faced. By knowing your audience, you can tailor your voice to resonate with their hearts and minds. This is a concept I call, RADICAL RELATIONSHIPS!

Have a roadmap. One thing I’ve found helpful in developing compelling thought leadership programs is once you know your audience & their interests, make a short list of the broad topics you want to own. A message framework and a content calendar are musts — just keep it flexible and be willing to pivot when needed.

I'd also add to this "know your topic."Being a Thought Leader means you also have to build respect with your audience and understand what you are talking about. You don't need to be the smartest person in the room, but you do need to understand the issues and know enough to ask good questions.

I think this takes each of us a different amount of time to arrive at but: keep it simple. When we first start out we're taught to use extra words, bigger words, fancier words, to try and elevate ourselves but if you're contributing something as a thought leader you don't need to do this because you're already speaking from a position of respect. Instead try to write how your audience speaks when they discuss the issues you're writing about. This hopefully makes the content much easier to engage with.

Empathy is a cornerstone of authentic transformational leadership—and a cornerstone of the leaders that we can all strive to become. So many of the attributes of transformational leadership can be ascribed to this sense of value that emotional intelligence places on how we interact with others. Emotional intelligence isn’t necessarily something that we’re all born with. By approaching others empathy and compassion, we can all develop the skills and attributes of authentic and effective voices and engagements.

Regardless of the total size of audience you hope to reach, starting with a mentality of 1-1 communication will help narrow your focus and increase your relevance

It is not so much knowing your current audience but understanding what audiences you mean to appeal to and to, put it lightly, understand what watering holes they enjoy. Don't build a new bar, just go to the one they are already drinking at.

The more I think about this “know your audience” thing, the less I know what it means. As if there is an audience of people who all want or are interested in the same things. Sure there might be some overall commonality within your audience, but any group is made up of individual people who have significant differences from one another. So don’t speak to your audience as if they are all the same. Offer a few details for the detail-focused people, some numbers for those who are more quantitative, and some great stories for those who find them compelling. Think about the diversity of your audience and offer a little something for everyone.

Each of the areas in this article are very important, but you got to get this one right. What do you stand for? What emotions do you wish to evoke? Define your voice to reflect your core values, beliefs, and personality. Your tone should adapt to different contexts and emotions. Know your core beliefs and don't be wavered by anyone around them. Mine are honesty, integrity, transparency, and loyalty.

The one thing to keep in mind once you’ve identified your audience is that thought leadership isn’t just about facts and stats. It’s your unique point of view (POV) on a topic. Your professional and life experiences shape your POV in a way that is unique to you. That’s what people want from you as a thought leader. Period. What’s your perspective on a topic? What experiences can you share that make your POV both interesting and insightful? If you don’t have a good POV, all the tone, voice and keyword salad won’t compel people to reach out to you or click your link.

Defining your voice and tone is a process of figuring out what you need to do to sound like the best version of yourself. A consistent and "clean" voice and tone (meaning one that seems natural to you and without affect) not only serves the message but also creates instant rapport with your audience. It's a good idea to engage outside assistance to be a mirror because it's really hard to read the label from inside the jar. It's a matter of intentionally (and bravely) becoming aware of where you are now and then accepting and implementing feedback So, if you want to speak, get a coach. If you want to write, get an editor. It will accelerate the process manifold.

When you notice topics that fire you up, or you speak quicker and louder - these are signs for me that indicate I am close to my authentic voice. That the person speaking is the real me.. I no longer worry if I am using the ‘most appropriate’ words People can tell your authentic voice and it resonates with the ones it should - your people..

Write like how you speak. When audiences see your content, they should feel like they are in the room with you. If you have a ghostwriter producing most of your content, get in the habit of sending them weekly voice memos or videos of yourself talking about your ideas to ensure all of your thought leadership content is cohesive and aligned with your authentic voice.

Just as our spoken voice matures with age, our digital voice evolves over time. While this online projection might reflect our real-world evolution, it often requires some effort to stay genuine. Navigating the digital waters depends on two pillars: consistency and authenticity. Imagine writing a post and your friend raising an eyebrow, "That doesn’t sound like you at all." That's your first gauge – authenticity. Would you utter those same words in a room full of people? Second, while your digital voice should echo your core beliefs, it's not about repeating the same sentences. It’s about the alignment with your values, ensuring everyting you post resonates with the real you. So, before hitting 'publish', ask yourself: Is this me?

It’s always important to find the balance between representing yourself and representing the company. Thought leadership is making some sort of statement about the future, and that could be derived from you and your hobbies, or could be derived from the work you’re doing on the job. My recommendation is when you want to drive your voice into the market just be cognizant of what driving that voice and where it’s coming from.

Oh boy, "authentic" again? Well yes. I discovered that even C-level have trouble defining their "unique voice". In my experience "Formal/Informal, Tone, Audience" take care of themselves when you are being real. Don't post unless you genuinely represent what you believe or are interested in. Posting becomes second nature if you get this right. You can start here - 1. Define your values - Social representation. 2. Identify a mission to align yourself to - Social responsibility. 3. Create a value proposition of your skills that aligns with the two above - Social Participation. Thought leadership to me is Social Leadership, and it starts with digging deep, uncovering your value and your voice, and sharing what matters to you.

I believe if I’m consistently and authentically me, then the audience who appreciates what I have to offer will find me. I don’t actually change my tone or style much from one situation to another. I prefer a relatively informal style of writing the way I speak. I use contractions. I start sentences with “And.” That’s how I speak and so that’s how I write. It’s easier to write as myself, and I think more interesting too.

Embrace your uniqueness. Speak with your words, stories, and examples. Authenticity builds trust, so don't shy away from expressing your opinions, perspectives, and experiences. Show your passion, enthusiasm, and humor, and acknowledge diverse viewpoints. Some people think I may be a little to honest or a little to open, but I wouldn't change a thing. I am who I am, and my story may just speak to your heart.

Be ready to share the good AND the bad. Don't try to make it seem like you have it all figured out. Openly discussing both positive and negative experiences makes your content more relatable and authentic.

Don't try too hard to be funny or witty. "Be yourself" actually works, even if you cannot tell a good joke. People are reading your content because you have some expertise and more experience. Share that experience in an interesting way that will highlight the relevant points you want to make. Examples simply help people connect with the idea better. Enjoy sharing your experience with others, and they will see the real you come through!

A quote attributed to Oscar Wilde says: “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.” In business, we try to define our value proposition - our point of differentiation. Applying a similar lens to ourselves, our uniqueness is valuable. There is probably no one that is exactly like us with the same set of lived experiences and thought processes. Being able to voice our thoughts/perspectives/opinions authentically, using real life experiences helps build credibility with the audience. It’s also important to remain open-minded as others could have had different experiences. Our experiences and how we process them are uniquely ours and that’s powerful.

Yes! Be yourself. Write as yourself. And yes please avoid jargon and buzzwords, unless of course that’s how you typically speak. Then that’s you, so go ahead and be you! I will share that I, as myself, can tend toward too many exclamation marks and emojis. These I do tend to tone down—removing some before my writing is final. But that’s just editing, which I also do as myself. And I’m always glad I did. 🙃

This one is tricky because, if we are honest with ourselves, we know that it takes a lifetime to really know yourself. If we get lucky, we get a little more comfortable with ourselves with each passing year. It's the experiences we have that will shape who we are and allow us to better understand ourselves (if we are open to it). To be authentic and to gain the trust of the audience, be sure to share your experiences in a way that is believeable. Be humble, be empathetic and be yourself (at least the one you know today). Share your unique views and be open to the views of others, even if they do not fit perfectly into your view. In the journey to 'being yourself', be sure to share that you are still learning. After all, we all are.

Stale and boring thought leadership content is void of personality. You can maintain professionalism while still injecting your unique voice and perspective around every corner. We don't want to read a textbook about what you know. We want to hear about your experiences that taught you what you know, so we can learn and apply it to our daily lives as well. SHOW not tell.

Study what you enjoy most about your past writings - the sentences, paragraphs, turns of phrase that made you smile and think "only I would write that". Chances are, these stylistic patterns that please you and feel authentic are the ones others also flock to, and can be more consciously injected into future pieces to help your views and voice come through.

Honesty is always the best policy, so address the needs of your audience and you will be able to keep their attention. It’s important to keep at the forefront of your mind that you are a human talking with other humans.

One tip for this- when I am writing for a client, I try to always "interview" them with the content we are covering. I ask them questions and then we take notes of what comes up for them. I use those notes to construct our first draft. It is a great tool for helping them to capture their voice and authenticity. They are less formal when speaking with me which helps allow their true selves to shine.

This one is hard for me, but I do have a trusted source who helps me and guides me a long the way. Constructive feedback can refine your voice and offer new insights. Encourage your audience to share their thoughts. Listen actively, and allow feedback to shape your content. I am constantly changing mine.

If you're lucky enough to be able to test your ideas verbally on people as well as in written content then you have a great and constant source of feedback that you don't need to ask for: their facial expressions and their questions. If something doesn't land face-to-face (or webcam-to-webcam) it is going to be doubly hard to understand in written content, this gives us a chance re-word or re-examine what we're trying to say.

Select 2-3 people you trust and who know you well. You should always have a small group of people you can rely on to call BS when something doesn't sound like you, isn't aligned with your values, or just doesn't even make sense. This will keep you grounded, humble, and focused to ensure all your thought leadership efforts are indeed featuring your thoughts and your leadership in your unique way.

I do seek feedback, but sparingly. I know how helpful it can be, but I don’t always find it easy to take, if I’m honest. The best strategy for me is to read through any feedback quickly, absorb the immediate sting of knowing someone didn’t think what I wrote was perfect, and then put it away for a day or two. I find that then I can come back, carefully consider what the feedback has to offer me, and appreciate the gift given by the person who generously (and bravely) shared their time and thoughts.

Be comfortable in admitting that your solutions won’t solve every problem or won’t work for every situation. Be able to say that and solicit other possible suggestions increases trust in your leadership.

I agree. I think consumers today don't just want to be talked at, they need to be engaged. Seeking feedback is one way of building engagement.

Feedback is always helpful and not always in the way we imagined when we first asked for it. It is important to get diverse feedback. If we go to the same resource for feedback, we often get feedback that fits into our 'narrative'. It is the feedback that gives us pause, makes us question ourselves that truly helps us learn about ourselves and, in turn, allows us to be more authentic.

People are a little frightened of requesting feedback, afraid it might be negative, but I will bet you that many people have genuinely great feedback to give and can deliver improvement in a respectful and kind manner. So, seek out feedback, you might get a lovely boost of confidence about yourself along the way!

Be a learner! Stay abreast of the latest trends, explore new topics, and continually hone your communication skills. Keeping your voice fresh and relevant requires continuous growth and openness to change. Also, know your weaknesses and where you need help. Surround yourself with people smarter than you are.

When you're building your personal brand in public, you will inevitably have moments where you mess up or embarrass yourself. It's ok. Stay humble, and use these moments to improve your approach to thought leadership. Be vulnerable with your audience. Some of the best thought leadership content I've seen occurs when a leader admits a mistake, and then shares transparently about what happened and how they will learn and grow from this. We're all humans on a journey seeking help and advice. So when it comes from someone we admire and trust, that goes a long way.

💥It's this simple, how "to keep your voice and tone authentic"? Work until the work is done, stay humble, treat others as you want to be treated, and never stop learning.

Keep learning and be humble! There is not many topics that have a single definitive voice on them, and even those that do have an expiration date. For most of us we are lucky to have a perspective to share that others are interested in hearing so I think it is a great idea to remember we are each just one voice sharing just one perspective at one point in time. I find when I read or hear something from a humble contributor I immediately feel more of a connection to the material.

I hesitate to agree with anything that has such a long list of what we all need to do. I don’t think great thought leadership requires all of this. But should you keep learning if you want to produce something interesting? Probably, yes. My favorite things to write about are those I have JUST learned. In fact, when I learn something new I cannot wait to share it and that’s why I write in the first place!

One of my biggest fears is of the unknown unknowns - what one doesn't know they don't know. So learning is critical to close the gap. Therefore, trying, playing, and experimenting in new ways is an everyday part of my life for me.

Embracing new ideas and learning something (or many somethings!) new each day is how we grow as humans. Along these lines I've shared with my team that I know I've made mistakes, and as long as I learn from each and every one of them, it helps me to continue to do new things and be better for it.

With learning comes humility and humility is a core ingredient in capturing your voice. We often under estimate the importance of humility in leadership and the importance it plays in gaining trust. By being open to learning and keeping our learning diverse and inclusive, we will learn about ourselves, others and will teach our audiences that true leaders do not have all the answers. Learning about trends and new developments in our field are both very important to establish credibility. If we are looking to capture authenticity in your voce and tone, you need to encourage learning and collaboration in your work.

By applying a human-centered design philosophy, thought leaders can create content that goes beyond mere engagement. It's about building radical relationships and falling in love with the problem. It's about being the dragon, showing rather than telling, and pushing boundaries with empathy and integrity. As thought leaders, our commitment to authenticity should reflect in every word we write. We're not just sharing insights; we're building connections, sparking conversations, and impacting lives.

Well, being an authentic thought leader is a bit like finding the perfect unicorn - rare and magical! To keep your voice and tone genuine, think of it as a conversation with a friendly yet knowledgeable wizard. Be consistent, like the wizard who always wears the same pointy hat. And to keep it engaging, sprinkle a little fairy dust of storytelling and a dash of humor. After all, even wizards crack a good spellbinding joke now and then!

Because so much of thought leadership is shared in writing, the writing is as important as the thoughts. When you write something, read it out loud. If it sounds wrong when you say it out loud, that’s how it’s going to sound in the minds of your readers. Edit and read and edit and read until it sounds just like you.

💥"DUCTUS EXEMPLO" = Lead by example. Establish clear metrics then inspire the Team to push themselves – and, in turn, the company – to greatness. This is the best means to foster “imagination, ingenuity, and creativity". Innovative, not imitative, leadership!

These are all good responses across this thread. There is much to unpack from the topic. I have a view that authenticity is a blend of personal experiences, continuous learning and genuine engagement. It's about being true to yourself while continuously evolving to serve your team or listener better.

For me it's actually about having a viewpoint, and expressing it within the paper, presentation, or document that is backed with data, analysis and examples. It does not matter if your view is contrary to popular or industry opinion, if you are able to bring a fresh or experience led view for discussion. Secondly, remember the need for consistency. Readers of your thought leadership should not feel surprised at what you say in terms as a result of a flip flop opinion. If the facts change, be clear that your perspective may have changed, and again back it up with evidence.

Become a good storyteller and let your story do the job. Stories build connection and authenticity, giving your audience a reason to connect and to believe.