Thought Leadership

I came across the terms - Thought Leader and Thought Leadership - several times now and I am intrigued enough what this means. I wonder

• Who is a Thought Leader? 
• What makes someone a Thought Leader? 
• What does a Thought Leader do that Business Leaders do not do? 
• What do Business Leaders do that Thought Leaders do not do? 
• What are the characteristics of an Individual Thought Leader? 
• What are the characteristics of a Organization as a Thought Leader? 
• What skills a Thought Leader should have?
• How did one become a thought leader?
• How did an organization establish themselves as a Thought Leader?

Finally I decided to spend some time researching what this is and I tapped our friend - Google. I got a bunch of websites offering explanations around these terms. The pointers are:

• Forbes indicates that a thought leader is "a foremost authorities in selected areas of specialization" and "that significantly profits from being recognized as such". It also indicates that such thought leadership "brilliance is a function of acclaim, created where others bestow the accolades". 
• The Forbes article also indicates that a thought leader has a "selected areas of specialization"
• Leaders Direct site indicates that a thought leader may not need to have "inspirational influencing skills" that may be necessary for a senior executive. It also indicates that they may actually have "weak interpersonal skills and an indifferent character" and what really counts is the "credibility of the idea"
• CEO Online indicates, contrarily, that Thought Leaders need to have good "communication, positioning, pitching" skills along with 6 others
• The How Matters site indicates a quote "proprietary command over a challenging industry issue".
• It also indicates the 3 R's of Thought Leadership - "Results, Rhetoric, Relationships"
• The OpenViewPartners blog places emphasis on "bold ideas that are new and noteworthy" and "high quality (preferably original) research"
• The Thought Leadership Leverage article lays out the how "changing mindset" is more effective than "building skills"

References:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/russprince/2012/03/16/what-is-a-thought-leader/

http://www.leadersdirect.com/thought-leadership

http://www.ceoonline.com/expert_talk/leadership_management/emotional_intelligence_thought_leader/pages/id28949.aspx

http://www.how-matters.org/2012/11/11/what-makes-a-thought-leader/

http://blog.openviewpartners.com/what-is-thought-leadership-is-your-content-supporting-or-sinking-your-efforts/

http://thoughtleadershipleverage.com/2010/06/are-you-changing-mindsets-or-building-skills/