229: [RECAP] Trevor & Brendan dissect the Ashley Faus interview (Expert vs thought leader: what’s the difference?)

In the last episode (#228) I chatted with Ashley Faus about the differences between subject matter experts and thought leaders, and why does it matter?

In this episode I sit down with content strategist and ghostwriter Brendan Keogh to recap the Ashley interview, to go deeper into the ‘expert vs thought leader’ debate, and pull out what we think are the important distinctions.

Here are some of the sub-topics we riff on:

• Why humility is a hallmark of a genuine thought leader (and what does this look like in action)
• Self-awareness: what kind of impact do you want to have in the world?
• Why it’s important to evolve as a professional (whether expert or thought leader)
• The commoditization of expertise, and why experts need to be strategic in how they differentiate themselves (because the ‘expert world’ is pretty crowded!) - from a personal branding perspective, this includes your personality, your values and principles, and your philosophy
• The merged expert/thought leader e.g. Joanna Penn aka ‘The Creative Penn’ (she's an authority on becoming an 'authorpreneur' and building a sustainable enterprise around your writing)
• Utility content (useful, helpful, how-to) vs leadership content (more visceral and thought provoking)
• Just because you publish a book doesn’t make you a thought leader: “there’s a higher bar than that,” says Brendan
• Do you have aspirations to become a thought leader: Are you prepared to put in the work to make that a reality? Are you prepared to publicly challenge the status quo, which is a hallmark of a thought leader?
• Why thought leaders need purpose and direction, but not necessarily be locked down to a narrow niche (“give yourself permission to grow and evolve”)

We also refer to Ashley’s riff on why experts shouldn’t attempt a TED Talk (and why thought leaders shouldn’t be in customer support!)

Ashley has developed a framework that she calls the Four Pillars of Thought Leadership - you can check it out here.

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