The Origin of the Book
When I step onto the stage to deliver a keynote at a grand conference or present to an audience on innovation, my priority is to ensure that my content is not only up-to-date but also relevant and tailored to achieve the specific goals of that particular audience. While I have a set of foundational building blocks that I frequently utilise, one section that consistently draws the most attention (and has prompted numerous requests for sharing my deck) revolves around the insights of my early guru, Tom Peters.
The powerful message prominently displayed on that slide is this:
"Nearly 100% of innovation is inspired not by market analysis,
but by people who are supremely pissed off by the way things are."
This message acted as the catalyst for this book. Between 2013 and 2019, I held the position of Chief Technology Officer for Capgemini Europe—a role that allowed me to facilitate innovation and technological advancements within our company while also evangelizing these ideas to our clients. Taking the stage to talk about my passion was undeniably one of the greatest pleasures that accompanied this position.
However, living in the Netherlands and well known in the Dutch IT industry, I found myself overflowed with requests for keynotes, client meetings, and conference discussions. While this was certainly a fortunate situation, it also presented challenges as I needed to fulfil my responsibilities as CTO for the rest of Europe. This led to frustration for both the people I had to disappoint and my family, as frequent work-related evenings compromised my time spent at home in the Netherlands.
Fuelled by this dissatisfaction (or as Tom Peters would put it, being "supremely pissed off"), I set out to build a broader network of thought leaders—individuals whom I could recommend in cases where I couldn't fulfil requests myself. I embarked on a journey within our organization, seeking experts who were exceptionally skilled in their specific fields.
However, in this quest, there were always some elements where I saw room for development, amongst others:
● Inability to tell a compelling story that captivates the audience.
● Being too narrow in focus and lacking a broader perspective.
● Proficiency in describing the current state, but inability to envision the future.
● Excelling in one field but struggling to apply this expertise to new or unfamiliar industries.
● Failing to inspire action and mobilize the audience after a presentation.
These requirements may seem demanding, but in my view, they are what truly defines a genuine thought leader in today's world.
Unable to find the ideal team to support me, I opted for a different approach. I decided to deconstruct the skills I possessed and observed in other industry leaders. Based on this analysis, I developed a program to nurture our talented experts into becoming genuine thought leaders.
I initiated the first "Thoughtleader Class" in 2014, where approximately ten participants eagerly joined. It was an enjoyable and energizing experience that also provided me with insights into the essential skills that needed development. This led me to identify the five key elements of thought leadership.
However, I soon realised that not everyone could excel in all five elements. Reflecting on research conducted by Crawford and Mathews during the millennium change, I found a valuable analogy. In his book The Myth of Excellence,Crawford and Mathews demonstrated that successful retailers in the market always shared specific characteristics:
● They Excelled in one of the 5 P’s
● Performed above par in one of the other 5 P’s
● And were at par at all remaining 3 P’s
Argument was that if you excel in more than one area, it would always come at a cost where you would be below par in one of the other P’s, which is typically not accepted by clients, regardless of how much expertise you demonstrate in the other P’s.
Inspired by this idea, I adopted a balanced approach to grow our thought leaders. As within retailers, thought leaders will also not be able to excel in each of the five elements, and each of the thought leaders will have different talents and hence will maintain a distinct balance.
This model proved to be highly effective, and over the years, the "Thoughtleader Development Model" (TDM) came to fruition.
Surprisingly, this development programme extended beyond potential CTOs. Individuals who might never become a CTO found that through the model, they could enhance their impact on clients (e.g., architects), improve the conversion of RFPs into winning deals (e.g., consultants), excel in managing clients in large engagements (Engagement directors), and drive greater value for the group.