This week, I’m breaking down the top thought leadership myths, two minutes at a time, so you can get over the ‘ick’ and start sharing your expertise. Check out the intro and Myth #1 if you missed them.

Myth #2:
"Thought leadership is too time-consuming"

Back in my executive ghostwriting days, I worked with a CEO who was looking to boost his company’s profile through a combination of courses, talks, interviews, etc.

Throughout our months-long engagement, he was committed to showing up and was consistently generative with insights.

But I could also sense that sometimes, meeting with me about thought leadership content was the last thing he wanted to be doing amidst everything else on his plate.

Like a security training on your calendar in the middle of a busy week. A real buzzkill, right?

One afternoon, we were taking a breather after a big milestone, and I asked him how much time he was currently spending on thought leadership.

“10%”

I then asked him how much time he thought he should be spending.

“30%”

As the figurehead of a business whose differentiation comes from his unique POV on his domain, I think his number was about right.

I know what you’re thinking - 30% of my time?? I run a business! You should see my calendar! I have clients! I have sales calls!

Well, how did you get those clients? What do you talk about on those sales calls? Yup, your expertise!

Thought leadership is like a professional athlete’s workout regimen. It’s not always enjoyable, but it’s certainly a critical part of the job, and it makes you all the more ready for game time.

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Some tips to soothe the time-based pain:

Stay consistent

• 30% of your time is too much right now? Start smaller.
• 15% is about an hour a day — could you block out an hour a day to:
  • Download some thoughts into a Notion doc or whiteboard
  • Draft LI posts for the week
  • Share helpful POVs as comments on others’ LI posts (”answerbombing”)
  • Think through a 3-point outline for a potential webinar
  • Send out feelers to podcast hosts

Find an efficient output format for you

• If you’re a “slow” writer, focus on short-form channels like email or LI
• If writing drives you nuts, get yourself booked on a podcast
• If it’s not a great time to spend 4 months building a course, drip out some tips through LI or email -- you can consolidate them later into something larger

Engage help (particularly helpful for soloists)

• Schedule a 2x/monthly Zoom with a peer to volley some half-baked ideas
• Find an accountability partner (coach, peer, former classmate) that will expect to see you put something ‘out there’ 1-2x per week

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Remember, you’re in the expertise business. Thought leadership is not just marketing, it’s an investment in refining your product. Make time for it.

💡

-Wes