How Thought Leadership Has Been Driving My Business Development for 15+ Years

There is much research on the value of thought leadership to business growth. In this article, I’ll share some of the most relevant findings from such research.

However, when I started my thought leadership journey, it wasn’t because of any such findings. I wasn’t even aware of the existence of those studies. 

I did it because, in my daily work as a consultancy owner and senior expert, I gained a vast amount of 'experiences from the consulting trenches' that could benefit my extensive network. 

My simple goal was to provide value to my immediate network – people I manually added to my Outlook mailing list (mailing applications weren’t on my radar screen). 

I didn’t realise then that this urge to share case studies, learnings, advice, and observations would become the most impactful business development strategy I could ever have hoped for.

In this article, I’d like to explain why sharing expertise is a wise business development investment and how consulting firms can make it a win-win for clients and prospects and their business growth.

Growing two consulting businesses on the back of expertise-sharing

Consultancy #1: iNostix – Stumbling into the thought leadership-powered business development model

In 2008, I founded iNostix, a boutique consultancy that offered people analytics advisory services to large enterprises. As with any new business, we were eager to hit the ground running, which meant acquiring clients at all costs. 

I have to admit. At first, I let my ego get the best of me. I would say yes to almost any project that came our way. I loved bringing in big clients. I used to call the office with the message: you won’t believe what I just sold. The answer of the team: “damn, did you do that again?” 

I was proud to sell projects we had never done before. My ego wanted to crush every new opportunity that came my/our way.

Recommended reading: Why you should share expertise to grow a consulting business.

While the business was growing nicely, I was finding myself increasingly overwhelmed. Unsurprisingly, I reached the inevitable burnout. 

At that point, I decided to step back and reevaluate my business priorities. I realised that what I was doing daily – endless follow-ups, micromanaging my teams because I was constantly throwing them into the unknown with the new projects, spending hours looking at the financials, overseeing marketing, etc. – was not satisfying me or the entire team.

That’s when I started my thought leadership journey. For me, it was a reflective exercise. 

I looked back at the projects our consultancy had completed and started documenting our experiences and learnings: what problems we solved, who we did this for, what triggered them to call us for help, what questions and objections they had, what we were able to achieve, what we had learned, and how that fitted into the larger picture of where those enterprises were headed.

In no time, I had a library of content, and I started sharing my ‘wisdom from the consulting trenches’, insights I believed my network could benefit from. 

So, I compiled a mailing list with my (extensive) Outlook contact list and started sending my content without a particular schedule. I tried doing it regularly, but there was no specific format or design I adhered to and no testing of which day of the week and what time delivered the best response rates.

After a few months, I noticed a change: I started receiving emails and calls from people outside my network. “Hi, Luk, my former colleague Ben sent me an article you shared with him and the issue you helped Company X with is similar to what we’re struggling with. Do you think iNostix can assist?”

Due to the value of the content I was sharing, I didn’t realise it was being re-shared by my network. Prospects started seeking us out more and more. 

It seemed like the ultimate dream: large companies were reaching out to us to complete projects that big, international consulting firms were desperately trying to win. We won proposal after proposal against the Big 4, who didn’t share similar ‘experiences from the trenches’ and never got to the visibility and reputation level we had (which ultimately resulted in the acquisition by Deloitte in 2016).

We found ourselves in the position that most consulting firms strive to be in: prospects came to us, and we had to make tough decisions about which projects to accept and which to decline politely.

In 2016, Deloitte acquired iNostix. Our impressive client list, which we had built up by that point, was an essential factor, but it was not the only one. 

Here’s what Deloitte communicated to the press in 2016: “One of the main drivers behind the acquisition was Luk’s status as a well-known global thought leader in the people analytics consulting space. Luk has proven that amplifying visibility as a consultant is more than a feel-good marketing technique.”

Consultancy #2: TheVisibleAuthority.com – Developing a deliberate thought leadership-powered business development model

When I founded TheVisibleAuthority.com in 2019, I sincerely believed in thought leadership. I had witnessed firsthand the incredible power of being generous with my knowledge and experiences. 

By now, I have developed a set of best practices that I could use as a foundation for starting a consulting business from scratch.

• I started building up a catalogue of thought leadership pieces ahead of time;
• I actively researched my target audience and conducted 15 in-depth interviews to help me understand what business issues they were dealing with, what they were looking to achieve, how they go about their decision-making process, etc.
• I developed a preliminary editorial calendar that incorporated all the main themes I wanted to address,
• I purchased a subscription to Hubspot that would allow me to publish my pieces, distribute them, and track analytics in a single platform.

I started TheVisibleAuthority.com right before the global pandemic paralyzed the world. “How unfortunate!” – many people told me. Their sentiment made sense. Established businesses were struggling to stay afloat, and I was closing the first year of my brand-new business.

Thought leadership carried my business through the massive uncertainty we all – people and businesses – faced. 

My new consulting business flourished despite the pandemic. While face-to-face business development in consulting became impossible, my approach to business development and business growth through expertise sharing became increasingly in demand.

The pandemic accelerated my visibility and reputation, and I currently have more requests than I can handle. This means I am once again able to hand-pick my ideal clients.

More client education means more revenue. 

I’ve spent 20-30% of my time writing to educate my target audience over the past 5 years. And when I write, I never think of generating revenue. Never. 

But the more I educate (and write), the more revenue it generates. 90% of new clients find me through the experiences I share. It’s like real estate: the more assets you buy, the more value you create. 

Business development in consulting is rooted in educating the target audience. Building trust at scale. 

Expertise-sharing: A data-backed business development strategy

As mentioned at the beginning of my article, when I started my thought leadership journey, I was unaware of the studies on its impact on business development. I am acutely aware of them now, however.

So, for those consulting partners, owners or leaders who need further proof of the transformational business power of putting time and effort into consistently sharing knowledge, I’d like to share some of the most relevant findings of various studies conducted on the subject.

✔️ Edelman: According to the Edelman-LinkedIn 2024 study:

• Thought leadership helps build trust with the target audience: 73% of decision-makers say that an organisation’s thought leadership content is a more trustworthy basis for assessing its capabilities and competencies than its marketing materials and product sheets. 
  
  Furthermore, 54% say that an organisation consistently producing high-quality thought leadership content has prompted them to research its offerings or capabilities.
  
  
• Thought leadership directly impacts business development: 9 in 10 executives say they are moderately or very likely to be more receptive to sales or marketing outreach from a company that consistently produces high-quality thought leadership. 
  
  86% of decision-makers say they are moderately or very likely to invite organisations that consistently produce high-quality thought leadership to participate in the RFP process.
  
  Yet, only 38% of TL producers expect their organisation’s thought leadership content to invite them to participate in an RFP process.

✔️ Dentsu: Clients are less loyal than ever to their existing partners. According to Dentsu, the incumbent loss rate increased from 29% to 34% in the past two years. 

And what makes clients switch to other consultancies? Among other things, it’s the lack of thought leadership. Edelman-LinkedIn’s study discovered that 54% of decision-makers say the piece of thought leadership got them to realise there were other suppliers they could work with that better understood the challenges their organisation was facing.

✔️ Content Marketing Institute: What makes a thought leadership strategy successful? According to a study by the famous Content Marketing Institute:

• The top performers attribute their success primarily to understanding their audience – 82%.
• Other factors include:
  • Producing high-quality content – 77%
  • Possessing industry expertise – 70%

✔️ Momentum/ITSMA: Finally, a study by Momentum ITSMA shows that those who derive high ROIs from their thought leadership can do so because they are proactive in their strategy:

• Leaders are more likely than laggards to monitor feedback from clients/readers (62% vs 43%), brand value (52% vs 34%), sign-ups/subscribers (38% vs 16%), and brand trust (38% vs 13%).

Given such overwhelming evidence, I am amazed how many boutique consultancy owners stubbornly refuse to allocate sufficient time regularly to share their expertise! 

If consulting leaders are invisible in the market, their business runs on borrowed time

Too many consulting firm leaders, owners and partners are quiet when they should be educating and inspiring. Silence is a liability in a consulting market that thrives on trust and credibility.

I’ve seen this pattern far too often: consulting firms rely on their immediate networks, word-of-mouth referrals, or the occasional marketing push, which they don’t believe in.

Here’s the problem! Networks shrink, referrals dry up, and the consulting firm fades into the background without consistent visibility.

Some consulting leaders tell me they don’t know what to write about (I really don't get that). Others think it's a task for someone else. Worse, some assume that delivering excellent client work alone will keep the pipeline full.

It won’t.

Consulting is a trust business, and trust is built through the visibility of expertise. Leaders must educate their market, share insights from the trenches, and inspire their audience long before a prospect becomes a client.

This doesn’t mean posting a few bot-generated, boring blog posts (which is the case in too many consultancies) or resharing generic industry updates. It means bringing their unique voice, perspective, and expertise to the table. It means becoming a leading voice. The go-to specialist prospects think of when they face a challenge.

Let’s not forget that 90% of consulting buyers do their research before reaching out. If you’re not visible in that process, you’re not even in the running.

Here's my advice

• Lead by sharing experiences. Share real insights, client challenges, and lessons learned from the trenches. Educate and inspire, not just promote.
• Focus on building trust at scale. Credibility can be built through consistent, valuable content, such as case studies, practical advice, and unique perspectives. Trust scales when your expertise becomes discoverable. Let marketing focus on the scaling effort, but you are leading.
• Stop waiting for the perfect topic. Your experiences and problem-solving approaches are goldmines. Start with what you know best and how it helps clients.
  
• Ensure that leadership visibility is balanced with a collective approach to avoid over-reliance on a single individual. While visible leaders are crucial for building trust at scale, they can inadvertently cause a critical commercial risk if they exit or resign. Cultivate a team-based strategy to maintain continuity and resilience.

LinkedIn, my 'virtual conference room'

Most consultancy owners/partners totally misunderstand LinkedIn.

They are stuck in archaic thinking about LinkedIn, treating it as a bulletin board for self-promotion or as a picture diary of all sorts of events.

You know what? You are missing the point of social engagement for business growth.

While you muse over the pictures of your fabulous keynote presentation from last week (that doesn’t drive real engagement), your LinkedIn-savvy competitors are engaging in real-time with clients and prospects, learning directly from the market through immediate feedback on their shared viewpoints, on-the-spot sharpening their thinking with each interaction.

They understand the power of instant feedback loops — how a single post can trigger insightful discussions, and become a two-way street of insights, where the feedback they receive is as valuable as the expertise they share.

That is the currency of influence on LinkedIn, and you're letting it slip through your fingers.

Bypass LinkedIn, and you bypass deep client understanding.

Here's my advice

I always think of LinkedIn as a 'virtual conference room'.

Content on my website may gather digital dust and may remain unchallenged, whereas LinkedIn breathes split-second life into my words, my thinking, and my expertise.

It’s a dynamic space where immediate reactions from a global audience can enrich our perspective as consultancy leaders.

Each comment, each share, and each piece of feedback is a free lesson in market demands, client pain points, and industry understanding.

Saying you don't have time for LinkedIn (what too many consultancy owners/partners say) is like saying you don't have time to understand the market.

Here’s my harsh point of view: your LinkedIn reluctance as a consultancy owner or partner is a strategic blunder that constrains your firm's growth and silences your expertise in a world that never stops talking.

In the meantime, your biggest competitor gets awesome market intelligence from LinkedIn - insights you will never get.

And that competitor is only one easy click away from your clients and prospects.

There's one more thing: AI

While AI is a powerful tool, it should not be used to write your thought leadership from A to Z.

Thought leadership requires a personal voice, unique insights from the trenches of your work, and a deep understanding of your field that AI cannot replicate.

Here's how we use AI

• We utilise AI to proofread and enhance our text, ensuring clarity and precision, especially since English is not my native language.
• AI helps us summarise content and suggest concluding paragraphs based on our existing writing.
• It assists in analysing our content catalogue to suggest improvements, identify additional subjects for deeper exploration, brainstorm underrepresented topics, and propose new topics based on our recorded project work.

AI is a valuable assistant in refining and expanding our content, but the essence of thought leadership must come from genuine human experiences from the trenches and not 'invented stuff' from ChatGPT (which I am seeing way too much).

In conclusion

I built trust and credibility by delivering meaningful insights and engaging authentically with my audience, ultimately leading to two thriving consultancy businesses.

The success of iNostix and TheVisibleAuthority.com—not to mention the dozens of examples I have encountered working with high-performing boutique consultancies—proves how thought leadership can organically drive growth and set a consultancy apart from its competitors.

Today, research provides compelling evidence supporting the impact of thought leadership on business development. Decision-makers favour companies that consistently share high-quality insights.

My experience aligns with this data, proving that being proactive and strategic about sharing expertise attracts prospects and positions consultancies as leaders in their field.

Incorporating platforms like LinkedIn as a 'virtual conference room' amplifies this strategy, offering real-time engagement and invaluable market insights. It’s a dynamic space where immediate feedback can refine our perspectives and enhance our understanding of client needs.

Meanwhile, AI functions as a powerful tool to enhance and broaden our content, ensuring clarity and precision. The essence of thought leadership must remain grounded in authentic human experiences, which is at the core of consulting work.

Committing to a thought leadership strategy, leveraging LinkedIn for engagement, and utilising AI for content enhancement are no longer optional for boutique consultancy owners. They are essential for long-term success.

If you’re not building trust at scale, you’re building irrelevance.

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