Leff’s take on what’s working in thought leadership
As some of you know, we’ve started a monthly feature, the Gold Standard, highlighting strong pieces of thought leadership from professional services firms. The idea is to show what “good” looks like
in the thought leadership market. With that in mind, we also plan to offer occasional “dissections” of an article or report that show specifically
why a piece hits the mark. Our first effort looks at a recently published article from BCG, “How asset managers can seize the lead in
sustainable investing.”
Overall, this was a solidly executed piece of thought leadership. The authors displayed their expertise in a concise way. I could imagine a potential client contacting the authors to start a conversation.
Section 1
Back to top
Section 2
Section 3
Section 4
Section 5
The first three paragraphs of the article summarize the “situation” (aka the introduction).
A well-executed introduction gives the reader everything he or she needs to decide whether to keep going. That’s the case here.
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The authors let
us know quickly
that there is an opportunity. That’s good. Better would be if they could put some numbers around it.
Rare is the article that systematically addresses each challenge raised in the prescriptive section.
Clear call to action.
This is the complication, or background, section. Depending on the article, we’ll see market-sizing (the opportunity), discussion of trends, forces at work, and challenges.
Don’t be afraid to cite outside sources when you don’t have your own.
It’s not always easy to tell it like it is. Authors fear offending potential or existing clients. But leaving out an issue can make you look naive.
Great sidebar. The authors really show they know what they are talking about.
This is the prescriptive, or resolution, section
of the article.
You’ll see that the authors try to tie
the prescriptions to the challenges they noted above.
Many pieces end flat. This one does an excellent job of summarizing the article, including the stakes, and finishes with a rousing call
to action.
The authors confront head on the fact
that there are challenges to be overcome. Many articles ignore or underplay the challenges involved in pursuing an opportunity.
Another example
of bringing to the surface a potentially uncomfortable subject (in this
case, people in investment firms don’t see this as a real way to make money).
The best pieces of thought leadership are filled with real-world examples.
Too many pieces remain at a high level of abstraction. Our preference is to see the experiences of individual companies.
by Allan Gold