4 Key Questions For Thought Leaders

All experiences have a past and a future. The question is, how can you use them to position yourself for growth?

Example? I used to call myself an athlete.

It was true — I grew up ski racing — downhill and Super G were my disciplines for those who know that world. Then, years later, I traveled the globe as a professional expedition skier/journalist, had the sponsors, the free gear, and the big titles paying my way to Chile, Canada, and Norway like Outside Magazine and National Geographic.

But still, something wasn’t clicking. I had a trepidation in the big mountains that those around me didn’t seem to suffer from. I wanted to want that next level of steepness and risk, but it crippled me. And the writers around me always seemed more, well, literary — with books on the horizon, 4,000-word articles in the Atlantic. That was never going to be me. I knew it and I struggled to admit it, mostly to myself.

So, I shifted. I began using my “less-than” literary skills to bring a narrative mindset to brands limping along trying to adopt storytelling into their marketing ecosystem.

Then, phase 2: I used my highly inquisitive journalistic nature to build personal brand programs for athletes because I knew what they suffered from — who were they in relation to their competitors, audience and sponsors? I had struggled deeply with that, yet giving others the life and business tools I had discovered along my 46-year journey was incredibly satisfying and getting results for others.

My past experience as an athlete birthed a future of sharing that insight with others — building programs that categorically alter people’s future.

So, for you, as you start to leverage your experience to position yourself for growth and visibility, ask yourself these questions:

1. What has happened that was a challenge you faced?

2. How did you respond?

3. What did you learn, and how have you used that since?

4. How will you use that in a future scenario?

Because remember this: you become interesting when you frame your idea in a particular way, and reflect on what it has meant to you and how it has changed you.

That, my friend, is memorable. That is thought leadership.