Not a Thought Leader or strategic enough for the big promotion? Steal like an Artist...

'I didn't get the job. They said I need to be more strategic. Demonstrate more thought leadership. I don't think I even know what that means...'

I hear this one a lot. I used to fall for it too. Till I learned it was all a lot easier than I imagined.

Want the inside truth? I'm not always sure the people giving you the feedback know what it means either. Something about creativity? Bringing new ideas to the table? Thinking bigger? 

It's why you didn't get the promotion though, so you know you need to address it, but, sigh, 'I don't think I am strategic'...

There's a veil of mystery over strategy and thought leadership.

It creates that sense of, 'you've got it or you haven't' and somewhere underneath it, for those of us who suffer with imposter syndrome, there's a sense that some people are just, well, more intelligent than others (and don't confuse intelligence with smart, because those strategic people, they're more than smart, right?). Smart people work in Operations and peak just before the top. Intelligent people, well, they do STRATEGY...

Let's start with thought leadership. In my experience, we can remove the veil really quickly into something practical and do-able.

My favourite place to to begin? Austin Kleon's concept, 'Steal Like an Artist'. A brilliant book, with big sketchy writing, you could finish it on your tube ride. Definitely nothing 'strategic' about it.

It's brilliant in its simplicity. Kleon claims there are no new ideas out there. That every honest artist, when asked, 'where do you get your ideas?' would answer, 'I steal them'.

He quotes from TS Eliot:

"Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different. The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different from that which it was torn".

Ah, the relief for the non strategists amongst us - you don't have to come up with something new at all!

What if it was as simple as searching for the gems that are already out there and then crafting the best of them into things that will work for your leadership, your people, your customers, your organisation?

Now that's doable for any of us, especially those of us with a practical bent - I mean this is what we're good at! Making things real...

The first step is simple:

You have to look outside of your organisation.

Why? Because there's nothing new inside the organisation that someone else hasn't put on the table. And you're being called to bring some new perspective.

And if you're struggling to find it in your professional membership magazine or at that big corporate conference, I can hazard a guess as to why. It's probably not there.

Only the very best conferences are full of brilliant speakers and well thought through case studies that you can truly get your head around. Only the very best professional magazines have stories you can find meaning and insight in. In my experience they are hard to find.

But in this world of global communications, inspirational information is everywhere, if you are willing to mine for it a little.

All you really need to do is find one thinker you really enjoy, and it's pretty much guaranteed those pesky algorithms will do their real job; they'll point you to others who might inspire you in the same way.

At some point, if you're willing to search for a little while, you're going to find yourself reading, (or listening to, or watching) the work of a few big thought leaders out there who are going to light sparks in your brain. And the stealing artist? What she does is combine the ideas she has uncovered from different thinkers, into something that might just work for her organisation. She can do that because she has the final necessary ingredient - she understands her own people, her own customers, her own organisation's culture and unique way of working.

And there you have it, you've come up with a new idea after all, simply by taking your artist eye out into the world and looking for things worth stealing.

So what about the strategy part then?

Well that's easier than you think too, but let's pick it up another day - there's enough to get going with here, right?

Want somewhere to get started? Check out the books I've shown on the photo above. Or go find The Corporate Rebels or Trendwatching.com or Brene Brown or Susan Cain or Simon Sinek to name but a few. You don't have to like them, you just have to follow the trail...

There are diamonds everywhere you look.

Go steal them.

Danielle Macleod is the Co-Founder of Remarkable Women and author of 'Remarkably Easy - how to get out of your way and unleash your brilliance'. In her corporate career, she led 10,000 people to exceptional results.

Connect with her on Linked In for more on heart-centred, compelling and impactful leadership designed with women in mind.