How to Find Your Thought Leadership Voice
by Tabby Biddle
Photo: Getty Images
Who gets to be a thought leader? Is there some official process that grants certain people permission to publicly share their ideas, lead conversations, and influence culture?
In my line of work, I’ve seen many women reach a point in their careers where they no longer want to simply contribute to conversations created by others. They want to help shape the conversation itself.
They have their own ideas, perspective, expertise, and vision of how things should or could be in their workplace, in their community, or in the larger culture.
But when it comes to claiming the identity of a thought leader, these women instinctively think: Who me?
They question whether they are qualified enough, credible enough, experienced enough, or important enough to be seen as a thought leader.
They tell themselves: I don’t have a huge social media following. I’m not visible enough. I don’t even have a book published. How could I be a thought leader?
They assume thought leadership belongs only to people with a massive platform, a bestselling book, or a large social media following.
Or they think the thought leader title is too self-promotional or narcissistic, so they back away.
The truth is that many women are already functioning as thought leaders long before they publicly identify themselves that way. They are the women asking deeper questions in meetings, noticing patterns others overlook, mentoring others, advocating for others, and initiating big and small changes in the workplace and in their communities.
They are actually already helping shift culture through the way they think, lead, and communicate.
True thought leadership is not about ego, status, or visibility for visibility’s sake. At its core, thought leadership is about contribution.
It is the willingness to bring your ideas, perspective, and voice forward in service of something greater than you. It’s about challenging outdated ways of thinking, helping shape conversations, influence culture, and offer a more thoughtful and inclusive path forward.
What is often missing for many women I meet in my line of work is not their capability or credibility to be a thought leader, but permission.
Many of these women have spent years being rewarded for their excellent work skills, humility, and reliability inside the existing systems within their education and career path. At the same time, they have not necessarily been encouraged to publicly express bold ideas, challenge dominant narratives, or claim visible authority around their expertise.
As a result, developing a thought leadership voice can feel vulnerable for them. This is because it requires moving beyond what is expected and beginning to articulate what you truly believe.
Yet when women continually hold back their ideas, insights, and perspectives, the loss is not only personal. Organizations miss out on innovation. Communities lose important voices. And conversations that desperately need a broader range of perspectives remain shaped by the same people and viewpoints. The cost of women silencing themselves is far greater than many realize.
We are living in a time when women’s voices are needed in thought leadership not only inside organizations, but within the larger conversations shaping culture itself.
Your thought leadership voice does not need to sound like anyone else’s. Nor does it require you to become someone more charismatic, more extroverted, or more publicly dominant. In many cases, it begins by paying closer attention to the ideas and conversations that consistently rise up inside of you.
What do you care deeply about? What conversations do you feel ready to lead? What experiences have shaped your perspective? What truths have you learned that could help others?
How to Find Your Thought Leadership Voice
1. Pay attention to the conversations you can’t stop having.
Thought leadership often begins with the conversations that continue showing up inside you again and again. These are the topics you find yourself discussing with friends at dinner parties, on lunch dates, texting about, or reflecting on long after the conversation has ended.
Perhaps you care deeply about gender equity, racial equity, mental health, women’s health, education, motherhood, workplace equity, human rights, or the future of our planet. The topics that consistently draw your attention are often clues pointing toward the conversations you are here to help shape and lead.
2. Notice what moves you.
Pay attention to the stories, headlines, cultural conversations, and workplace dynamics that stir something inside you. What frustrates you? What inspires you? What feels outdated, harmful, or ready to evolve?
Thought leadership is often born from a combination of insight and emotional truth. The issues that move you emotionally are frequently connected to the perspective you are here to bring forward.
3. Clarify the change you want to help create.
At its heart, thought leadership is connected to your vision. It asks not only what you think, but what future you want to help build.
When you imagine a more just, equitable, humane, healthy, emotionally intelligent, peaceful or prosperous future, what do you see? What conversations shift? What would become possible for people? What is the change you want to help create?
Take out your journal and write freely for several minutes. Your thought leadership voice often becomes clearer when you stop trying to sound impressive and begin speaking honestly about the change you long to create.
Thought leadership is rarely born from having all the answers. More often, it emerges from a willingness to stop minimizing your voice and begin trusting that your perspective matters.
At a time when the world needs more emotionally intelligent, thoughtful, and socially responsible leadership, women’s voices cannot remain secondary to the conversation.
This next chapter of your leadership is not simply about advancing professionally or becoming more visible for visibility’s sake. It is about becoming a clearer, stronger voice for the ideas, values, and change you are here to help bring into the world.
Perhaps finding your thought leadership voice truly begins the moment you stop asking whether you are qualified to be a thought leader, and start recognizing that your voice and perspective may be exactly what’s needed to help lead us forward.
Tabby Biddle, M.S. Ed., is a Women’s Thought Leadership Coach & Public Speaking Mentor who has spent over 15 years supporting women to become influential public voices and leaders of our time, from TEDx stages to Hollywood to the United Nations. Learn more about her coaching, programs, and speaking at tabbybiddle.com.