Competing on Thought Leadership: How Great B2B Companies Turn Expertise Into Revenue by Robert Buday

About the Book

“Thought leadership” is now a core part of the business lexicon. Numerous corporate websites devote whole sections to it. Entire conferences are built around it (TED and the World Economic Forum as the most exclusive ones). It’s at the center of sophisticated, high-ticket PR campaigns.

Thousands of people are making careers out of it. And companies from Fidelity Investments, Adobe and Cigna to PwC, Accenture and Spotify have people in charge of it.

Interest in the field of thought leadership is white-hot — just like the buzz created by illustrious thought leaders when they bring groundbreaking ideas to market. So it’s about time the topic of thought leadership itself got a substantive treatment.

In Competing on Thought Leadership, Robert Buday boldly delivers it. He defines thought leadership concretely: as the acclaim that a firm or a person earns for developing, marketing, and delivering superior expertise in solving complex customer problems. And he defines it broadly — as a business strategy, not just a marketing strategy.

Buday also brings to bear his client work and research since the 1980s in helping companies and individuals inside them become known worldwide as leading experts in their field, which in turn has increased their revenue and profit multifold.

This book focuses on how businesses that sell services and products to other businesses can thrive on thought leadership. It takes the lessons learned at some of the best firms in the world at selling expertise – consulting, accounting, law, financial services, and technology firms – and makes them practical for every B2B firm.

Yet the principles of Competing on Thought Leadership apply to all organizations – for-profit and nonprofit alike — that must demonstrate superior expertise in solving complex problems. Consumer companies, charitable foundations, and other organizations, too, can benefit greatly from adopting these best practices in thought leadership.

About the Author

Since the late 1980s, Robert Buday has been regarded as a pioneer in the theory and practice of thought leadership — well before the concept became widely adopted and loosely interpreted.

He and his team at his firm, Buday Thought Leadership Partners LLC, collectively bring decades of experience in helping business-to-business companies become widely recognized and richly rewarded for their expertise.

His two firms, Bloom Group and Buday TLP  have provided thought leadership strategy, content development,   and marketing services to such companies as Deloitte, Accenture, EY, Microsoft, CSC, and a range of smaller B2B firms.

He has helped clients develop and publish dozens of opinion articles in the world’s most prestigious business and management publications including Harvard Business Review, Forbes, MIT Sloan Management Review, Financial Times, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, and others. He also has helped several clients conceptualize, develop and publish best-selling books.

And, interesting fact – it took him 22 years to get to his first date with his wife!

Listen to the Interview…

Links…

• Competing on Thought Leadership: How Great B2B Companies Turn Expertise Into Revenue by Robert Buday (Amazon)
• Bob Buday (LinkedIn)
• Bob Buday (Twitter)
• Buday Thought Leadership Partners
• The Language of Global Marketing: Translate Your Domestic Strategies into International Sales and Profits by Wendy Pease (Marketing Book Podcast interview)
• Crossing the Chasm, 3rd Edition: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers by Geoffrey A. Moore
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• Andreessen Horowitz Brings Thought Leadership to the Valley (Entrepreneur & Innovation Exchange)
• Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution by Michael Hammer and James Champy
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• Speed & Scale: An Action Plan for Solving Our Climate Crisis Now by John Doerr
• A Brief History of a Perfect Future: Inventing the World We Can Proudly Leave Our Kids by 2050 by Chunka Mui, Paul Carroll, and Tim Andrews
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• Gentle Giant Moving Company, Larry O’Toole (Wikipedia)

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