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Competing on Thought Leadership by Robert Buday

About the Book

Competing On Thought Leadership by Robert Buday

“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 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.

About the Author

Since the late 1980s, Bob 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 new 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.

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Bub Buday
Robert Buday, Buday Thought Leadership Partners LLC

Advance Praise

“Thought leadership is the engine that drives the early adoption of disruptive innovations. It inspires visionary customers not only to embrace a new paradigm but to set aside budget to incorporate it into their future plans. Competing on Thought Leadership is an essential guide to navigating this challenging terrain.”​
Geoffrey Moore
Author, Crossing the Chasm and Zone to Win
"Content matters! This practical book lays out clear, specific steps to achieve thought leadership and build a business on it. "
Ram Charan
Global Advisor to CEOs and Best-selling Author
“Every company that’s trying to create disruptive change in the marketplace needs to be seen as a thought leader today. Thought leaders are crucial to getting an audience to see and solve their problems in a very different way. Thought leaders ignite that change. Robert Buday shows you step-by-step exactly how to make thought leadership a winning business strategy.”
Charlene Li
New York Times bestselling author of The Disruption Mindset and Founder of Altimeter
“Bob Buday was one of the inventors of thought leadership for professional services firms—a master practitioner—who since then has taught what he knows and is still learning—a master instructor. This is a very smart book. It gives practical advice about how to use thought leadership to compete, and it is as clear-eyed about how things go wrong as it is sharp-eyed about how to succeed.”
Thomas A. Stewart​
Chief Knowledge Officer, AchieveNEXT and former editor in chief, Harvard Business Review​

More Praise

“Bob is clearly the thought leader on thought leadership. He captures the keys to ‘ideas with impact’ with creative insights, specific steps, and relevant examples. Any leader who recognizes the value of ideas will cherish this blueprint for action. Following Bob’s guidelines will make knowledge productive.”
Dave UlrichRensis Likert Professor, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan Partner, The RBL Group
“Outstanding speechwriters ‘reach for the marble.’ They frame bold ideas that are so compelling and elegant that they are worthy of being carved into stone and memorialized for future generations. But it is not just speechwriters. Most leaders in the private, public and civic sectors harbor this dream. As they lead with thoughts, they hope to forever etch their core beliefs and insights into the minds of the people they are aiming to inspire and influence. In Competing on Thought Leadership, readers receive a master class in transforming this dream into a reality. If you aspire to positively change the world with your ideas, you owe it to yourself to read this book!”
Mark LeiterChairman, Leiter & Company Former Chief Strategy Officer of Nielsen Former McKinsey & Co. B2B marketing practice co-leader
“Competing on Thought Leadership is a powerful guide for those determined to win with breakthrough thinking. Buday reminds us that it is a tight combination of demand creation (creating desire for the new idea) and supply creation (being able to deliver and scale the new idea) that ultimately creates a scalable solution. This is a must-have handbook for any leadership team competing on new ideas in today’s age of disruption.”
Shane CragunSenior Partner, Leadership Development, Korn Ferry; co-author of Reinvention
“Bob nails the deep thinking and precision execution that separates leading thought leadership from also-rans. As he rightly notes, successful thought leadership starts with unique ideas that are substantiated through indisputable facts, figures and evidence, expressed through authentic experiences, and illuminated via compelling writing and design. The proof is in Bob’s highly accessible frameworks that translate heady thought leadership concepts into achievable practice. Winning thought leadership initiatives aren’t easy -- nor are they for everyone. Success typically comes through iterative and egoless thinking, as well as a keen awareness of market wants, needs, desires, and zero tolerance for BS. Bob’s practical guidebook puts the odds of success in the reader’s favor. As such, it is truly a must-read for thought leadership practitioners and wannabes alike!”
Alan AlperVice President, Global Thought Leadership Programs, Cognizant
"Every chief marketing officer – and their bosses – need to adopt thought leadership as an integral part of their strategic plans. Companies must go beyond traditional marketing and learn how to lead on important societal issues. This book will show them how to do it."
Hank CardelloSenior Director, Leadership Solutions for Health & Prosperity, Georgetown University McDonough School of Business
“Bob Buday has been the wise sage behind thought leadership and strategic initiatives for countless companies. Working behind the scenes, he has skillfully crafted new, out-of-the box direction for companies. He has also helped them clarify their messages and get published in high-profile publications such as Harvard Business Review. Now after decades of being the guru behind the scenes, Buday has generously documented his knowledge on thought leadership in this compelling book. Leadership of companies desiring to remain competitive and relevant should feel compelled to take note!”
James WetherbeRichard Schulze Distinguished Professor of Business, Texas Tech University
“Today's knowledge-intensive firms compete in a world where success accrues to those with the best ideas. But that's just one piece of the puzzle. As Bob Buday tells us in this insightful book, thought leadership has its own distinctive value chain, demanding focus from idea generation all the way through to providing expertise at scale. He has a distinguished career in helping companies achieve success as thought leaders. As the director of a university think tank, I found the advice in the book to be extremely valuable.”
Vijay Gurbaxani Director of the Center for Digital Transformation, University of California, Irvine, Paul Merage School of Business
"Thought leadership isn't a new idea, but what's new about this book is that Buday does a marvelous job of taking thought leadership from something resembling voodoo to nearly a hard science. In so doing, he provides an end-to-end playbook for how to monetize it and grow a business around it. Filled with rich examples of what and what not to do, this is a great read."
Ric MerrifieldAuthor of Rethink and Surviving a Business Earthquake, and co-author of the classic Harvard Business Review, “The Next Revolution in Productivity.”
“Finally, a marketing book that enables practical commercial execution. For those of us on the front line of sales, we are most grateful. Competing on Thought Leadership truly enables a unified commercial engine to connect marketing and sales with an executable solution so that, together, we can drive profitable revenue growth. This book brings sanity to the "more is better" barrage afflicting B2B buyers today and represents a powerful step to helping marketing and sales teams to mobilize together.”
Maria BouldenRetired DuPont Global Sales Director; “sales whisperer” to chief commercial officers worldwide
“This book shows companies and experts that have mastered their subject how to powerfully attract more and more work. Midsized companies should use this approach to leap ahead of their bigger competition. Buday is the thought leadership master of today for any leading thinker who can walk their talk. We followed his methods and grew our consulting firm revenues 4X. If you think of yourself or your firm as a thought leader, read this book now.”
Robert SherCEO of Mastering Midsized; Author of Mighty Midsized Companies and Driving Midsized Growth: People.
"Thought leadership is no longer just for marketing but can be a powerful way to guide competitive strategy. Buday offers the ultimate pro's guide, so that companies can take the next logical step: toward developing insights so enduring that they can give you a long-term edge in creating new services for customers."
Evan I. Schwartzformer Director of Storytelling, Innosight
“Thought leadership has been an important component in much of the value creation strategic advisory work I do within professional services. I’ve seen the approaches Bob puts forward in this book work time and time again -- most recently in a human capital advisory firm that has grown 10X in value over the five years since Bob helped put in place a disciplined thought leadership strategy. In Competing on Thought Leadership, Bob walks you through each and every step. This book is a must read for anyone looking to leverage the power of thought leadership in growing a professional services firm or any other growth-oriented organization.”
Richard AlderseaStrategic Advisor to Owners & Operators of Professional Services Firms
“A must-read for any B2B business leaders competing for client mind share. It clearly lays out the steps that a business leader needs to take to go about setting a thought leadership strategy and then executing it. This book couldn’t have been more timely. Businesses around the world are trying to understand how to engage with clients and prospects in meaningful conversations in the new world.”
Binayak ChoudhuryCo-Founder and Partner, Phronesis Partners (global research and analytics firm)
"The definitive book on thought leadership from the world's most knowledgeable expert on the topic, Competing on Thought Leadership is as educational as it is useful. Bob Buday combines his keen insight on why thought leadership is exploding in popularity with his well-earned life wisdom on how to develop compelling content and turn it into rapid growth in revenue and profit. This book is a must-read for executives in every organization that compete on expertise, ideas, and insight."
Jason Mlicki Principal, Rattleback
“Read one chapter and you’ll move ahead of your competition; read them all and you’ll own them. Bob Buday not only defines thought leadership, he simplifies it, and then he delivers it.”
Jeff McKayCEO of Prudent Pedal and B2B Marketing Strategist
“This book provides invaluable vision for and lessons in thought leadership. I especially appreciate the framework for how visual communications, data visualization, and interactive experiences fit into the field. I cut my teeth doing this work for the thought leadership departments at many of the white shoe and Big Four consulting firms I greatly value Bob’s insights into how to best take advantage of these technologies and methods in the context of thought leadership
Bill ShanderCEO and Founder of Beehive Media; expert on information design, data storytelling and visualization
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