People want to do business with other people. That’s human nature. When you make the effort to position yourself or your senior staff as thought leaders, you are putting a name and a face to the organization. You are humanizing and personalizing that organization. You are personifying it: when you come across as intelligent, thoughtful, well-informed, prepared, an expert in the field; those adjectives are all now going to be associated with your organization as well.
Becoming a thought leader raises not only your visibility, but also the visibility and approachability of your organization. And the more connected your audiences feel with you and your organization, the more likely they are to listen to your messages and take the actions that you want them to take.
Organizations are not people. But they are made up of people. And the more we show that, the more we let our audiences in behind the scenes and showcase the humanity, the more of a relationship we build with them.