“My shoes are special shoes for discerning feet.”
— Manolo Blahnik
One mistake a lot of Thought Leaders (or would-be Thought Leaders) make is that they focus on the “thought” part to the exclusion of “leader.”
One of the key ingredients for building a sustainable, compliant following is the affinity and pride of membership of the crowd. It’s something that, every day, is either building up or deteriorating. It’s your job to not only create and maintain this asset, but to build it up every day.
Your crowd is special. It needs to feel special, and people need to be reminded it feels special.
It’s “you and me against the rest of the world.” We are on the inside, and “they” are on the outside. That’s an idea to be reinforced and celebrated every chance you can take.
How do you know if you’re doing this right?
Think of the affinity-based followings you can observe: Baseball fans wear shirts designed to look like player uniforms. They have team-themed Christmas ornaments on the tree. Some people even order a special license plate for their car.
Does your crowd do that, or anything like it? Can you enable them to do so?