Becoming a thought leader is essential to transitioning into senior leadership roles. It’s not enough to be an expert. You also have to be able to communicate your ideas to a broad audience.
Matthias’s guest Rhea Wessel, a journalist by training, is the founder of the Institute for Thought Leadership. She explains what a thought leader is and how you can find the sweet spot between your passion (purpose), your credentials (experience), and your “big idea”. The intersection of those three is your thought leadership niche.
Matthias also gets an impromptu coaching session when Rhea asks him to explain the motivation and purpose of his podcast. And Rhea shares how she got drawn into the world of thought leadership.
About the guest
Rhea Wessel, an American writer, based in Frankfurt, Germany, writes magazine articles, studies, speeches, and other material for corporate clients, helping them formulate their ideas and present them to readers in the right tone, style, and structure.
A graduate of Columbia University, Rhea specializes in finance, technology, and social issues. She is a native speaker of English and fluent in German.
With more than 25 years of experience in daily deadline writing for publications such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, Rhea knows how to simplify complex topics and mold them into compelling stories. One of her features appeared in Best of Newspaper Writing 1999.
In 2019, Rhea founded the Institute for Thought Leadership and began advising subject-matter experts on their journey to thought leadership.
Her book, Write Like a Thought Leader: How to Find, Frame, and Tell the Stories that Position you as an Expert in your Niche, was published in 2022.
Resources
- Rhea’s personal website
- Institute for Thought Leadership
- Rhea’s free, short-form workshops for individuals
- Malcolm Gladwell: The Tipping Point