What tribe are you going to lead?

                                                         Image courtesy of Denise Parsons

Thought leadership as a strategic marketing and knowledge management initiative.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 6,500 the day I founded Knowledge Architecture. It was March of 2009 and I had been meeting with prospective clients and strategic partners to test-market our services. I told them that we were going to build a knowledge management and information systems consulting practice for the AE industry and that I was interested in getting their feedback.

I received reactions which ranged from supportive to doubtful. One trusted advisor told me that people would not invest in knowledge management consulting because “knowledge management is squishy.” He was convinced that despite familiarity with the term “knowledge management,” few people could define it or enumerate the benefits.

My trusted advisor was right. As I talked to more and more firms I discovered the following:

• Firms agreed that their people were their company’s greatest asset
• Most firms did not have a systematic approach for creating, capturing and sharing knowledge
• People were interested in what we had to say

We had to educate them one by one. I realized that we had two challenges as a new company: not only did we have to build brand awareness around Knowledge Architecture, we had to build a market for knowledge management services.

In short, before people could hire us, they had to understand what they were hiring us to do.

A knowledge management tribe for the AEC industry

Over the summer of 2009, I came across Seth Godin’s TED talk called “Tribes are what matter now.” In 18 minutes, Seth Godin articulated the benefits of creating a community for disconnected individuals with common interests. He called these undiscovered communities “tribes.” Tribes have a yearning to share what they know, learn from each other and connect with their peers. They are just waiting for someone to lead.

I was inspired. I knew from my history in the industry and my recent experience with Knowledge Architecture that there was a latent demand for a knowledge management tribe in our industry. However, I also knew that I didn’t have all of the answers and that Knowledge Architecture could not make knowledge management a standard business practice in the AEC industry alone. I realized that the fastest way to build the case (and market) for knowledge management was by inviting a bunch of smart folks to share their ideas and stories. Like TED, we would record all of the talks and release them for free over the web as embeddable videos to encourage sharing. KA Connect was born.

That weekend I announced KA Connect 2010 on our blog and LinkedIn. KA Connect 2010, in April of 2010, was our first knowledge management conference for the AEC industry. 36 speakers gave short talks over two days on topics such as social media, integrated project delivery, collaboration practices, and organizational learning.

As a result of launching KA Connect we have:

1. Connected thought leaders from AEC firms, academia, consulting and software development
2. Developed new strategic partnerships and deepened existing alliances
3. Connected with dozens of prospective clients and included a complimentary admission to the conference for our subscription clients
4. Built a platform for creating, capturing, and sharing new knowledge with our clients, partners, and staff
5. Positioned ourselves as a “tribal leader” in knowledge management in the AEC industry

What tribe are you going to lead?

Let’s go back to the two marketing challenges I laid out at the beginning of the article – building brand awareness around Knowledge Architecture and building a market for knowledge management services. I work with enough AEC firms to know that you are also facing differentiation and positioning challenges.

Here are 5 steps your firm can take to position your firm as a thought leader, deepen your relationships with strategic partners, and provide a learning experience for your clients and staff:

1. Find an emerging issue which connects your clients, strategic partners, and firm in which you want to plant your thought leader flag. (For example, the impact of Integrated Project Delivery on K-12 school districts.)
2. Book a venue.
3. Invite the smartest people you know to share their ideas and stories. (Yes, this will probably mean your competition. The benefits of collaboration with your competition, or co-opetition, on strategic industry issues are for another post.)
4. Invite prospective and existing clients and strategic partners.
5. Capture and share lessons learned. (This is a great way to assuage that guilt you’ve been feeling about falling behind with social media. Sharing knowledge on issues your clients, partners, and staff care about via video, your blog, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social platforms sure beats press releases.)

Good luck! Your tribe is waiting.