So I have a confession to make…….I have never thought of myslef as a ‘thought leader’ so to place it as a descriptor of myself was pushing my level of comfort. But I figured since it is a part of my job description, literally, I better get comfortable with it and fast.
And I have…mostly. It has actually become one of the aspects of my career I treasure the most. I am given, nay – encouraged, to stop and think about what the future might bring when it comes to multifamily. I am blessed to be surrounded by others who are far more intelligent and experienced who are often the seeds for the next thought train. I stand on the shoulders of giants in that respect and am so grateful for each and every one of them.
Even as I type this, recent conversations have my mind drifting to:
- Where will ESG consiousness lead multifamily operations and investment?
- How will/can IOT change the way we identify our target market?
- Will the pandemic induced migration patterns continue to hold or will we see re-migration back to the gateway cities? Or perhaps only in the non-tech forward industry driven cities?
- What are the ways we can leverage behavioral modeling and AI to make better informed decisions that drive yield?
So in an attempt to get more comfortable with the moniker, I went searching for other thought leaders in this space and others……and I discovered a trend. A lot of thought leadership pieces – end with a product pitch. Probably too many. OK – most.
Now, I am not against pitching your solution to whatever problem you are trying to solve. Afterall, nobody does anything at an established company until somebody sells something. But if your thought leadership always ends with a product pitch, its not thought leadership. Its marketing.