Controversial Figures: Not all thought leadership data is created equal 

For a discipline built on carefully crafted sentences and the all-important ‘message’, in reality thought leadership is a numbers game. And not just any numbers.  

The opinions of experts are always valuable, but when backed up by powerful evidence, they become invaluable. What constitutes powerful evidence isn’t as straightforward as we often imagine – and a one-size-fits-all approach no longer works.  

One size-fits-all? Go figure 

In the recent past, one size did seem to fit most of the time, and that one size was called ‘opinion research.’ It was the gold standard of evidence-backed thought leadership. In a world where behavioural economics loomed large that made a lot of sense.  

Peoples’ opinions do still matter, in my opinion, but only regarding topics that depend on their opinion (i.e. when the outcome is heavily dependent on a particular group’s views and the responses they elicit). It is here that many recent campaigns have taken a stumble.  

The headlines and boardroom debates in 2024 aren’t nearly as centred around behavioural economics as they once were. Perhaps more importantly still, the future isn’t the blank slate we used to assume, waiting to be shaped, limited only by the scope of human imagination.  

Instead, the new kid on the block is environmental economics, and she’s taking no prisoners, without much care given to what anyone else thinks.  

Cutting a fine figure 

In the modern world of thought leadership data, the research methods we use and the numbers that we crunch must be applied carefully and directly to the subject at hand.  

For example, if we want to understand how organisations and their employees envisage their roles being shaped by the future of technology, opinion research is the perfect tool. However, if we want to understand the reality of how cities around the world are being reshaped  to meet the needs of both climate change and their citizens, opinion data will fall woefully short.  

What’s the alternative? Historically the most robust and powerful forms of data have been neglected, because they are harder to work with. But economic data is starting to have its moment in the sun.  

Why? Because it tells us what is happening on the ground, not what fallible humans imagine to be the case. If you’re planning your talent needs for the next five years, would you rather know what skills exist in the market and how they are changing over time, relative to demand, or would you rather know what some people think is happening?  

Ahead for figures 

Once again, that is not to say that opinion research is dead. It isn’t, and it has a huge amount to offer wherever behaviours are important, such as diagnosing missed opportunities or where key perception gaps exist between different groups.  

However, it is no longer the only weapon in the arsenal. Organisations that neglect the tangible, robust power of real-world data will struggle to take their thought leadership from ‘interesting’ to genuinely game changing. 

If you'd like to learn more about our approach to data and thought leadership, please get in touch here.