The Laziest Revenue And Reputation-Killing Mistake In B2B Marketing

"Not every executive should be positioned as a thought leader. Companies want their leadership to be visible. They want a bench of voices representing the brand. But after 18 years of building executive communications programs for B2B technology companies, I've watched millions wasted on a fundamental confusion: the difference between executive presence and thought leadership. Getting this wrong doesn't just waste budget. It produces hollow, scattered content that buyers and journalists ignore."

"And in a world where buyers often turn to ChatGPT before Google, that scattered content means your executives don't show up when it matters most. The Accidental Spokesperson Problem Last month, I sat with the leadership team of a company that's been successful for over 50 years. Their competitors poke fun at their age. They wanted to look "cool and progressive." They'd watched a younger rival's CEO build a massive LinkedIn following and wanted the same energy."

"Here's what they actually had: one executive who's a natural on social media. He'd become the loudest voice of the company by accident, not by design. No strategy connected his visibility to the company's positioning. This is the pattern nearly every company faces as they scale. Someone becomes visible by accident. Leadership wants to replicate it. They push other executives to "be more active" on LinkedIn. The result is scattered personal brands that don't compound."

Companies seek visible leadership and a bench of brand voices, but confusing executive presence with thought leadership wastes millions and creates hollow, scattered content that buyers and journalists ignore. Scattered content causes executives to be absent in search and AI-driven buyer journeys. An accidental spokesperson often emerges when one executive gains organic social visibility without strategic alignment to company positioning, prompting leadership to pressure others to increase activity and resulting in fragmented personal brands that fail to compound. Executive presence focuses on recognition: polished profiles, milestone posts, and event appearances. Thought leadership requires established expertise and a genuine, differentiated point of view.

Read at Forbes