🧲 Outlier Thinking: What it is and how to find it

I was listening to Chris Williamson’s DOAC interview the other day and he said something that really stuck with me…

So simple.

And yet, at this time of year, when everyone’s talking about goal setting and habit forming and New Years Resolutions, it really is quite profound.

I share this, not just because it’s timely, but because it showcases exactly what great thought leaders do. They ask themselves:

1. Where is everyone being pulled?
   This is the conventional wisdom surrounding your topic and it has a gravitational pull. It’s not just where everyone else is looking, it’s what 99% of the people in your space are probably talking about (and speaking into the void as a result).
   

2. What is everyone missing?
   This is the gap. The overlooked insight that could become your point of difference AND create your own gravitation pull if you can spot it. [Is the idea uniquely his? No. But by spotting this gap, he’s positioning himself as someone with a 1% insight around this topic].

Getting clear on your answers to these questions will help you set the direction for your own thought leadership in 2026.

But perhaps most important is this idea of subtraction.

What are you going to put down in order to make your thought leadership a priority in 2026?

Because if this is the year you’re planning to:

1. Get on more podcasts

2. Speak on more stages

3. Write that book

4. Increase your fees

5. Start that newsletter

6. Start a movement

7. Publish some research

8. Grow your audience

Then thought leadership is the work.

And it’s going to hinge on the quality of your ideas, your ability to communicate them and perhaps most importantly of all, who you surround yourself with.

Everything we’re designing for inside MicDrop this year is about nurturing outlier thinking. Creating magnetism around your ideas - so you stop chasing and start being chosen.

Not through self-promotion. Not through hustle. Through the quality of your thinking, so that your ideas into the very thing they become sought after for.

If you don’t want to embark on this journey alone, we’ll be welcoming a very small intake of new members in February, apply here.

Happy new year!

Alex