How to choose thought leadership topics that actually matter

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A quick recap. In reimagining how you do thought leadership, we’ve:

Now comes the part most people get wrong: identifying which challenges are actually worth your platform.

Not every industry challenge deserves flagship content. Most don't.

And when you get this wrong—when you address challenges that aren't worth your platform—you waste time, dilute your positioning, and train your audience to ignore you.

Here’s how to identify the challenges that matter and ignore the ones that don't.

Most thought leadership programs work like this:

Marketing identifies "trending topics" in the industry. They put them on a content calendar. They interview the executive. They publish.

The problem? Marketing is picking topics based on what's being discussed, not based on what the executive is uniquely positioned to address.

So you end up publishing takes on challenges everyone else is talking about. Your perspective gets lost in the noise. And because the executive isn't deeply connected to the challenge—they're just commenting on it—the content lacks authority.

That's not flagship content. That's commentary.

Flagship content comes from challenges the executive is actively solving. Not trends they're observing. Not topics that are "hot" in the industry. Challenges they're dealing with right now in their business.

That's the difference.

Before you commit your executive's platform to a challenge, run it through these three filters:

Not "have they dealt with this in the past." Not "do they have an opinion on this." Are they currently, actively working on solving this challenge in their business?

If the answer is no, it's not worth their platform. Because the authority in flagship content comes from real-time experience. When you write about challenges you solved five years ago, it reads like a case study. When you write about challenges you're solving today, it reads like insight.

Just because your executive is dealing with something doesn't mean it's an industry-wide problem. It might be unique to your company. It might be a symptom of an internal issue, not a market trend.

So before you publish, vet it. Ask your network. Talk to customers. Check if others are facing this. Look at what competitors are saying. If it's just you, it's not worth the platform. If it's widespread but no one's addressing it well, that's your opportunity.

This is the filter most people skip. They identify a challenge, confirm it's real, and publish a take that sounds like everyone else's.

"Remote work is challenging." "AI is transforming our industry." "Customer expectations are rising."

Those aren't POVs. Those are observations.

A differentiated POV is specific. It takes a stance. It disagrees with conventional wisdom or offers a framework others aren't using. It makes people think "I hadn't considered it that way."

If your executive's take sounds like what three other executives could say, it's not differentiated enough. Keep developing it or move on.

The best challenges don't come from content calendars. They come from the executive's day-to-day work.

These are the raw materials for flagship content. Not trends. Not topics. Real challenges the executive is grappling with that others in the industry are probably facing too.

Once the executive identifies a challenge, don't just publish it. Vet it first.

Here's the process:

Is this challenge showing up in industry publications? Are competitors talking about it? Are customers mentioning it? Are analysts highlighting it?

If yes, it's real. If no, dig deeper—it might be emerging (which is good) or unique to your company (which is bad).

This is what I mean when I say executives vet challenges through their networks. They're not doing formal research. They're asking people they already talk to.

Other executives. Customers. Partners. Board members. Mentors. Investors.

"We're seeing [challenge]. Are you seeing this too? How are you thinking about it?"

Those conversations tell you whether this is worth addressing publicly.

If the challenge is real and widespread, the next question is: what's your executive's unique angle?

What do they know that others don't? What have they tried that worked (or didn't)? What assumption are they challenging? What framework are they using?

If you can't articulate the unique angle in one sentence, you're not ready to publish. Keep developing the POV.

Not every challenge is worth your platform. Here's what to skip:

"The future of work" isn't a challenge. It's a category. Narrow it down. "How to maintain culture when half your team has never met in person" is a challenge.

If your executive is commenting from the sidelines, it won't land. People can tell when you're observing versus experiencing.

If your POV sounds like everyone else's, you're just adding noise. Either develop a more differentiated angle or move on.

If only 10 companies in the world face this, it's not worth your platform. You need scale for flagship content to work.

If the truth makes you look bad or reveals something you're not ready to share, don't address it. Authenticity is non-negotiable. Watered-down takes don't work.

Here's the pattern I see in the best flagship content:

The executive identifies a challenge they're actively solving. They vet it through their network and confirm it's widespread. They develop a POV that's specific, differentiated, and rooted in their experience. They publish it. They engage with the feedback. They use that feedback to refine their thinking and identify the next challenge.

It's a loop. Each piece informs the next. The executive gets smarter about the market. The audience gets value from the executive's real-time experience. The company benefits from the positioning and intelligence capture.

That's flagship content.

But it only works if you're selective about which challenges you address. Because your platform isn't infinite. Everything you publish or publicize either builds your positioning or dilutes it.

Choose carefully.

If you're trying to identify challenges worth your executive's platform, here's what to do this week:

Ask them: "What challenges are you actively working on right now that you think others in our industry are also facing?"

Don't give them a list of trending topics. Don't pitch them ideas. Just ask the question and listen.

Is this showing up in the market? Who else is talking about it? What's the unique angle?

The one where the executive has the strongest POV and the most direct experience. That's your next piece.

Don't try to address all three at once. Pick one, develop it deeply, publish it, and see how it lands. Then move to the next.

The right thought leadership topics come from real-world challenges an executive is actively solving, not from industry trends alone. Strong thought leadership content starts with personal experience, is relevant to a clear target audience, and includes a differentiated point of view that helps decision-makers think differently about a shared problem.

A topic is worth publishing when it meets three criteria: the executive has direct experience with it, the challenge is showing up across the industry, and there’s a unique perspective to offer. Topics that build trust tend to address real pain points and offer valuable insights rather than surface-level commentary.

Executives identify meaningful challenges by paying attention to board discussions, customer conversations, sales objections, and internal debates. These signals often reveal gaps between strategy and execution that are relevant to other industry leaders and worth addressing through in-depth thought leadership pieces.

Content marketing topics are often chosen to support campaigns or boost brand awareness. Thought leadership topics are chosen to shape positioning, influence decision-makers, and demonstrate know-how. A strong thought leadership strategy prioritizes insight over volume and authority over optimization alone.

Industry trends can inform topic selection, but they shouldn’t drive it. Writing about trends without a differentiated POV leads to generic content. The best examples of thought leadership use trends as context, then go deeper by explaining what those trends mean in practice and how leaders should respond.

Thought leadership works across many content formats, including long-form articles, LinkedIn posts, podcasts, webinars, white papers, and speaking engagements. The type of content matters less than the quality of thinking behind it. High-quality content can later be repurposed into multiple formats without losing impact.

Before publishing, vet topics through conversations with customers, partners, industry experts, and other executives. These informal checks often surface whether a challenge is widespread and whether your POV feels distinctive. This step improves optimization and reduces the risk of publishing content that falls flat.

Generic content usually comes from broad topics and safe language. To avoid it, narrow the scope, anchor the piece in personal experience, and be explicit about what you agree or disagree with. Strong thought leadership content doesn’t try to please everyone. It aims to be useful to the right audience.

Consistency matters more than frequency. One strong piece of thought leadership content per month can outperform frequent low-impact posts. The goal is to create a repeatable content strategy that executives can sustain without burnout, while still generating real-time feedback and insights.

Beyond basic metrics like views or social media engagement, look at qualitative signals: comments from decision-makers, inbound messages, podcast invitations, backlinks, partnerships, or follow-up conversations with prospects. These indicators show whether the content is influencing perception and supporting long-term lead generation.

Yes, when done well. In-depth thought leadership pieces supported by SEO-friendly FAQs can rank for long-tail queries, attract backlinks, and increase website traffic. Unlike short-form digital marketing content, strong thought leadership compounds over time and continues to deliver value well after publication.

Executives should ignore topics that are too broad, too niche, not tied to current challenges, or impossible to address honestly. Publishing content without a clear POV or without firsthand experience weakens credibility and dilutes strong thought leadership over time.

Start by asking the executive a simple question: What challenges are you actively working on right now that others in the industry are also facing? From there, apply a step-by-step vetting process to determine which challenge is worth becoming the next piece of content.

Each week, we share executive-level guidance on thought leadership, strategic content, and building trust with decision-makers. Subscribe to receive the newsletter every Wednesday.

Johnathan Silver helps executives turn judgment and experience into effective thought leadership. Through The Thoughtful Executive, he works with senior leaders and marketing teams to build thought leadership programs, sharpen executive voice, and create content that earns trust over time. His work sits at the intersection of leadership communication, content strategy, and executive decision-making.