Thoughts on thought leadership

In my day job we have been thinking about our thought leadership strategy for the next year.  As often happens, the question of a definition came up.  A definition of thought leadership is propbably not too difficult to do I thought, but actually it did take me some time. Having written down what I thought it was,  I went on the web as a sort of benchmarking exercise and came across this great quote from elise bauer which I think sums it up nicely!

A thought leader is a recognized leader in one’s field. What differentiates a thought leader from any other knowledgeable company, is the recognition from the outside world that the company deeply understands its business, the needs of its customers, and the broader marketplace in which it operates.

What do you think?