I met a woman recently who’s focusing her career on Thought Leadership…and then I ran into this terrific Thought Leadership poll out of the U.K that happened to be released today.
Coincidence? I think not. ๐
So I thought I’d do a short posting on the subject.
The poll is from TLG an Populus and you should click here to follow up on more details of their poll or their services: TLG Blog
TLG defines effective Thought Leadership companies as ones who can help change consumer behavior to generate positive social outcomes. Here’s another definition from WikiPedia: Thought Leadership definition.
And here’s their list:
[it’s neat to see relatively new entrepreneurial thought leaders (such as Facebook and Twitter) so quickly joining the list of other heavy-weights]
Top 10 Business Thought Leaders 2009
The top two were:
1. Apple (up from #2 last year)
2. Google (down from #1 last year)
…then there was a three-way tie for 3rd:
3. Microsoft (unchanged from last year)
3. Amazon (new to the list)
3. GSK (unchanged from last year)
two companies were tied for 6th:
6.ย Co-operative Group (down from #4 last year)
6.ย Marks & Spencer (unchanged from last year)
…And these three rounded out the list
8. Facebook (new to the list)
9. Virgin Group (slipped from #5 last year)
10. Twitter (new to the list)
The Thought Leadership Index also ranks non-profits and I’m not suprised that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation ranked #1 in that group.