Where are you today and where do you want to go in the future? Where, most importantly, do you want to take your audience? Given the issues you identify, what questions do they raise for your audience? If the issue is Sarbanes-Oxley legislation, then you will raise a certain set of concerns with certain audiences. But the issue could be all sorts of things. It might be offshore outsourcing or energy prices or turbulence
in the economy.
Whatever the issue, you are then challenged to answer the questions it raises for your intended audience. You ultimately must fill their knowledge gaps – or at least some of them.
Once you demonstrate that you understand the key issues that matter to your audience and the implications these issues raise for them, you are in a position to offer recommendations that will have an impact. You are a thought leader on your way to becoming a market leader. You are illuminating the future.
