Symph Talks: Albert Padin on thought leadership

Every end of the week we have team meetings where we get to hear what's on our founders' minds and in their hearts. These talks have amused us, taught us and helped us in more ways than one, so we're sharing them as Symph Talks in the hope they help you too. This one is about leadership.

Many of us grew up in an education system that made us very good at absorbing knowledge that's already out there, memorizing things without necessarily understanding them, and following orders without grasping the principles behind them.

At Symph we believe people who want to change the world in some way can do more than that. There's nothing wrong with looking to other resources for answers, or with doing what other people have done before, but people with the heart and the capacity to create change can do much more.

The market is saturated in almost every industry, and it has become hard to stand out from the competition, but we have to. Being the preferred service provider or the top business in the industry is part of it. The bigger reason is to have the greatest influence we can in the community and in the world.

Our CTO Albert Padin put it this way:

"It's changing our mindset from fundamentally consuming what's out there, and following those, to becoming originals. Creatives. In other words, a thought leader."

A thought leader knows everything that's going on but doesn't jump into all of it. Thought leaders know what they want, see what their community needs and act on it instead of going with the flow. They set the standards, and people trust them to move and inspire others in their own organizations and across the whole industry.

The idea of being a thought leader is inspiring, but it isn't easy.

It's always easier to follow an idea that's generally accepted. Once we head in a different direction, we lose the safe footing that tells us whether the new thing is right or wrong. We like that part. You gather the guts, take the risk, discover, learn and share, and that is how you lead.

As Albert said:

"It takes time for general practices to shift. It takes time for consensus to build. But if we always wait for those practices to be adjusted, we tend to already foresee that it doesn't make sense. (If we do nothing about it,) We will never be a leader."

If you know what this world needs and believe you can help it, you are meant to lead a revolution.

You can read more about Symph here.