September FAQ — Where Do Your Leadership Article Ideas Come From?
One Friday each month, I dedicate the post to looking at some questions I have heard recently from developing leaders. Sharing those questions and my thoughts about them is a way for me to spread the information to as many leaders and future leaders as possible. If you have a question about leadership, or just a situation you would like some additional insight on, please email me at Effective Retail Leader. Let’s take a look at this week’s question.
Where do you get the ideas or topics for the articles that you write and share on your website?
What a great question. I was asked this question in a hallway conversation at work one day. It made me think about how I do end up with the topics I write about. Somehow I always have something on my mind that is interesting to me, and I also keep a future article idea list running, so I can draw on past ideas that have popped into my head along the way.
There are several places the ideas tend to come from, so there is no one easy answer to this one. Probably the most common idea generator for articles is a lesson I am learning for myself. As I look at things that are intriguing to me or something that I feel like I would like to get better at or learn more about, I turn that into a multipurpose situation. I can learn about it and share my ideas as well. I have found this works out well in a few different ways. First, it is an excellent way to reinforce the learning for myself. Writing about it requires a more in-depth understanding of the principles I am taking in. It also forces me to view the topics from multiple perspectives and capture my thoughts about what they mean to me. And, then, what they might mean to others.
Another way I start an article is based on something I recently read and thought the topic would be beneficial to others. It becomes a way for me to bring additional interest to the topic and share alternate perspectives. Most articles are not written specifically for retail leaders. And while I believe most of what I share can be applied to the broader base of any leader, I do try to bring a more retail-driven perspective to the ideas and concepts shared. When I have pulled specifically from another article, I will always link to that article to share the ideas in multiple ways. It is important to understand the views from different angles and styles.
Similar to the Frequently Asked Questions articles (like this one), I will write articles about topics that people ask me about, or something I overhear or observe when visiting stores or working with counterparts in different companies. If it is on their minds, it is likely on the minds of many other people. So, it makes sense to do some research and share ideas on that subject.
Finally, and this is somewhat related to the one above, but look for common trends, something that people are struggling with or comes up in multiple situations. Time management, influencing others, and delegating are still some of the most common subjects that come up in discussions or where I see people struggling in their leadership. These are topics I tend to come back to again from new viewpoints in hopes to connect in new ways to people with similar areas they’d like to improve. They are still areas I consciously work on for myself. They all seem easy, everyone has an opinion on them, yet because they are so dynamic in nature, there is the continual need to improve and enhance your abilities in these core topics.
So, that is a look at how most articles come to be. Many of these I end up putting together as a series. These tend to be larger topics that would be too difficult to cover in a single article. I try to keep most articles between 800 and 1,000 words. When they begin to approach 1,500 or more, I know that I will need to break the topic into a couple of separate articles to cover properly.
Keep the questions and suggestions coming. If there are any topics you would like to see covered, reach out any time at Chris@effectiveretailleader.com, or connect with me on LinkedIn to ask any questions.
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