By being a thought leader, you have the opportunity to present ideas, rather than react to someone else’s. This can be an extremely powerful tool for a business because if your product or company is associated with new, exciting, and fresh ideas you can be at the center of a movement and debate. People are passionate about ideas — often much more so than about a product — and if they connect their passion for those ideas to your company, it will transfer to your company as well.
As part of our series about how to become known as a thought leader in your industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Zack Abbott. Zack sets the vision for ZBiotics. Zack has a PhD in microbiology & immunology from the University of Michigan, where he enjoyed his research untangling complex and elegant webs of bacterial gene regulation. He holds a bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley, where he double-majored in immunology and classical art & archaeology, paid his rent in tips from bartending at the Bear’s…