What do you do if your boundaries as a Thought Leadership professional are being pushed to the limit?

Boundaries are about what is ok and not ok for us, however to know that we have to allow time to reflect and consider what makes things ok and not ok for us. Then there is the need to communicate those boundaries (whatever they may be) to those around us in family, work or social life. They act as guardrails through life and are not designed to be rigid, rather able to bend and flex when needed. If someone, something or a situation is pushing up against our boundaries it is a sign that we need to reflect on what it means for us, what we might need to do, what conversation we may need to have, what decision we may need to make. That choice is ours to make although difficult to do without the guardrail in the first place.

Follow the motto "When the going gets tough , the tough get going". Prioritize tasks. Delegate work. Assign roles and responsibilities. Expand team size if required. It's okay to say no when something doesn't align with your boundaries or values. Practice assertiveness and politely decline requests that you're not comfortable with or that exceed your capacity. Practice self care

Here is advice I give to managers often: (1) Stop thinking you need to be in every room, hear every update, and be part of every meeting, you are being invited because you've created this requirement. (2) Stop gatekeeping the complex and the simple tasks. (3) If you literally can't take a mental health day, or a decent vacation, you don't have the right people on your team. Admit it and make the changes needed. The organization will either thrive while you are away because of your great leadership, or collapse when you are away because of your lack of leadership and your micromanagement/enabling style.

When i start going down the rabbit-hole of ‘urgency’ by consistently answering to emails and messages 24*7, by working on Sundays, it is time to re assess and pivot to a more sustainable thought leadership mindset.

Recognizing & Setting Boundaries: Find Balance The demands of thought leadership can be exhilarating, but it's vital to maintain healthy boundaries. Building a successful thought leadership presence often comes with juggling multiple commitments. But it's crucial to recognize when your boundaries are being pushed first: The first step is to Identify Your Limit and your capacity. How much work can you realistically handle while maintaining quality and well-being? Be honest with yourself about your limitations. Set Clear & Communicative Limits: Once you understand your limits, communicate them clearly to clients, and your network. Set specific work hours, or politely decline requests that exceed your bandwidth.

I think you got this all wrong. Thought leadership means facing ambiguity, exercising grey cells, bringing on the "thoughts" and "thinking" in a mature and fresh perspective and hence the nomenclature! How can you set limits?! How can this be reduced to work hours and project deliverables? Thought leadership means setting new standards, moving the goal post, defining the future for others to follow. Projects can be delivered with mediocrity or with thought leadership, depends if you want to view your glass half full or half empty. Thought leadership is a metamorphosis, one that we need to be willing to go through, and not negotiate on how much!!!

Sometimes it’s good to challenge your boundaries and jump outside of your comfort zone but be aware of your limitations and other commitments. Don’t rob Peter to pay Paul as my Grandad use to say.

I find it helpful to carve out time for exercise, especially walking, every day. That ensures that I get time away from work and can refresh my energy. Walking in nature, appreciating the views, and also doing some exercise that pushes my physical capabilities to experience the joy of making progress.

* Setting limits and clear definitions are important as well. * When creating these definitions know what you're going to be limiting yourself from. Whether it be work, school, family issues, etc. * You want to set boundaries and parameters that will help not drain your energy so quickly or get burnout.

When it comes to asserting your boundaries in thought leadership, it's crucial to stand firm yet remain respectful. If others challenge your limits, clearly remind them of your boundaries and explain why they are important for maintaining your focus and the quality of your work. This could mean declining requests that divert you from your goals or negotiating more realistic deadlines to ensure you produce high-quality work without overextending yourself. Asserting your boundaries effectively helps protect your well-being and upholds the integrity of your thought leadership.

Female executives are especially challenged here. The likeabilty penalty is real. In the past, I was ordered to take an online likeabilty class by a female executive at a Fortune 1000 company. I now realize that this is so wrong because it erodes all of the benefits of diversity & inclusion, which directly impacts the bottom line.

You are a thought leader for a reason, the essence of thought leadership pushing boundaries. Here I refer to professional and intellectual boundaries. You live open to these boundaries being challenged because you always keep abreast of your field. Having your limits pushed creates, however, with maturity and self-awareness you listen, observe, ask questions and reflect. Adjusting only matters when you believe the challenge is meaningful and creates ground for alternatives. Personal limits are more sensitive and may require assertion even though it may look like defensiveness. And if you are defensive, you reflect and adjust what you deem necessary.

Assertiveness and amplification are twins. We reside in a time where there’s a lot of overly confident people who are not shy about their inexperience and that doesn’t stop them from grabbing the bullhorn and taking charge. In many ways, we can learn from people who don’t wait for wisdom or perfection - they assert themselves as they are. Their ability to be unapologetically themselves, to be willing to fail, to have to learn in public— this is what many of us find so captivating about those individuals. That said, you have a lot of choice as to when and where to assert yourself, and what idea or characteristic you want to amplify. That’s the art / fun of thought leadership, you go where you’re guided and let your tribe find you.

Asserting oneself becomes crucial when there's a cap on thought leadership. It's about standing firm in your ideas and contributions, ensuring your perspective is heard and valued within the limits of the discussion.

Building a trustworthy group of individuals is a crucial aspect of compelling thought leadership. With their support, you can gain accountability and foster growth, ensuring that you stay focused on your goals and set boundaries to achieve them. Remember, when you have a reliable team to bounce ideas off, you can accomplish anything you want.

Don't be afraid of doing this, especially as a leader! Leaders arguably need to seek as much support as anyone else in an enterprise or industry. And seek it across the board: Across jobs, ages, and life experiences. To keep from drowning, we need nets composed of many hands.

In the context of thought leadership, when facing challenges related to maintaining your boundaries, it's beneficial to seek support from mentors, peers, or professional coaches who understand the unique pressures of your role. These supporters can offer valuable guidance, share their own experiences, and suggest effective strategies for managing demands and stresses. Additionally, having a supportive network helps hold you accountable to the boundaries you've established, ensuring you remain aligned with your objectives and protect your well-being.

The saying that you "can't pour from an empty cup" applies here. It's important to remember that the more you show up for yourself, the more you can show up for others. Especially in the thought leadership space, where setting an example is paramount, modeling the behavior of prioritizing wellness is essential.

For me, self care is work life balance. Honestly I set my personal goals in the beginning of calendar years much before my professional goals are conceived for F.Y. By the time April comes , I should have completed my one of the personal goals such as Mountaineering, Hiking, Trekking, and Exploring historical & religious places etc. Once I am personally fulfilled then I put my 120% efforts to achieve my professional KRA and whenever I feel low in my professional environment, I take break to reboot myself and again push harder. Learning from nature and Mother Earth is most element of my personal goals.

Essential. Regular breaks, even naps, time out for recreation all important to stay on top of your game. Keep friends and family close and regularly dip in and dip out

Reflection, including 'self-talk' is something that I have found really helpful. Calibrating/recalibrating your and others' perspective helps one to evolve into a better thought leader. Of course setting boundaries is essential. Letting people know that you have a viewpoint which may not always align to theirs is absolutely fine.

I think this is perhaps a different way of explaining what I do when I exercise or walk. Reflection can happen with motion or physical effort. It doesn't need to be a physically passive activity, it just needs to be different from work.

I think it depends on whether you are introverted or more extroverted (in the MB sense). If the former it will benefit you to change your circumstances and instead of giving out lots of inspiration, take time to soak in some inspiration from others for a change. Take a week off to just read. Visit art galleries. Listen to music. Whatever. Refill your inspiration reservoir for a time, recharge, reconnect and refill - when you come back to it you’ll be reenergised rather than depleted.

* Once you reflect on what's going on around you. You're going to need to adjust and adapt pretty quickly. * It may not happen instantaneously but it needs to be fine-tuned in different ways.

Regularly reflecting on your boundary management is essential, as your needs and circumstances may evolve over time. Be willing to adjust your boundaries as necessary to maintain a healthy balance between your professional commitments and personal well-being. Continuous reflection enables you to fine-tune your approach to boundary-setting, ensuring that you can continue to lead effectively while prioritizing your health and happiness.

It’s a horrible expression, but try to “slice the elephant” in order to bring back calm and regain control. As a thought leadership professional, I have seen occasions where organisations are more driven by the clock than the quality of the insight. Avoid the temptation to rush out all your great content at once. Carefully manage your key stakeholder expectations so that you can release / go to market in digestible, smaller chunks. This approach enables you to build curiosity with a well timed “teaser” to warm up your audience, but not put everything on the table all at once. Instead, go for gradual, carefully bringing your audiences on the journey with you and this way, you can learn and adjust as you go for maximum impact.

Leadership is more of an instinct especially for the individuals with a progressive mindset. More so because such leadership has a nurturing quality. But let's not forget, leaders are humans or the person pod as we call it before even before they are leaders, employees, parents, partners or which ever other role is to be. Pushing one's self against the wall may prove good for the business but not for the leader or her / his human or person pod. It's allowing self consumption and most of the times not even realising.... which is a definite no-win situation:)

Unfortunately, we are using the term ‘thought leadership’ very loosely in this article. All the amelioration measures suggested subsequently are standard hygiene factors for any thought leader. If you are feeling overwhelmed, here are a few questions to ask: 1. Am I overdoing things? Is there enough gap in two of my communications? 2. Am I repetitive and falling prey to verbiage? 3. Is the timing right? Am I too early or too late? 4. Do I have complete clarity on my communications calendar? 5. Am I using the right channels? You get the drift. 😊

I plug myself into the mainframe, via the socket in the back of my neck. I wait for the data upload to finish – sometimes it takes a little longer than I'd like, watching that bar move slowly from one side of the screen to the other. But after that, I'm good to go.