Episode 146. Thought Leadership Examples from K-Pop: How to Stand Out in a Saturated Niche

Thought leadership examples are all around us – In this episode, we will do a deep dive on how k-pop is leading the way for innovative thought leadership.

In This Episode:

An exercise from inside The Thought Leader Club and how it stretched my creativity
Why I like (G)I-DLE so much
(G)I-DLE’s music disrupts the industry
Thought leadership insights + lessons from (G)I-DLE (aka my favorite K-pop group)
I genuinely like all of the group’s members
I admire their character and how they think about their craft
People will respect your work even more when you choose to stay in your own lane
How to think about your own body of work and thought leader career

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Innovative Thought Leadership: Examples from K-Pop

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A couple of days ago, on October 31, 2023, we had a welcome party to celebrate the kick-off of our newest cohort of The Thought Leader Club.

At this welcome party, we had a seriously great time warming up everyone to each other inside the container. We started off by introducing ourselves, and then I went over the program expectations and what it will look like week to week for the next four months, explaining the intentions behind all the things we will be working on together.

Then, we had a show and tell. We had a show and tell of our pre-work assignment, which was essentially a brief activity that we each had to complete and then share what we came up with at the welcome party itself.

Each member has a unique assignment assigned to them, based on their responses to some questions I asked them on an onboarding questionnaire that they had to fill out when they joined The Thought Leader Club.

Honestly, on the surface, the assignments I created for each person might have sounded ridiculous at first. It might make you think, “Wait, what does this have to do with thought leadership?”

Let me first share what my own pre-work assignment was—which, yes, I too participated in and will be participating in everything that our clients will do over the next four months. Let me share what the pre-work was and my thought process when assigning this to myself.

An exercise from inside The Thought Leader Club and how it stretched my creativity

“Create an ‘academic report’ on 3 of your favorite K-pop artists, but deliver the information creatively and non-academically. Meaning: Although it must be a ‘report’ i.e. sharing factual information, interpretations, etc., the delivery must be out of the box.”

I decided to choose this as my pre-work assignment because

1) I wanted to talk about something easy for me, something I’m highly passionate about, and something readily available to my mind since I’m very familiar with it, and

2) I wanted to practice discussing topics seemingly unrelated to my work, and extracting lessons from them, even if I don’t tie it back to my work. Often, we get caught up in how to connect everything back to our expertise. But, I believe thought leadership is about drawing connections and extracting lessons from everything to further develop viewpoints or stances on what we’re known for.

I challenged myself to dive deep into one of my favorite things in the world, which is K-pop, and see what comes up. What fresh ideas can I create? What new angles might I approach my work from through the lens of K-pop?

I went into the pre-work activity with no attachment or expectations.

But here we are, with a whole podcast episode on “Thought Leadership Lessons from K-pop”. Clearly, this exercise stretched my brain and creativity more than I had initially expected.

I want to spend the rest of today’s conversation talking about some of the most pivotal lessons I’ve learned from my all-time favorite K-pop group: (G)I-DLE, pronounced IDLE, despite being written as (G)I-DLE.

Why I like (G)I-DLE so much

Initially, my pre-work assignment was to discuss my three favorite K-pop groups.

However, as I pondered this task, I realized I have many K-pop groups that I really like, and I enjoy listening to their music on a weekly basis. But only ONE group seems to stand out to me and compels me to talk about them.

I wondered, “Why do I like this group so much?” I enjoy music from many K-pop groups, so why does this ONE group evoke such a strong response in me?

After listing out some reasons why I love this particular group, (G)I-DLE, I realized I could actually create a whole table to illustrate why I love them so much.

Only (G)I-DLE checks off all three criterias.

	Does their music disrupt the industry?	Do I like most of the members (or just 1 or 2)?	Do I admire the character of the members of the group?
(G)I-DLE	YES	YES	YES
Blackpink	YES	YES
XG	YES		YES
aespa	YES	YES
LE SSERAFIM	YES	YES
ITZY	YES	YES
IVE	YES

(G)I-DLE’s music disrupts the industry

In my eyes, (G)I-DLE are true thought leaders of the K-pop industry. They lead, they innovate, and they disrupt what’s expected of K-pop artists. They do this especially well with their music.

They’ve ventured into arenas that no other K-pop girl group has tried before, and they’re bold about it. They go all in. They lead the industry by being willing to go first, and they do it super, super well every time. They’re adaptive and innovative with each comeback.

For example, in (G)I-DLE’s music video (MV) for their song Nude, which is spelled as Nxde, the MV started off with Soyeon playing a piano with her bleached blonde hair. The whole beginning scene makes you instantly think of Marilyn Monroe.

Soyeon starts off the music video by saying, “Why you think that about nude? Cause your view’s so rude. Think outside the box. Then you’ll like it.”

Unlike what Marilyn Monroe represents or what people associate her with, aka being a sex symbol, their song Nxde has nothing to do with nudity or taking your clothes off.

Instead, the song is actually acknowledging how intelligent the women are and how there’s way more to the person than what the public perceives her to be. Ultimately, the song Is about embracing yourself and being the truest version of yourself.

At the same time, it’s commenting on society’s portrayal of K-pop idols and how society objectifies women and places unrealistic expectations on women, yet they’re so quick to judge women and criticize women.

For me personally, the song Nxde itself isn’t one of my favorite (G)I-DLE songs. But the lyrics are incredibly empowering and it stands for something. Also, the music video is one of my favorites for sure. It is an experience. The direction. The concept. The message. They’re all just incredible.

(G)I-DLE is always challenging expectations and defying stereotypes through their music and artistry. And Nxde, the song and music video as well as the meaning embedded throughout the song and music video is a brilliant encapsulation of exactly that.

In an interview with the Grammys back in 2022, Soyeon, who is the leader, producer, and main rapper of the group, said, “We don’t try too hard to keep up with the restrictions because we’re a K-pop group. We just express ourselves as much as possible and as much as we want.”

This is a really important nugget for us to take away, as we build our thought leader careers.

Thought leadership insights + lessons from (G)I-DLE (aka my favorite K-pop group)

Whether you’re building a business, a podcaster, or in a traditional corporate job, if you are constructing a body of work to position yourself for opportunities in the next 1-3 years, then there’s much we can learn from (G)I-DLE and from what we discussed so far.

I believe one of the biggest takeaways is this: If you want to build your thought leadership in any industry, it’s crucial to stand for something, to have an opinion, and not be afraid to vocalize your beliefs or comment on things you disagree with.

After all, the term “thought leadership” inherently contains the word “leader.” Leaders take the lead. They don’t shy away from their convictions and are willing to be pioneers by expressing what they stand for.

(G)I-DLE didn’t wait for the industry or society to change before using their music to express their beliefs. This mirrors what thought leaders do. They don’t wait for others to catch up before sharing their story and perspectives.

Thought leaders take the lead by example and are willing to pioneer. They don’t wait to act or speak up on matters others avoid. Additionally, thought leaders don’t delay building their body of work around their convictions.

Thought leaders emerge because they decide to stop waiting and start being recognized for what they care about, stand for, and believe in, right now. And that’s precisely what (G)I-DLE does.

Along the same line, with every comeback, they bring a new type of sound. They’re not afraid to try new styles and themes. They create something new every single time. Each title track has a unique and different style from everything they’ve done previously.

They experiment with their music and music videos. They’re willing to go against industry norms. They seriously DGAF if people judge them for not being XYZ enough or for being too much. They stay true to their own standards and continue to lead by example.

For example, in the music video for “Oh My God”, not only did they go for a very artistic and eerie type of sound, but the music video contains so many scenes that it’s hard to imagine any other K-pop company letting their artists do it.

Because many of the scenes they opted for are not necessarily appealing or flattering. It doesn’t necessarily depict their girl group members looking pretty or sexy. But they went with those scenes to convey a certain message or create certain imagery.

It was very experimental and something very unique and new in the K-pop industry.

In the same 2022 interview with the Grammys, the interviewer said, “Your singles are very concept-driven, and you need to watch the music video and read the lyrics to get the full experience. What’s the middle ground between concept and musicality for you? How do you deliver your message while making sure that people can still enjoy your music?”

Soyeon: I think through and try really hard to keep the balance between popularity and sharing our thoughts into the music. If I feel like I’m missing something out, then I try to focus and fill in that with other parts of the music or the concept. At the end of the day, I want to make sure that we put out something that people would like. We try to keep it balanced by utilizing concept images and other elements of production as well.

Minnie: We try to express our message not in a heavy way, but easily understandable for the listeners.

This is a really interesting thing for us to note as well, for those of us building a thought leadership career, because on one hand, we have a lot of opinions and thoughts and brilliant ideas that we want to share. But the communication of our ideas, the way we deliver our vision and thought leadership, is also a skill we must hone.

Because if we aren’t able to communicate our ideas in a way that’s digestible or understandable for our audience, our message simply cannot land or resonate.

As thought leaders, it is our job to hone our communication skills, our ability to present our work in a structured and compelling and engaging way if we want to make any sort of change in this world with our story and ideas. We need to equip ourselves with the skills that will actually allow us to create change effectively.

One thing we can take away from (G)I-DLE is that it’s one thing to be an artist, to have artistic expression. But it’s also very, very important and relevant to consider your people and do the work on your end to make sure you’re able to deliver your ideas in a way that’s resonant with your people. The onus is on us, not our people.

So, so important.

In my opinion, badass concepts, “girl crush” concepts, yes, these are prevalent among K-pop girl groups. But (G)I-DLE doesn’t quite fit into that box of girl crush. Honestly.

For me as an active K-pop listener, (G)I-DLE simply doesn’t fit into any K-pop boxes.

And quite frankly, it’s really hard to say that a K-pop group is doing something that has never been done before.

None of their music or music videos have a flavor of adherence to what you’d normally expect from a K-pop girl group. In their ending scene from their music video for Tomboy, they literally scratched off the word ‘queen’ and wrote their name instead. (G)I-DLE. Which is literally screaming the message “Screw being a queen or subscribing to any other standard, I’m just gonna be me aka (G)I-DLE”. Forget the boxes. Even if people say you’re too this or you’re not this enough, all that matters is that I am me.

All in all, they produce work that most groups in the K-pop industry might not even consider because it’s not what a “conventional K-pop girl group is supposed to look or sound like”. They’re always bringing something new to the table.

That’s why I will always, always be a die-hard fan of this group. And there’s so much we can learn about thought leadership from this K-pop group.

I genuinely like all of the group’s members

There’s a lot of times when I would like the music from a certain K-pop group, but some members simply don’t speak to me.

Whether it’s because other members outshine them or because the individual simply doesn’t resonate with me. I find myself gravitating towards maybe just one or two members of that group.

But for (G)I-DLE, that’s not the case. I genuinely take interest in all of their members.

Whether it’s because I love their vocals and voice, or maybe I love their personality or how funny they are when they’re not performing, or maybe I love their sense of style, or I know about their story and journey to get to where they are. I feel that I genuinely like each of the members of this group, which is something I cannot say for most groups I follow.

Since we’re on the topic of members of the group, I want to share a side story. Another reason why I’m a huge fan of (G)I-DLE is because they bounce back even when life gets tough.

Long story short, in 2021, the group lost one of their members because she was caught in a scandal. There’s a lot of speculation that the company forced her to leave the group.

At the time, I remember constantly hearing there were a lot of rumors that the group would disband because that’s a common trend in the industry. However, they did not disband.

In fact, on March 14, 2022, they made a comeback with their single Tomboy and album called “I Never Die”.

Here’s why this matters to me.

I’m sure the members had to take time to process the situation, take care of their mental health, and also decide on what to do next since the future of the group was up in the air.

After what seemed like eons, they finally returned with their new album and honestly, it was a 10/10 comeback. Tomboy is still my favorite song from them to this day.

The same applies to your journey while building your thought leader career, business, or brand. Let’s be honest. There will be tough things happening in not just your work, but also in your personal life. So the question is, are you going to let these situations take away your power and commitment to helping people and creating value? Or are you willing to take as much time as you need to process or rest, and then come back stronger and more empowered than ever?

After what they’ve been through, when they made a comeback with Tomboy, I felt so reignited in my enthusiasm and fervor for the group. It felt like them making a stance and saying, even despite the shit we went through this past year, we aren’t going anywhere.

That comeback in particular was kind of an inflection point in their career , because they very well could have disbanded. There was a lot of expectation, suspense and anticipation for this comeback because of the scandal that happened to the group.

But not only did they survive the scandal, but they came back with full force. As a fan, this only furthered my support for not just the group as a whole, but also to the individuals who weathered the storm and came back stronger than ever before.

I admire their character and how they think about their craft

I’ve already iterated this several times in this episode, but (G)I-DLE produces quality music that’s unique and sounds amazing. They do music differently. They think differently. They view themselves differently. They are different. ALWAYS.

They also hold themselves to extremely high standards. They have a relentless worth ethic. They are creative and willing to experiment, yet still remain true to some of the sounds/vibes that they’re known for.

Yet they’re still able to maintain their “core values” and there’s always threads of their signature style with each title track. Even though each song seems unique and refreshing on the surface, you still know it’s a (G)I-DLE song because they infuse what makes them, them, every single time. They know who they are and what makes them, them, as artists.

The reason for this is likely due to the members not taking vocal training during their trainee days, which was apparently a decision suggested by Soyeon.

In an interview on Everybody’s Audition, Soyeon shared that she didn’t think vocal training would be the best for the group because she wanted the members to focus on their individuality.

Which, in hindsight, makes so much sense because one of the most distinct things about (G)I-DLE’s music is that you can clearly hear how unique and distinctive each members’ voice is.

That is one of the key differentiators of (G)I-DLE. Each member is unique, and it shows in both their music, their performance, and even just the members’ natural personalities.

Let me read out a snippet from an article on https://www.koreaboo.com/news/gidle-soyeon-trainee-vocal-lessons/:

The group’s leader admitted that when they were trainees, she “didn’t like the lessons [they had]” because they were taught with “so much structure.” When the members were taking typical vocal classes, explained Soyeon, everything was focused around high notes. However, the techniques they were taught to achieve those notes ended up taking away their unique and distinct vocal tones.
It was like losing our individuality because each person’s vocal cords are different, but we were being taught the same techniques and methods. — Soyeon
To combat this, Soyeon explained that she found a special teacher “who could find those charms” instead of making everyone assimilate to one form of singing. At first, her members had their doubts. Minnie revealed that when Soyeon initially made the call to stop vocal training, she “couldn’t really get it.”
However, after seeing the effects of their new approach in person, the joint main vocalist says the changes “were so obvious.” After she felt the improvement in her vocals, Minnie says she realized, “Oh, Soyeon was right.” Like Soyeon said, if we all use the same techniques, it all becomes similar and it’s hard to differentiate. It’s easy to listen to, but it really kills individuality. — Minnie
Soyeon went on to explain a trick she uses to get each member’s raw individuality out in the studio: when they’re recording, she asks them to say “hello” just once. “When they do,” she said, “I say, ‘Sing with that voice’.”
All of us in (G)I-DLE have individuality, and that’s what made us who we are.— Minnie

One really cool trait about (G)I-DLE music is that it’s not predictable. Whereas many other K-pop groups will often opt to follow a similar structure or order of the members singing, which makes their music predictable. That’s simply not the case with (G)I-DLE music.

People will respect your work even more when you choose to stay in your own lane

What I personally took away from this is to really, really think about what are my strengths. Rather than fitting myself into the box of, this is what I should be talking about or this is how I should look online.

(G)I-DLE has inspired me to really get clear on where and how I shine the most. Where do I sparkle most effortlessly, so to speak. How can I lean more into my gifts and strengths?

As someone building our brands, businesses or thought leadership careers online, I think it goes without saying that we constantly see what our colleagues are doing and how they’re doing it. It’s very easy to get swayed into thinking if they’re doing it better than me, I should do that too. Then we neglect what was already working best for us and doubling down on that instead.

(G)I-DLE is an excellent reminder to not only remember who the hell you are and leverage that to your advantage, but also, your people will respect your work even more when you are choosing to stay in your own lane, rather than making decisions out of FOMO or comparison.

On that note, I want to share one final example from (G)I-DLE.

For their most recent comeback, where the title track is Queencard, they also released a music video for their other song called Allergy. The Allergy music video’s storyline feeds into the Queencard music video. Together, they are commenting on how nowadays, we’ve developed a self-loathing for ourselves because of social media and constant FOMO, and how we are constantly jealous of other people and wish we were them instead of ourselves.

Allergy is essentially saying how we’ve now become allergic to ourselves, and Queencard is an empowering anthem about how regardless of who we are, what we look like, we are still queen cards nonetheless. It’s about confidence.

In this music video, the character was about to go into plastic surgery, but by the end of the music video/storyline, she doesn’t go through with the surgery and she’s still living her best life.

When you combine Allergy and Queencard, especially in terms of the storytelling and references embedded in the two songs and music videos, the whole experience is just chef’s kiss. 10/10.

How to think about your own body of work and thought leader career

As we continue to move forward and build our thought leadership and a body of work that captures that thought leadership, I hope we can continue to ground into our own Queencard identity and remember who the hell we are and what we bring to the table.

In this episode, we talked about so many lessons we can learn from (G)I-DLE.

I want to finish off by saying that (G)I-DLE wasn’t an overnight sensation. They spent years training prior to their debut, and they had to continuously produce good work even after their debut to become known as the (G)I-DLE people know and see them for today.

Honestly, I’m confident that they will continue to build upon everything they’ve done so far because they’re constantly striving to become a better version of themselves and produce even better music with every single comeback.

That’s the thing about thought leadership. It’s a journey. It doesn’t end just because you had one major hit single. (G)I-DLE continues to build their body of work, their discography, year after year, each time better than ever before.

If you too want to become the (G)I-DLE of your industry, if you want to start building your thought leadership and making a name for yourself, I’d love to invite you to book a discovery call with me.

Here’s what you can expect from our conversation: I’ll mainly be asking questions to get a better understanding of what’s going on with you, where your head’s at, what you’re looking for in our coaching together, etc.

Of course, we will also have a conversation about:

What are your dreams in the next 1-3 years,
The coaching, skills, and actions you need to make these dreams happen, and
How coaching together will support and guide you with all the above.

After I have a good understanding of where you’re at, I’ll also share where I see the three biggest gaps or the three areas where coaching will be the most beneficial for you. These will be the areas that I’d like to work with you on as a coach.

And lastly, if I determine that we would be a good fit, then I’ll go into more detail about The Thought Leader Club program itself. Overall, it will be a casual conversation 🙂

You can schedule a discovery call by first filling out a short application form on the sales page for The Thought Leader Club (www.cheryltheory.com/program). After you submit the form, you’ll get a link to book a discovery call.

Ultimately, building thought leadership is a journey. It’s not a 4-month thing or even a one-year thing. It’s an actual journey that continues on and on until you fully see yourself as a thought leader.

I hope that you will say yes to your journey and say yes to committing to that journey today. Start putting in the reps to build your body of work today.

And of course, start stepping into your Queencard identity and start becoming the (G)I-DLE of your industry today.

Sounds good? Awesome. Let’s get to work.