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There are several behaviours common to a successful Thought Leadership approach.

Ed or David for leader? Cut or not to cut child benefit? Still or sparkling? Now the immediate dilemmas thrown up by the party conference season are behind us, it is time to take stock and assess the value you’ve really added: did you meet your objectives? Did your MD secure that elusive meeting with the crucial minister? Was your brand recognised as the leader you know it to be?

Whatever your answers, you probably have a clearer insight into the coalition’s priorities. Perhaps you’re a step closer to understanding the impact the Big Society will have on your business. You may have successfully delivered your single key message and have reconnected with your network.

The conferences alone are unlikely to have created a fundamental difference to the job in hand: protecting your licence to operate and building permission to grow. Both these will require a level of political engagement in the short or medium term. For the Government to recognise and take them seriously, businesses have to demonstrate relevance to the Government’s core social and economic policy areas.

It’s common knowledge what the coalition wants to achieve: a stable economy; low unemployment; increased productivity; ‘more for less’ from the public sector; a low carbon economy; the decentralisation of power, and the Big Society.

Appealing to these and other coalition priorities means: first, identifying shared agendas between the Government and your organisation; second, leveraging business assets, qualities and services that support the delivery of public policy objectives.

Ultimately, politicians will always turn to companies with strong brands that resonate with voters.

The best way to build such a brand is through Thought Leadership campaigning. It demands a closer relationship with consumer trends and a willingness to take a leadership position to forge a ‘values-based connection’ – both with consumers and politicians.

For B2B companies, alignment is more about UK plc than UK society, but connecting the two is crucial.

A Thought Leadership approach defines what a brand stands for and builds a coalition of advocates by demonstrating leadership on an issue that influences opinion leader and stakeholder opinion. To make clear what this means in practice, TLG has identified the behaviours common to successful Thought Leaders:

Pioneer – challenge established wisdom to create new ways of thinking. Rigour – develop consistent, original ideas. Objective – deliver benefits for stakeholders, financial and non-financial. Authenticity – accurately reflect corporate beliefs and behaviour. Clarity – clearly communicate positive motivation, mission and product.

TLG’s Thought Leadership Index – published annually with Populus Opinion Research – reveals a correlation between Thought Leadership and positive corporate reputation.

This year, we’ve gone further by asking what would be the best opportunities for businesses to lead on a key issue that will improve their corporate reputation. We also put this to politicians and advisers in the lead-up to the party conference season.

The answers they gave point to three conclusions: first, brands need to identify the thought leadership position, using this as an organising principle for external engagement and communications. Second, firms need to think hard about behavioural change: successful campaigns have the power to differentiate a brand, strengthen a business and build deeper relationships with customers. And third, define your brand by what you are for, not what you are against.

Those brands doing this will top this year’s Index, shaping the environment in which they operate, rather than being a victim of circumstance.

TLG has surveyed politicians and advisers to identify the top leadership opportunities where businesses can build their brand reputations. At TLG we believe that it is how a company does business that determines its key relationships and reputation – as well as what it sells. Thought Leadership campaigns offer a way to do this.

Successful Thought Leaders drive positive attitudinal change and deliver behavioural change. By doing this, a company differentiates its brand, builds meaningful relationships with customers and generates positive social outcomes. This makes the business commercially and culturally relevant.

Building brand reputation rests on a range of factors, notably, demonstrating leadership in those areas that have the greatest resonance with key audiences. Here, we identify what they are. We intend to track leadership opportunities on an annual basis. This research will feature in full in our annual Thought Leadership Index publication.”

TLG has surveyed politicians and advisers to identify the top leadership opportunities where businesses can build their brand reputations. At TLG we believe that it is how a company does business that determines its key relationships and reputation – as well as what it sells. Thought Leadership campaigns offer a way to do this.

Successful Thought Leaders drive positive attitudinal change and deliver behavioural change. By doing this, a company differentiates its brand, builds meaningful relationships with customers and generates positive social outcomes. This makes the business commercially and culturally relevant.

Building brand reputation rests on a range of factors, notably, demonstrating leadership in those areas that have the greatest resonance with key audiences. Here, we identify what they are. We intend to track leadership opportunities on an annual basis. This research will feature in full in our annual Thought Leadership Index publication.”

Now that the three weeks of the establishment establishing themselves over the party conferences is out of the way, TLG has released some research of what corporate messages would have cut through with opinion formers. Top of the chart, wooing seventy percent of opinion formers, is “ensuring fair wages throughout the supply chain” closely followed by two statements on encouraging consumers to live without less packaging and recycle more. For the top ranking messages TLG concludes that the findings demonstrate cross-party appeal and that “the strongest common theme running through the top ten [messages] is the extent to which successful outcomes can be driven by a smart application of behavioural science”. How corporates nudge (or shove as the public sector looks increasingly set to do) their stakeholders is the tricky part of the execution, but it is all measurable and demonstrability will surely be essential for traction with opinion formers. TLG is posting headlines results from The 2010 Leadership Opportunities research on its site later this afternoon.