One of the things that made me really successful as a consultant early in my career was that I was a brilliant “consumer” of information.

Whenever I found a topic interesting I'd stay up late in our company library poring over every book and research paper on the subject.

Pretty soon I'd know more than anyone other than seasoned veterans about that topic. That made me pretty useful as a consultant.

I've often heard it said that learning is the only sustainable competitive advantage. But I think there's something more important.

Consuming information and new ideas, learning from them, is great. It gets you up to par with your competitors. But if you want to take the lead, you need to not just consume ideas, you need to create.

Think about anyone you look up to as a leader in your field. They don't just acquire knowledge, they add to it. In fact most recognised authorities are prolific creators.

Historically, that's meant writing a book or getting published in a prestigious journal. Today it could be your own blog, podcast or youtube channel.

Think about how much time you spend creating vs consuming.

I'm not saying you should stop learning, far from it. But on balance, if you want to become known as a leader in your field then you've got to be spending more time creating than consuming.

If you're not, you may need to do some housekeeping. Unsubscribe from a few newsletters. Restrict your time on Facebook or random surfing. Set yourself some goals for creating useful content and prioritise them.

The more you push the balance in favour of creation, the more what you create is published, then the more you'll be seen as a leading expert in your field.

Which is not at all a bad place to be.