By Mike Harris, Founder, Harris CMO Partners
Published July 11, 2026
In my last post I described the fly fishing method for executive thought leadership. The core argument: thought leadership works when you cover the full arc — every channel, every format, in sequence — before declaring a content pillar dead in the water.
The most common response I got was some version of: I believe the framework. But what are the actual numbers?
Fair question. So I modeled them.
What follows is a cast-by-cast forecast for a single content pillar — the kind of six-to-eight-week arc you’d run for any major theme in your thought leadership program. I’ve broken the projections across three executive presence tiers, because the numbers look very different depending on where you’re starting.
These aren’t guarantees. They’re directional benchmarks modeled from published 2025–26 industry data (Socialinsider, Buffer, Brevo, MailerLite). Your actual results will vary based on niche, content quality, and audience composition. But they give you a basis for planning — and a target to fish toward.
Swipe through each cast below. Then I’ll show you what the numbers add up to across the full arc.
What the numbers tell you about where you are
The beginner numbers look discouraging until you understand what they represent. A beginner-tier executive running the full arc on a content pillar might generate 400–900 impressions on the flagship article, a handful of ICP comments, and perhaps no discovery calls from the conversion piece. That’s not failure. That’s the system working at its starting point.
What the beginner numbers don’t show is the compounding effect. Every arc you run adds followers, builds SEO equity, grows your email list, and increases the probability that the next arc starts from a higher position. The executives I’ve watched move from beginner to moderate presence don’t do it with a single viral post. They do it by covering the arc, consistently, across multiple pillars, over six to twelve months.
The moderate numbers are where things get genuinely interesting from a business outcomes perspective. At 5–15K followers with consistent posting, a single pillar arc can generate 6,000–13,000 carousel impressions, 30–70 saves, 8–20 scorecard completions from the conversion piece, and 1–3 discovery calls. At $2,500 per Discovery Audit, a moderate-tier executive running two pillar cycles per quarter is looking at a system that can pay for itself.
The cumulative arc — what all the casts add up to
What the data doesn't capture
The numbers above are reach and engagement metrics. They don't capture the most important outcomes of a disciplined thought leadership program — the ones that show up in your CRM, not your LinkedIn analytics dashboard.
A moderate-tier executive who runs six pillar arcs over twelve months doesn't just accumulate impressions. They become the person their buyers cite in internal discussions. They get invited to speak at the conference where their ICP gathers. They have former cold prospects reach out because "I've been following your content and we finally have a project that fits." None of that shows up in a benchmark range from Socialinsider.
The math works. But the compound effect — the authority that builds when buyers see your name consistently, in multiple contexts, over months — is what the math can't model. That's the part you have to wade in to find out.
Discover Your Score
If you want to know where your signal stands before you wade in, I built an assessment for exactly that. It takes two minutes, it’s free, and no contact information is required. It will tell you which section of the stream you’re in — and which fly to tie on first.
Discover Your Score — https://www.harriscmopartners.com/#discoveryourscore
Mike Harris is a tech CMO with 30+ years leading marketing at technology companies, from Fortune 500s to high-growth turnarounds. He now runs Harris CMO Partners, helping tech executives build the thought leadership systems that get them heard.
Mike Harris, © Harris CMO Partners 2026
Originally published on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/fly-fishing-method-executive-thought-leadership-mike-harris-kcxuc/
