The Thought Leader

Someone gave a TED Talk once. Now they’re a “thought leader.” They speak at conferences. They write LinkedIn posts with line breaks every sentence. They have a framework. The framework has three steps. The steps are obvious.

The thought leader’s job is to say things everyone already knows with enough confidence that it sounds new. “Companies should listen to their employees.” Groundbreaking. “Trust is the foundation of high-performing teams.” Revolutionary.

Thought leadership is the repackaging of common sense for people who won’t listen to their own employees but will pay $30K for a keynote.

The people who actually lead don’t call themselves thought leaders. They’re too busy doing the work the thought leader is talking about.