The Rise of the “Thought Leader”
There are many people who claim to be ‘thought leaders’, and lately I have felt my skepticism of these individuals evolve into exasperation. It is astonishing how many of these ‘experts’ are simply taking existing information about a subject and regurgitating it into a blog article in attempt to prove competence in a subject area — and maybe even stuff a few keywords in there for SEO.
Being an expert in any field is not simply existing as someone with experience in particular domain or industry, or someone with acquired skills. Rather, it is a more holistic and ontological approach of living and influencing as a leader. True expert authority and influence is undeniable when you come across it, and such insights are informed, original, helpful and unique.
It is my opinion that being an expert in your field comes with not only a sophisticated and organized domain of knowledge, but anticipatory thinking and action, strategic mental modeling of situations and the ability to develop and employ effective strategy and solve problems in a highly reliable way. It is the difference of having information versus knowing what to do with it. Sharing that insight and rationale to be used by others as a tool for creative and logical problem solving, and acting as a source for refined and fresh perspectives is what to me, defines a thought leader.
One of many differentiators is that true experts do not just have knowledge and skills, but a capacity for critical reflection, self assessment, and exercising responsible judgement. We lean on and expect thought leaders to not only be knowledgable, but have expertise in how to navigate, adapt, and provide advice in evolving and unique situations.
Developing expertise is not simply a matter of accumulating information and skills, but through application — living and leading in a way that is responsive and adaptable. It is more nuanced than simply acquiring experience, and is certainly not actualized by a LinkedIn headline, or a blog page on a company website.
We are doing a disservice to everyone by throwing around the title of ‘thought leader’ and ‘industry expert’, and allowing ourselves and others to claim this attribute and distort their definitions when most commonly, the people touting these labels have done nothing in the domain of leadership. With the overt abuse of these titles (among other hollow, self-proclaimed validations that attempt to legitimize expertise and ability), comes an inevitable reduction to the meaning of ‘thought leader’. I believe we have arrived at an unfortunate point, where we have properly rendered these terms meaningless for the people who have earned the right to use them.
