At the Ragan Speechwriters conference last month, a speaker from the PR firm Burson-Marsteller informed us that, until recently, no one knew what the term "thought leader" meant. Nowadays, she said, "everybody wants to have a thought leadership platform." I'm with you on this one.

John Brinkley
Senior Writer
NASD

And of course, she's willing to help them build such a platform.

But I wonder if a truly powerful, consistent message can emanate from a conscious decision to create a thought-leadership platform.

I wonder. And I doubt.

It's been my experience with 4 or 5 CEOs over the years that "thought leadership" is one of the natrual stages of CEO evolution. About the time all of the internal challenges are met, the new business goals achieved, and the stock price moving where it's supposed to go, there comes a moment of truth for the intrepid CEO -- what new fields do I have left to conquer? This is it -- the graduation into thought leadership.

Actually, I remember the term "thought leader" from the 1970s. And I think the idea of "speaking platform" has been around for a long time. It was, alas, only a matter of time before someone synthesized the two into "thought leadership platform," which undoubtedly has a multitude of message drivers to with it.

Yet another argument for retaining capital punishment.

I agree with you to a point. You're right as it is presented it does seems contrived and meaningless. That being said, I completely disagree with the definition of thought leadership as presented in this forum.

For the same reason that I think it is silly that many marketers are trying to setup blogs because their bosses told them so. Uh, that痴 not the point.

It's a conversation - a dialog. When I started marketing to executives, a friend gave me this simple advice that's served me my entire career, "just be people with people." In other words, be real, be authentic and put your whole self into what you do. That's the essence of blogging.

So what is a thought leader?
A thought leader is a recognized authority in one痴 field. What differentiates a thought leader from any other knowledgeable company is the recognition from the outside world that the company deeply understands its business, the needs of its customers, and the broader marketplace in which it operates.

Trust is built on reputation and reputation is generally NOT built on advertising or looking smart. People have a natural BS meter and they can sense when someone is just trying to sound smart and pontificate about their expertise to edify themselves.

Thought leadership is not what you say. It is a way of being. There are just a select few thought leaders in every industry. They are the ones who create ideas that others will want to emulate. So it is a really an outside assessment of what others say about you and what they do as a result of your ideas. Thought leaders revolutionize the way others (both inside and outside their company痴) do business. That's thought leadership.

Become a thought leader in your field and it won稚 matter as much how big you are. Companies and people will look to you for insight and vision. Journalists will quote you, analysts will call you, and websites will link to you.

Is the word thought leadership the problem? No way. I rather like it. I think it痴 the people who are using it as a hollow method of self promotion.

Brian Carroll
CEO
InTouch

The comments on thought leardership have merit. Business terms hit the scene , create some amount of herd mentality and eventually fade away. The term thought leadership has become overused, almost to the point of becoming meaningless.

What I disagree with is that we should eliminate the term. The people who hear the ideas are the judges of whether a person is truly a thought leadr, and I don't have a problem with that. What I object ot is when peope coronate themselves as thought leaders without the broader consensus of others that their thoughts are truly leading.

So, I'm in favor of disallowing people from aclling themselves thought leaders, but have no issue with people referring to others as such.

Great discussion, thanks for the post.

I, too, have enjoyed this discussion, and I see merit in everyone's points here.

But I still don't see the need for the term, except as a mostly b.s. PR label.

Warren Buffett, Jack Welch, Bill Gates--these guys didn't need to be granted the label "thought leaders" by anyone.

How to tell if you're a thought leader: Nobody ever calls you one.

Thought leadership is not just about CEO level things but really occurs within IT. See http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/eai/leadership