Thought Leader, or Lazy Jackoff?

Posted by Ken

If you’ve read many business articles or resumes in the last few years, you’ve probably seen this term:

Thought Leader

Sounds impressive, doesn’t it?  But what does it mean?

For far too many people, it means someone who sits on their ass and thinks – that’s it.  They come up with ideas.  Maybe they share those thoughts, but they don’t DO them – otherwise they’d be known for exploring ideas, and not as a thought leader. And they may be able to sit on their ass like a world champion, but it still means thinking, not doing.

There’s no shortage of people out there who “think things”.  The blogospehere is packed with people who sit on their asses and think things.

The new world needs people to do things. Einstein was a hell of a thinker.  If anyone deserves the title thought leader, it’s Albert.  But he wouldn’t publish the General Theory of Relativity until he created his Field Equations to prove it mathematically.

Don’t be a thought leader – be a LEADER.  Thinking is fine, but doing is better.

And if you fail, think why you failed and do it again.  Leaders fail because they try new things.  But thought leaders sit and think to avoid failure – you can’t fail when you sitting on your ass doing nothing but thinking.