Are You A Thought Leader?

Posted by Scott Williams
6 Comments
January 19, 2010
Leaders | Leadership | Next-Level Leader

eisnsteinWhat do you think of when you hear or read the word Thought Leader?  Some of you have something that immediately comes to mind and others of you are saying “Thought Leader… I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

By definition, the term thought leader Thought leader is a buzzword or article of jargon used to describe a futurist or person who is recognized among peers, industry, followers and mentors for innovative ideas and demonstrates the confidence to promote or share those ideas as actionable insights. The term was coined in 1994, by Joel Kurtzman, editor-in-chief of the magazine, Strategy & Business. The term was used to designate interview subjects for that magazine who had contributed new thoughts to business.

I was unfamiliar with this term until the company that is handling my re-branding labeled me as a Thought Leader and that got me thinking.  A Thought Leader is a leader that challenges people to dream BIG and think BIGGER.   Not only do they challenge others, they challenge themselves to always spend time doing nothing but thinking.  Thought Leaders realize that “Thinking is the next step after dreaming and is the action of making your dreams reality.”

I will have people read my Twiter Bio. and ask me “What is a Thought Leader?”  I’m sure there are many ways to answer that question.  I simply believe a Thought Leader is a leader who challenges people from the inside out.  As a leader, I’m more worried about stirring up, uncovering and helping people to realize what’s already inside of them, than anything else.  ”Leadership development is rooted in personal development & organizational transformation is rooted in individual transformation.”

Do you know a Thought Leader?  Are you a Thought Leader?   Share your thoughts on what it means to be a Thought Leader.

  • http://bondchristian.com/ bondChristian

    When I think of Thought Leaders, I think of direction. Let’s use blogs as an example. One Thought Leader decides to take a social media fast… soon everyone else is talking a social media fast. One Thought Leader decides to talk about extreme authenticity… soon everyone else is talking about extreme authenticity. One Thought Leader decides to talk about Thought Leaders… soon everyone else is talking about Thought Leaders.

    The difference between a Thought Leader and a regular leader for me is in the application. A Thought Leader leads in a general theme, but what everyone does in response is different, relevant to whatever space they find themselves in. A straight up leader can be a Thought Leader too, but it’s more specific. This kind of leader will lead in the application as well.

    It’s a tricky line to draw though. “Thought Leader” now has become such a buzzword that it can just be any A-list leader, a leader with more authority.

    Looking forward to hearing the other thoughts on this one, though, because I’ve had trouble really finding the distinction myself.

    -Marshall Jones Jr.

  • http://www.vortexministry.com Bill Wolfe

    I like to think of myself as a Thought Leader. To me, the words describe a person that is focused on the future and leading others along the way. A Thought Leader must take time to re-focus, plan and think.

    One thing I do is take one day off of month (a work day) just to be out of the office to spend time planning, thinking and strategizing. I still treat the day like a work day in terms of my focus, but I don’t concentrate on any work tasks. I use the day purely for thinking. It energizes me so much to do that.

  • http://www.paulwilsonjr.com pwilsonjr

    I believe a Thought Leader is one who is always thinking about what’s next and doesn’t concern themselves with what others think can’t be done. They challenge the status quo with mind-stretching dreams, ideas, and solutions. Like you said, they challenge others from the inside out.

    I would like to believe that I’m a Thought Leader, but the key is do other people view me as a Thought Leader or just some guy with crazy ideas. To be most effective, a true Thought Leader needs to influence others to move forward and adopt their ideas and solutions.

    Another question is do I have a past track record of my “forward thinking” actually coming to fruition? If I always have “forward thinking” ideas that never become reality eventually people will stop seeing me as a Thought Leader.

    In this day and time we need more Thought Leaders with original ideas, not just people who regurgitate and recycle the ideas of others. It’s possible to develop into a Thought Leader if we spend more time “thinking for a change.”

    Be blessed!
    Paul Wilson Jr.

  • http://www.24caratbold.com mindygk

    Thank you for starting this thread. Over the past 2 years I have been writing and speaking about this very issue. In fact, I propose a set of criteria to assess thought leadership in my book 24 Carat BOLD: The Standard for REAL Thought Leaders. I have a few review copies in my office if anyone reading this post is keen to have one.

    I agree with what has been posted above. I’d just like to add that it probably should involve innovative new thinking and not just some spin on something already known. That’s why it tends to be a bit of a grey area – I mean, who’s to say what’s innovative and what’s not? Therefore, the proof comes in terms of the leader’s following and what people are saying about him/her.

    Also, I think ‘thought leader’ is one of those terms that you just can’t claim for yourself. It’s kind of like saying ‘I’m great’. Others bestow that term upon you, when you have made an impression on them. We should all strive to be thought leaders if we have something of value to share. But we should NEVER call ourselves one!

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  • http://Maynard.Clark.GooglePages.com Maynard S. Clark

    I’d be interested in the SOURCE for the claim, found on various websites, that the term ‘thought leader’ was coined in 1994 by maverick business thinker, Joel Kurtzman, Senior Fellow at the Milken Institute and past Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Business Review, founding Editor-in-Chief of Strategy + Business magazine, to designate the magazine’s interview subjects who had contributed new thoughts to business that merited widespread business attention.

    I believe this claim to be true, in part because it’s widely held and because my own research confirmed its reasonableness, but in tracing these sites, the claim nearly always bears the language of Wikipedia. One could be persuaded to suspect that Wikipedia is widely considered sufficiently authoritative to copy much of its content as if it were one’s own. In a world with so much copycat description posing as leadership, perhaps deeper scholarship and more careful scrutiny need to be applied. Into that world appears the thought leader, and the expansive thinking for which that person has been so designated.

    On another matter, thought leadership is another form of leadership, and the prevailing research and theories concerning leadership apply.

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