16. Thought Leader

A thought leader is an individual that is recognized as an authority in a specialized field and whose expertise is sought and often rewarded. In the sciences or other highly technical fields this makes some sense though it is usually more of an indicator of ego than actual accomplishment with the so called “thought leaders” mostly (though not always) self anointed (or anointed by a small group of other self anointed thought leaders) as such. When applied to other areas it makes much less sense. As an example a thought leadership agency for executives who style themselves thought leaders that only accepts other thought leaders as clients. Clearly this is the place to be for thought leaders who are sick and tired of thinking so much about thought leadership, and just want to let a different thought leader do their thinking for them for once.

Non-bullshit way of saying what this business buzzword is trying to say.

Instead of saying “ I’m the CEO of Digital Press, a thought leadership agency for other founders and C-suite executives.” try “I’m the CEO of Digital Press, a leadership agency for rich white men that is even more selective than the country clubs the rich white men all belong to.”