Using business jargon is part and parcel of our job when working in an organization. To make it worse, most of the companies come up with their own version of it. Some make it hard for the employees to remember what rating they got and what does it mean by giving absurd names to the ratings and some, in an attempt to be innovative, use abbreviations which are worse given the fact that nobody remembers it’s meaning after a while. I’m sure most of us are already thinking of some of the terminologies/ abbreviations we use on daily basis which we have never questioned.
“Thought Leadership” – the most talked about concepts in the corporate world is one of such examples where most of us have only slight idea about the essence of it. I, being one of the corporate workers who have heard this term numerous times, decided to dig deeper for better understanding.
The term “thought leadership” was coined in 1994 by Joel Kurtzman, editor-in-chief of the magazine, Strategy & Business. As per Joel, a thought leader is someone who has “some new important ideas that are worth sharing and that have real application.”
As per Wikipedia, a thought leader “is an individual or firm that is recognized as an authority in a specialized field and whose expertise is sought and often rewarded” which essentially signifies that a thought leader is an expert. The same question was asked during an HBR IdeaCast, with Dorie Clark (author of the book Stand Out). The host asked, “Why do we need the term thought leader and why can’t we just use the term expert?” Instead of quoting Dorie’s answer to the question, I think Matt Church (Founder of Thought Leaders) elucidated it in a better way. Matt stated that the world is changing, and if you are in the business of being an expert, Google has changed everything. With the availability of information at finger tips, it is no longer an arduous task for someone to become an expert in something. This information overload has created three vacuums: meaning, relevance, and engagement. And that is what a thought leader needs to provide.
It seems after “expert” comes the “thought leadership”, where the experts in their respective fields come up with new ideas to unveil new possibilities.
Would love to hear your opinion as well.
References: