I don’t want to be a thought leader

Thought leaders don’t really inspire me. It’s like the meme about forks … that’s how thought leaders and Ted talks sound to me:

(Alt text is on image, I’m unsure of original source.)

I don’t find thoughts impressive (mostly, there are always exceptions). I have too many thoughts, for crying out loud. I don’t need more and I don’t want to sell everyone on every thought that flits through my head.

What impresses me is not so much the thought, but using the thought.

• How easy is it for people to implement a bright idea?
• Where is the support for the idea?
• What and where and why do they struggle with it?
• What parts were easier than expected?
• Why were they easier than expected?

Thought leading thoughts are the least interesting part of all of this for me.

I enjoy seeing humans use things, not just a few ideas being shared. Why does X strategy work for one person but not the next person? This is why my offerings are largely one to one. I’ve set up many systems in my life in all kinds of industries. Setting up a system is not always hard. Where the system fails is when it’s not working, when people forget they need the system. When there’s a crisis of confidence. When people are overwhelmed and flail and need help getting back to the system.