Business Bullets - People

You cannot have failed to notice how many Thought Leaders there are today, posting pearls of wisdom onto their selected social media platforms - but have you thought about what a Thought Leader is........or does?

Have you ever wondered if a Thought Leader actually does anything other than, obviously, think? Do they think more than others, or better than others? Taking the process a step further – have you noticed how many people follow these 'leaders' and lap up the continuous flow of content? Tell me, how do all those followers manage to get their work done?

So, does a Thought Leader come up with answers to problems or simply provoke others to think about, and resolve, those thorny issues that hamper progress.

Surely no-one can disagree that the greatest thinkers were those that, over many millennia, shaped civilisations and cultures with very limited resources, significantly less connectivity and absolutely no marketing at all. Even before the very first fire was deliberately struck into life, somebody will have been thinking "I'm cold" or "I'd love a mammoth on a spit." Now that's what you call meeting needs. But then again, fire was already there, available, not needing to be discovered - just waiting to be ignited at will when the right conditions existed. All done by a bright spark!

In reality, nothing much has changed. OK, we've adapted, I'll give you that. Fast forward to those thoughts going round in your own head right now. How can you capitalize on your thoughts? The clever bit is being able to develop those nuclear thoughts, ideas or concepts into solutions that will innovatively deliver value to you and, perhaps, the rest of humanity. The vast majority of your thoughts will never transfer to action but, with focus and application, just one single nugget could turn into the next "big thing."

Rarely in this day and age can one person make groundbreaking transformations alone. The knowledge, skills and capital of others will probably need to be called upon to see most ideas through to fruition.

Are Thought Leaders simply people with overactive imaginations driving too many random ideas? After all, there's only so much that one person can give the required levels of attention to. Do Thought Leaders prioritise their thoughts? Do they work on their own 'most-winnable,' primary, thoughts themselves and share their secondary, 'less-winnable,' thoughts with others for them to pick up and run with?

And my point is? You, reading this, are a Thought Leader. Everyone is capable of original thought to some level. Everyone, in that extent, is a Thought Leader. In most cases, the thoughts and ideas just needs to be squeezed out, shared and set free.