It must be great to be a thought leader

I belong to a number of groups on Linked In. I subscribe to one or two websites that provide wisdom on various topics such as innovation and intellectual capital. I get a huge number of emails from these sources. They all come to what I call my toxic email account.

Why don’t I block them all and purify the account? Or better still, change the address, and let the emails keep flying into the void?

Because occasionally, very occasionally, in amongst the river of crud that flows my way, I pick up the odd nugget of wisdom, a little bit of intelligence, or a post that is pricelessly, laughably banal.

Here’s one in the latter category from a self-styled Thought Leader on one of the Linked In groups:

“There is no need for me to have any fatidic skill to tell you the business world is a very different place to that of five years ago.

* The GFC has reminded us that risk and uncertainty are increasing.
* Innovation, advancements and development have generated accelerating change – social, economic and technological.
* Competition is increasing locally, and globally – China, India, South America.
* Complexity is increasing while the need for simplicity has never been so great.
* Interdependency is increasing.
* Ethics and public opinion are increasingly influencing corporate decision-making as societal issues increasingly become political issues. Assisted by the media having access to practically anything, anytime, anywhere, anyhow.

To build an organisation that can survive and thrive into the future in this uncertain world will require exceptional leadership, a compelling vision, an inspiring mission, personal and organisational alignment, clear and concise goals, measurable objectives and superior human performance.

What are you doing now to prepare for this?”

Oh my goodness. First thing I had to do was look up fatidic on Google. OK, it means prophetic. I feel like an idiot already that I didn’t know this. But he’s a Thought Leader – thinks on a different plane. Or maybe on an intergalactic starship. By the time I got to his sixth bullet point I was in a state of extreme anxiety. Hell, I didn’t know any of this!

Then I read his rousing penultimate paragraph, and said to myself “YES, that’s what we have to do!”

What am I doing now to prepare for this (whatever “this” might be)?

Well actually, I’m going to have some breakfast.

More on thought leadership later….