“If thinking men are few, they are for that reason all the more powerful. Let no man imagine that he has no influence. Whoever he may be, and wherever he may be placed, the man who thinks becomes a light and a power.”
— Henry George
Now hear me out on this one. I’m not saying that anyone can be a “Thought Leader.”
But I am saying that you can.
Do you know something about something? Do you know it well enough to be able to put your own twist on it? Your own opinions and ideas?
If not, that’s okay. There’s a cure: it’s called learning.
Can you be innovative? That is, coming up with something new, better, and different?
I used to think that being innovative was like being tall. You either are or you aren’t, and there’s not much anyone can do it change that.
But after studying Thought Leaders from all over the world, over the course of thousands of years, I’m certain that innovation is a skill that can be learned.
So if you can know something and do something, you can be a Thought Leader.
Don’t like to speak in front of crowds? Then don’t. Just write.
Don’t like to write? Then talk.
Do you see what I did there? I just qualified you. Feel free to make your own suitable-for-framing Thought Leader certificate. If you come over, I’ll even sign it for you.
Or, better yet, just sign it yourself. That’s what nearly everyone else does. And it’s all that is required.