Please don’t call me a thought leader. Last week I had coffee with an acquaintance who used the phrase to describe me. He meant it as a compliment — and I took it as such. But I still corrected him.
“No,” I insisted, “I’m not a thought leader. Please don’t call me that. It’s an overused term most people use to self-describe themselves so they can build a platform on Twitter or something like it. It’s the most overused phrase in our “leadership” culture.”
Since I was already on a rant, I continued with, “Besides, all those self-appointed thought leaders …