Worst corporate jargon of the week: Thought leader
Every one of us has been an email chain which is borderline unintelligible for the amount of corporate lingo thrown in there. At City PM, we’re taking a stand and calling out the worst jargon which travels around the City faster than you can drink an overpriced pint. This week: thought leader.
Offender: Thought leader
What does it mean?
A thought leader is “an influential or innovative thinker; a person with intellectual influence over a society or group”, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the status of which is somewhat dampened by having an entry on the egregious matter. The term can be traced back to 1887, after which its meaning has had a century to dilute.
A seminal essay on the matter by The New York Times’s David Brooks in 2013 identified them thus: “The Thought Leader is sort of a highflying, good-doing yacht-to-yacht concept peddler.
“Each year, he gets to speak at the Clinton Global Initiative, where successful people gather to express compassion for those not invited… He doesn’t have students, but he does have clients. He doesn’t have dark nights of the soul, but his eyes blaze at the echo of the words ‘breakout session’.”
While “expert” was previously the preferred term for these ponderous types, the reckoning that Britain had had enough of them in 2016 – this road, like all others, leads back to Michael Gove – necessitated a widespread rebrand within the community.
The result? No, not an explosion in thoughtiness and thinking. Rather, the proliferation of this painfully pompous title.
Who uses it?
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune is likely to use the term thought leader, most usually in reference to himself. But he shouldn’t.
Recognisable by their unique postures, aka the power pose at work but Rodin’s The Thinker on Linkedin, offenders are self-acknowledged Ted Talk and podcast addicts. Regular listens include The Diary of a CEO, usually consumed while doomscrolling Linkedin (these people never ‘sit and think’).
Stylewise, minimalism rules in dress and interior design, though the more adventurous may embellish their bare walls with vision boards or framed pictures of Steven Bartlett. Again, thinking outside the box is discouraged. Thinking inside a box labelled ‘Bland’ is very much encouraged.
In other words: he’s male, he’s loaded, and you’ll find him at Davos.
Thought leaders and their jargon-echoing disciples can most commonly be found packing out conferences and webinars on topics like “Decoding the Influence: Navigating the Power of Thought Leaders in Professional Growth” and “Secrets of a Chief People Officer”.
Should we be worried?
Undoubtedly, jargon is a scourge. But there is comfort to be found: the influence exercised by thought leaders is far more modest than they’d have you believe, with their reach rarely extending beyond their own – largely-virtual – circles. If you find yourself snared within one, that might just be on you.
How do we get rid of it?
Ideally: think thoughts that don’t need a leader.
But if a leader tries to scoop up your thoughts and jump on top of a new hierarchical-thought pyramid with your thoughts trapped at the bottom, overthrow the ruminating reprobate and reclaim your thoughts. You can do it, Joe.