Has “Thought Leadership” Lost Its Luster?

The term “thought leader” originated 30 years ago this month in PWC’s magazine Strategy+Business. Today, among LinkedIn’s billion users, is there anyone who doesn’t self-identify as a thought leader — bots and scammers included?

That’s an exaggeration, but in an age of ubiquitous claims of thought leadership in security and the broader business world, has that term lost its luster? Or even its credibility?

The question of the term’s use and applicability arose recently on LinkedIn when Tyler Schmoker (whose LinkedIn style was featured in this column in January 2024) posted that the topic of thought leadership “has become cringe in all of its social media excess.” He invited readers to weigh in on their perception and definition of the phrase, himself asking whether thought leadership included “talking about the thoughts and ideas many already have… but haven’t organized or mustered the courage to say it for themselves in public just yet?”

Twenty or so people, including me, took his bait.

Commenters agreed that you don’t need to create a new business model, philosophy, theorem or revolutionary approach to be a thought leader. So step aside Simon Sinek, Malcolm Gladwell and Sheryl Sandberg.

“Thought leadership to me is more than original concepts, opinions, ideas or modes of thinking,” posted Brand Advisor Cebien Alty. “It’s in our ability to put a voice to the topics that interest us to drive conversation and challenge the status quo or assumptions.” It’s not a province of the elite or the most accomplished, she wrote. “It’s open to those of us who are bold enough to simply let our voices be heard.”

Creative Project Manager Tanya Boyd echoed that sentiment: “We aren’t always able to come up with topics that have never been covered before — but what we can do is take topics that hit home for many people, reframe them in a unique way… and get the conversation started again.”

Despite its continuing relevance, the term may be wearing thin. Technology consultant Drew Brown wondered whether “’‘thought leader’ is just a newer adjective to add on to leader like ‘servant leadership’ of a few years back.”

Similarly, Brand Strategist Lisa McGuire suggested that people self-identify as thought leaders too readily. “I see them more as ‘thought repeaters’ who like to share an opinion or point of view,” she posted.

Given that the phrase still holds value, is there agreement on who qualifies?

To test whether there is an accepted cadre of security professionals who are considered thought leaders, I put this question to ChatGPT: “Who are the 10 leading thought leaders in corporate security?” I then asked several colleagues to do the same, and I compared the results.

My query returned mostly physical security professionals. Others received a list of cybersecurity specialists; I asked them to repeat the query by specifying physical security.

So, did generative AI agree on who constitutes a leading thought leader regardless of who posed the question? After all, ChatGPT is notably prone to the power of suggestion.

When it came to cyber, ChatGPT showed about 50% overlap, always naming Bruce Schneier, Eugene Kaspersky, Brian Krebs, and Mikko Hyppönen while rotating others in and out. The lists of physical security thought leaders, by contrast, varied widely. My list included seven people I know personally — including Dave Komendat, Bonnie Butlin and Brian Tuskan — though I had never met a single security professional on others’ lists. Tuskan was one of the few corporate security professionals who appeared on more than one tally.

Professionals mentioned just once as thought leaders represent a who’s who of the security world, including Ray O’Hara, Randy Atlas, Jennifer Hesterman, Mark Lex, Brian Allen, George Campbell, Stacy Smith, and Tom Ridge.

Those names are hard to dispute.

The upshot is, similar to the word “influencer,” as long as the term “thought leader” carries value in security we can expect to see it appended liberally to bios and profiles.

But try this experiment. Open ChatGPT and type this phrase, inserting your own name: “Is XXX a thought leader in corporate security?” — or in whatever field you associate yourself with.

You may be surprised.