Most “Thought Leadership” is Just Intellectual Cowardice. Stop It.
Founders, CEOs, and VPs sharing quotes from Steve Jobs, Simon Sinek, or Marcus Aurelius.
You wrap yourself in the warm blanket of their established wisdom because it’s safe. It’s defensible. Who can argue with Steve Jobs, right?
But as I read this passage from Seneca this morning, I realized what you are actually doing. You are hiding.
Seneca, writing nearly 2,000 years ago, called it “disgraceful” for a leader to grow old and still be saying “Zeno said this” or “Cleanthes said that.”
His question to you is sharp and uncomfortable: “What do you say?”
If you have been in the C-Suite for a decade, or if you have founded a company, and you are still relying entirely on the quotes of others to make your point, you haven’t processed your own experience.
You are a librarian of other people’s battles, not a general of your own.
Ralph Waldo Emerson was even harsher: “I hate quotation. Tell me what you know.”
Stop deferring to the “towering figures” of the past.
You didn’t get your position by being a fanboy/fangirl.
You got it by making hard calls in the grey areas where the textbooks didn’t apply.
If you want to build actual authority, not just audience applause, you need to stop quoting and start claiming.
Here is the framework to kill the cowardice:
The “Scar Tissue” Protocol
Next time you feel the urge to post a quote, stop. Use this 3-step filter to turn generic wisdom into proprietary authority:
- Identify the Quote: What “wise words” were you going to share? (e.g., “Fail fast.”)
- Locate the Scar: Don’t tell me the quote. Tell me the specific moment that quote became real for you. When did you fail too slowly? How much money did it cost you? Who did you have to fire?
- Rewrite the Rule: Based on that scar, rewrite the original quote. Maybe for you, “Fail fast” is actually wrong. Maybe your truth is “Fail quietly, then scale loudly.”
Your value to the marketplace is not your ability to memorize. It is your ability to synthesize.
Stop acting like a student. You are the teacher now.
Stake your own claim.
Does this sting a little? Good.