Why your thought leadership keeps failing

So many executives now want to be thought leaders — to be recognized in their field for their expertise and insight.

There’s just one problem.

Few are bold enough to truly stake a claim and say something meaningful. Something that may even be controversial and make people mad.

Without an actual stance worth standing beside, even in the face of opposition, that executive can never be a thought leader. At best, they can be a subject matter expert. And being a subject matter expert is great! But they aren’t seen as the ones on the vanguard of the future, leading the way into new eras in their industry.

Thought leaders are the ones who are curious enough and secure enough to risk being wrong.

Being bold enough to take a stand

As an editor for two trade publications, I see dozens of submissions each week all saying the same thing.

AI isn’t taking jobs, it’s transforming them. AI is making communications more important than ever. Human skills matter now more than ever.

None of these are bad sentiments or untrue sentiments. But they are statements few would argue with. Most of the industry has already bought into these concepts. Whatever industry your principal wants to lead in, there are likely similar truisms that sound like thought leadership but are really just stating the obvious.

Now, that doesn’t mean a leader has to go out there and be brash, political or off-the-cuff in their thought leadership. While this may be successful for some leaders with some audiences — think Elon Musk — it will also inevitably alienate others. For most, this shoot-from-the-hip stance isn’t the right way to go.

But other leaders have found ways to offer more measured and relevant thought leadership that nonetheless declares a solid opinion that could be proven wrong in the future.

Take Mark Zuckerberg for instance. In his recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, he lays out a vision of an AI-driven future “based on individual empowerment as the source of prosperity, invention as the primary purpose of superintelligence, and balance of power as the foundation of safety.”

He paints a picture of a world where AI use is sunny and optimistic rather than focusing on job loss or unleashing weapons of mass destruction. He advocates for an AI system where power is held by many companies and distributed not just at the enterprise level, but to everyone.

These opinions put him at sharp odds with many in the field of AI — both those in the industry and those studying it on the outside. And yes, it goes without saying that this all serves Meta’s long-term ambitions, as it missed the initial wave of AI hype and caters its LLM services largely as open-source and available to consumers. Yet at the same time, the piece is not written merely as a manifesto for Meta, but rather as a broader piece of thought leadership about how the world should work, declaring his intentions to both consumers and other businesses.

Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase CEO, has become a household name over his banking CEO peers in large part because of his willingness to be thoughtful yet definitive. He’s even crossed the line in the past, as with a profanity-laced rant about RTO that even he thought went too far. But he’s better known for his measured annual shareholder letters that go far beyond discussing the state of the business and into the state of the nation.

For instance, in his 2026 missive:

“I believe we have gotten a little too soft. Working hard, having ambition, demonstrating self-responsibility and loving your nation (particularly this nation) are wonderful qualities. We need to rededicate ourselves to these values. Proper civic engagement should better reflect President Kennedy’s statement, ‘Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.’”

Now, there’s plenty of financial and economic data in the letter too. But Dimon’s willingness to step out of his direct lane is what makes him stand out and rise above his peers.

If you aren’t ready to risk, you aren’t ready to lead

Obviously, both of these leaders are outliers. They’re household names leading some of the most powerful companies on the planet. You may not be in such a position. But I chose them because both have made mistakes. Both have been ridiculed for their thought leadership. And both keep coming back, making statements they know might not be well-received but standing by them all the same.

That’s what it takes to be a thought leader. And if your executives aren’t ready for that risk, that’s OK. But as a communicator, it’s your job to help guide them through what true thought leadership is and what’s just noise.

Allison Carter is editorial director of PR Daily and Ragan.com. Follow her on LinkedIn.