A big part of becoming a commercially successful thought leader is the ability to create new stories. The journey often involves exploring and evolving the stories we tell ourselves about who we are, what we know, and what’s possible.

People are overwhelmed. We're carrying a lot, and when people are overloaded, they reach for shortcuts, quick fixes, and certainty. This is what psychologists call a need for cognitive closure, and it's connected to the global rise of authoritarianism. As documentarian David Marples said, "Tyranny is the deliberate removal of nuance." When our capacity for nuance shrinks, we open the door for more rigid controlling forms of leadership. I share a practice I use called sitting with a circle of thinkers to slow down and invite curiosity instead of rushing to the comfort of a single story.

blog.thoughtleaders.com.au/the-rise-of-authoritarianism

I think now is the time to step up to the work of being a thought leader because AI is taking out so many ways that expertise shows up. Your job is to be more than just ideas or information. Be an inspirer, a light-bringer, a space holder who helps others see light when they feel they're in the dark.

The scale of our modern lives is beyond human scale. The world is asking things of us that are bigger than we are. This made me ask: what is this moment asking of me, and am I right-sized for it? I've landed on three principles: intimacy is an advantage, there's nothing to prove, and get good at holding bigger space for yourself and others.

In a commercial thought leader's practice, it's easy to confuse activity with progress. You're publishing, delivering, pitching, replying, invoicing, iterating, but all this busyness doesn't always mean we're doing the right work. At the heart of it, there's a pattern we need to name: heavy work often is accompanied by lazy thinking. Our industry culture celebrates effort, but when heavy work is paired with a failure to think deeply, what we get is volume without value. Your edge as a thought leader running a commercial practice is not only how hard you work, it's also how deeply you think. Both, And.

This idea of hierarchies of value sits quietly at the heart of the thought leader's game. It's one of the tensions we don't always name but we all feel. Are we all equal in worth? Yes. Do we all contribute in the same way or create the same impact? Not always, and that's okay. An inability to accept value asymmetry leads to fear around pricing, guilt around success, and an unconscious need to stay small, which is why so many people never get to a million dollar practice. Not because they're not good enough, but because on some level they're still trying to be fair. Fair doesn't mean equal; fair means just, earned, and aligned.

If you're a thought leader, you're not in the content business or the ideas business. You're in the experience business. People come to us not just for what we know, but for how we deliver it: the way you show up in a room, hold space for others, and help people make sense of things. Right now, value is moving from what you offer to how you offer it, and ultimately into the richness of the experience that people have in your world. Mastery of your modes (speaking, writing, mentoring) is your IP in motion, and it's what no bot, app, or shortcut can replicate.