Maybe you don’t have to worry about thought leadership (Part II). Every organization needs people who strive safely for the middle and do their jobs reliably. Thought leadership doesn’t always matter. If everyone tries to be a leader, we just end up with chaos.
Many people have perfectly fine careers working heads-down, promoted from within, or moving to better roles elsewhere. They may even find ways to improve processes or workflows around the edges. However, they don’t take a step back to distill their experience into insights.
Other people don’t see it that way. They also aspire to have a visible impact. They want to lift their voices up to advocate for innovation and change. They seek out ways to share knowledge, take on innovation projects, join external communities, or participate in conferences and events. Ideally, they work in a company that fosters thought leaders instead of repressing them.
Neither is inherently better than the other. It’s often just a question of disposition.
So, heads-down or voices-up—which one are you?
(Part I, posted yesterday, is about company thought leadership)
