We Don’t Need More Thought Leaders, We Need More Thought Doers
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Let’s get something out of the way: I have no beef with “thought leadership.” In fact, I’ve benefited from it. Most of us have. Some of the people I admire most have built platforms by sharing deep, transformative insights that changed the way people lead, give, build, and live.
But lately, something feels... off, in the same way that eating too much cake can make you sick.
The digital world is drowning in ideas. We’ve over-indexed on hot takes, curated personas, and content calendars. Everyone’s sharing frameworks. Everyone has a thread. Everyone is "building in public." These are great, as long as it doesn’t stop there.
But the real question, the one that doesn't fit neatly into a carousel slide or tweet, is this:
Are you putting those thoughts into action?
The Rise of the Professional Opinionist
Somewhere along the way, we confused the performance of insight with the practice of wisdom.
We started celebrating those who talk about solving problems instead of those actually out there doing the work. People who have mastered the algorithm, whatever the platform, have mastered the art of getting likes and shares, but not the art of execution. We have an abundance of thought leaders whose main product is... more thought leadership.
It’s not in itself bad, but it can become a trap: when your identity is built around sounding smart, it’s dangerous to be wrong. At that point, you are relying on others acting on your words.
Doing > Declaring
What we need more than ever are thought doers. People who don’t just explain, they embody what they preach.
These are the people:
Testing ideas in the field before posting about them.
Admitting when a theory doesn’t hold up in reality.
Prioritizing experimentation over image.
Overall, they let humility lead.
If you’re working in nonprofits, this means going beyond suffering narratives and actually listening to the communities you state that you serve. In startups, it means building the product before building the hype. FOR US AS WRITERS, it means modeling what we preach.
The difference is subtle, but the world impact is seismic.
Real Doing Is Messy (And That’s the Point)
Execution is vulnerable. It's slow. It’s not always glamorous. Sometimes your bold hypothesis turns out to be... just wrong. But that’s where credibility comes from, not in being infallible, but in being honest.
This is where long-term success comes from, not just the writing of thought leadership but also the practical personal application of it.
Are you stopping at Knowledge, or actually moving to Wisdom?
The tension between talking and doing isn’t new. The Bible has been calling it out for generations.
Proverbs 4:7 states it. It’s not that knowledge is unimportant; it’s just step 1. But wisdom, defined as the application of knowledge, is what actually leads to transformation. It’s the difference between knowing the right path and walking it.
Thought leadership can gather applause.
Thought doing can change a generation.
Which one is yours?
Becoming a Thought Doer
If you’re in this game, whether as a nonprofit pro, entrepreneur, marketer, or leader, and you want to make the shift from thought leader to thought doer, here’s what I’d suggest:
Start with service, not strategy.
What are you trying to help solve? Who are you trying to help do it? Make that your compass.Test in the wild.
Don't just theorize. Try. Fail. Document the process. The best content often is the experiment.Share the messy middle.
Don’t always post when the end product is polished. Let people see the tension, the shifts, the "I’m not sure yet."Let your platform follow your practice.
Build from the work, not the other way around. The best ideas come from experience, not isolation.Stay human.
You’re allowed to change your mind. You’re allowed to not know.
Final Thought
We don’t need more perfectly posed experts shouting into the digital void. We need more people rolling up their sleeves, doing the work, and then — maybe — turning that into wisdom worth sharing.
Because the world doesn’t need another leader with all the right words.
It needs leaders who live them.
Have thoughts? Want to add anything?…