Being A Visionary Where You Live
Author: Ruth Klein
Thought leadership is driving change and perceptions about
the role of business, and also the way we live. Thought
leaders are those men and women who do not follow, but are
leaders with innovation and vision. What they have in
common is being able to transform abstract ideas into
simple, common sense advice that promotes change.
Former Vice President Al Gore is a thought leader whose
innovative thinking on man-made climate change, and what we
can do about it, won him the Nobel Peace Prize.
Alex F. Osborne is the grandfather of the word
"brainstorm," who gave merit in the most conservative
business circles to the idea of creative thinking. It was
Osborne who said: "It is easier to tone down a wild idea
than to think up a new one."
These are the kinds of innovations and ideas that have or
will have a profound impact on the way we live and do
business.
The late Philip Crosby, a Martin-Marietta and IBM
executive, wrote easy-to-read books for lay people and
business leaders on the idea of "quality" in business, and
the high cost of turning out poor-quality goods and
services.
Sandra Odendahl is director of Environmental Risk
Management for CIBC, Canada's fifth-largest bank. With a
degree in chemical engineering, she is a frequent guest
speaker at universities to future business leaders about
not just the political correctness, but also the
profitability in going green.
The late Peter F. Drucker defined the challenges and
opportunities for new generations of "knowledge workers"
decades before the phrase became commonly known. He used
his expertise to predict future social, economic and
business trends.
Jon R. Katzenbach is considered a thought leader on the use
of teamwork in a corporate setting, and how to make teams
more effective.
Alvin Toffler, author of the internationally best-selling
book, Future Shock, also was ahead of his time in writing
about the digital revolution and information overload long
before they became commonly used phrases.
Steve Jobs has always been a thought leader in action,
continuing to re-define personal technologies from
computers to iPods to iPhones after making the personal
computer a household device in the late 1970s that now is
almost as common as a toaster. He also redefined and
re-innovated animation through his Pixar Animation.
Alice Korngold has been a leader in how to make nonprofits
act more like businesses, and vice versa. Her innovations
and vision were captured in her book, Leveraging Good Will:
Strengthening Nonprofits by Engaging Business.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin, founders of Google, created and
continue to re-define how to create successful Internet
search engines and capture new revenues through online
advertising.
Former President Jimmy Carter also won the Nobel Peace
Prize. He won in 2002 for his innovative approach to
finding peaceful solutions to international
conflicts—ideas that will become more important in
this increasingly global economy.
Peter Diamondis is a physician with a master's degree in
aerospace engineering who founded the X Prize Foundation,
which has captured the world's imagination by awarding
prizes to those who know how to best leverage the
entrepreneurial spirit and the public interest with
cross-disciplinary innovation. The private sector
development of outer space for business and tourism is just
one of the many innovative pursuits of those who seek the X
Prize.
These men and women not only became leaders for their
innovative ideas; they established themselves as thought
leaders by translating their creative thinking into easily
understood terms that can be capitalized on by the widest
audiences in any country. Ultimately, that is the role of
thought leadership: to make new ideas accessible and
do-able.
About the Author:
Ruth Klein is an award-winning business owner, best-selling
author and marketing and time management consultant whose
clients range from solo entrepreneurs to the Fortune 500.
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