How NOT to be a Thought Leader

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At Medium on November 28, 2023 there is a silly article by Caroline Tran titled How To Create Differentiated Public Speaking Articles (And Stand Out As A Result). She claims that saying something different is one part of being a Thought Leader. Her example is:

 

“How to get rid of your ‘ums’ and ‘ahs’?

Give away $10 per ‘um.’ 5 ums? That’s $50. 10 ums? That’s $100. 15 ums? That’s $150. Make it physically painful to say ‘ums’ and ‘ahs.’ Notice how this instantly stands out from the crowd. Nobody has said it before. It’s completely novel. And because of that, you no longer occupy the category of a ‘follower’ saying the same things as everybody else – you’ve instead started to tap into the category of a ‘thought leader’ sharing unique ideas and shaping the industry itself.”

 

However, paying for having said filler words is neither new nor novel. And, it’s financially painful rather than physically painful (like a slap in the face). The only novel thing in Ms. Tran’s article is the large amount. Toastmaster club meetings have a role called the Ah Counter, which is discussed by Kate McClure in the June 2021 issue of Toastmaster magazine in an article on page 13 titled Counting on the Ah-Counter. Back on May 25, 2009 I blogged about Like, You-Know: Ah, Um, Er. In that post I stated that:

 

“…In our club the counter reports the results. Some clubs [like Hardhat Toastmasters] also levy a fine of 5 cents per filler word (with a maximum of 25 cents) to act as a friendly reminder.”

 

Another club, Encinitas Toastmasters, has a payment of twenty-five cents to their Piggy. And Madrid Toastmasters has a payment of a tenth of a Euro (currently eleven cents).

 

The LinkedIn profile for Carol Tran (with a thumbnail image matching one in that Medium article) says she is in Sydney Australia, and has been a Toastmaster since August 2020. If she had dug deeper, then she could have found those articles. How much is $150 Australian? About $99.20 U.S.

 

What do I have to say about the phrase “thought leader?” I thought I was a leader, but I’m not!