What a Baguette Can Teach You About Thought Leadership

I’m curious. What did you think you would find on this page? Did you imagine that you’d learn a fun little tidbit about the history of French Bread? Or did you actually imagine that you would learn something about thought leadership by understanding a baguette?

Maybe the most important questions is somewhere in the neighborhood of both of our motivations. For me, my motivation as a author is easy to understand. I want you to click on that link. It would be nice if you enjoyed the article. It would also be nice if you shared it with your friends and colleagues. But primarily, I just want you to click the link, drive up my click through numbers, and make me more employable and more worthy of ad revenue.

But you. Why did you come here? Don’t get me wrong. In this world there are fun and nearly non-connectible topics and issues that can be to put together. Honestly, there is plenty Silicon Valley can learn about the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Or what managers could learn about Captain Cook’s leadership style. Or what HR could learn from understanding the Chinese Imperial Examination system of the Ming Dynasty.

But ultimately these thing are just obfuscations. They are distractions that prey on your insecurities. When you see “5 Things That You Can’t Afford Not To Know About Canoes,” one finds themselves asking, “Could that be true? Could there be, well, anything that I can’t afford to know about canoes?”

Here’s the plea I’m making. Ignore these things. You don’t need them. Keep your head up, keep your eyes open, and you’re bound to learn everything you need to accomplish your goals. Trust yourself.

And get back to work.