2021

The greatest disservice the marketing and publicity gang could have done for their clients was come up with the term ‘thoughtleader’

By Michelle Constant

One of the disservices of a socially mediated society, one where talk radio subsumes real public broadcast, is that we are now all ‘thought leaders’; sadly its a notion that currently holds weird cache. 

Daily on SAFM, we receive another press release from a publicist, selling us a thought leader – the CEO, the Manager, the Captain, the Entrepreneur, the Celebrity Influencer, the Influencer without the Celebrity; Rodin’s Thinker is no longer alone. There are world-views, grandiose statements, short-termisms, and florid gestures, all under the heading of thought leadership.   Often the press release is littered with ‘facts’ that can only come from hours of Google search, a narrative that is sold by the savvy media maven who set the marketing strategy.  It does the CEO/Manager/Leader/Captain/ Celebrity/Influencer no favours when they come into interview. Quickly what was sold as a thought provoking topic turns into a simplistic preamble to selling the business to the public. (By the way, I’m not for one minute suggesting a moratorium on the press release; we are desperate for real news and insights.)

Not every thought leader is a leader.  Not every leader has to be a ‘thought leader’. We need to dispense of the glib sales pitch, and cut a swathe for those whose interrogation of the world offers us respite, solace, debate, wit, wisdom, fresh insights and fire. On the weekend I interviewed a young seven year old who has started a plastic recycling ‘business’ to support his family. His parents are both jobless owing to the pandemic.  In highlighting the extraordinary toughness and inequality of South Africa right now, I learned from his simple words; small stories, big ideas, massive inspiration, real change, at any age.   I interviewed the musician Msaki – the conversation gave depth at a time when the waters are shallow, stillness when the waters are choppy, insights when the waters are stagnant.  Msaki’s power as a musician and wordsmith lies in her interrogation of the anger, grief and joy currently taking hold of South Africa, also what it means to be a woman, when the word spells fear for many. Her slowed up, and deafeningly quiet cover of Blk Sonshine’s Born in A Taxi  (still to be released) is true thought leadership. We just have to listen, and sometimes we discover wisdom in the smaller stories.

2018

The Jack Ginsberg centre

Origin

Wanted

By Michelle Constant