21 Rules for Being a Better Thought Leader

1. Don’t refer to yourself as a thought leader.

2. Write complete paragraphs (looking at you, LinkedIn poets).

3. Ease up on the allegories.

4. Take the passive-aggressive email subscribe box off your blog.

5. If you’re going to critique something, call out real names and companies.

6. Don’t create your own buzzwords.

7. Remember that nobody cares about your business awards.

8. Remove all inspirational quotes from your social posts.

9. Stop writing on glass walls with a dry erase marker.

10. Don’t brag about how you only sleep four hours a night.

11. Hashtag responsibly.

12. Limit yourself to two goofy headshots on your website.

13. Think really, really hard before you launch a new podcast.

14. Never talk about how many followers you have.

15. Don’t post your personal phone number online and ask people to text you.

16. Take the number of pop-ups on your site, divide by two, and subtract by whatever number leaves you with one.

17. Only ask your followers questions if you actually care about their answers.

18. Write your own blog posts.

19. Don’t try to convince people that simple insights are profound.

20. Be honest about whether you’re really a bestselling author.

21. Seriously, be honest.