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What's always funny to me is this phenomenon generally has nothing to do with the actual people involved. It's just a story telling phenomenon. None of the peop
by cbsmith 6y ago
What's always funny to me is this phenomenon generally has nothing to do with the actual people involved. It's just a story telling phenomenon. None of the people who know these thought leaders imbue them with qualities they don't have.
- ashtonkem 6y agoThat does not seem correct to me. It’s not a “story telling phenomenon” that DHH and Jason Fried are perceived as industry thought leaders, it’s the result of both repeated actions on their part, plus some luck. Those two didn’t accidentally end up in the public conversation, they wrote five books about working, plus god knows how many blog posts, talks, and more. That is explicitly attention seeking behavior, and it’s a hard prerequisite to becoming a “thought leader” or even just famous enough that a three letter initial is enough to identify yourself.
- antoniuschan99 6y agoIt’s also content marketing (both the blog and books)
- ashtonkem 6y agoYes, it can be that too. I’m just saying that you’ve got to take positive steps towards where they’re at, culturally. It’s not an accident, even if there is certainly some luck and mixed motives.
- antoniuschan99 6y agoIn their case though, their Books, Company (and lesser extent Rails), and Personal Brand are all intertwined.
- cbsmith 6y agoI don't think choosing to share your thoughts/critiques on what has & hasn't worked for you in industry connotes any kind of assumptions about being a flawless leader. One can have some interesting thoughts worth sharing without being some idealized technical leader. Hell, I'd argue a lot of the thoughts that were shared betrayed some points of concern. There's a LOT of projection that has gone here.