What Real Thought Leadership Looks Like (And Why Most People Get It Wrong)
I wasn’t planning to pay attention.
I threw on the Futur podcast with Brian Miller in the background, former magician, now a coach for experts with tangled messages. But ten minutes in, I’d stopped multitasking and started scribbling notes. Not because he said something shocking. Because he said things I’d felt for a long time but hadn’t been able to articulate.
It started as a conversation about “thought leadership.” It turned into something sharper: a blueprint for saying something worth following.
Here’s what most of us get wrong and what to do instead.
1. Agreeable Isn’t Clear
A lot of expert messaging sounds thoughtful on the surface, “This issue matters,” “We need to pay attention to X”, but it doesn’t actually give people anything to engage with. It blends into the feed because it’s not saying anything specific.
Clarity doesn’t come from how much you care about something. It comes from the stance you take. What you believe. What you’re focused on. What you’re choosing not to take on.
That’s when people lean in. They ask questions. They offer pushback. They start thinking out loud.
That’s what creates momentum and moves the conversation forward. If your message isn’t doing that, it’s just background noise.
2. Judging Ideas Is Part of the Job
We’re taught not to be judgmental, especially not out loud. Most of us learned early on that calling something out, naming what’s not working, could come across as arrogant, dismissive, or just plain rude. So we stay quiet. We soften the language. We hedge.
But when it comes to ideas, holding back doesn’t serve you or the people you’re trying to help. If you’ve done the work, if you’ve spent time in the field, seen the patterns, tested approaches, then you’ve earned the right to say what you see.
A lot of experts hold back because they don’t want to sound like they think they have all the answers. But helpful doesn’t mean humble in the quiet, polite sense. Helpful means saying, “This approach tends to work better than that one,” or “Here’s where this popular advice usually falls apart,” or “This part right here is where people get stuck, and here’s why.”
You’re not tearing anything down. You’re offering perspective. You’re guiding.
And when you name what’s working, point out what’s not, and explain how you got there. This gives your audience a map, a way of seeing that helps them move forward. That’s what good judgment looks like. And it’s part of the job.
3. Predictions Are Where You Risk (and Earn) Trust
Beliefs are important but if you stop there, you’re just sharing perspective. A prediction goes further. It says, “Here’s what I think is coming, and here’s why.” That takes more skin in the game.
Predictions carry risk, and that’s exactly what makes them useful. They give your audience something to watch for. If you’re right, you’ve built credibility. If you’re wrong and can explain why, you’ve still earned trust because now they’ve seen how you think, not just what you think.
Real leadership shows up in the willingness to be accountable for your ideas, not just admired for your insights.
Commentary is safe. Predictions are where people start to take you seriously.
4. Your Message Needs a Frame, Not Just a Story
A strong story can get attention but it doesn’t automatically create clarity. If you want your message to land and keep landing, you need structure.
The FILTER framework does that. It gives your audience a way to follow your thinking and understand the point of it all.
Filter: One clear sentence that explains what you do, who it’s for, and why it matters. It forces decisions about focus and audience.
Story Hook: A moment that shows you understand the real problem not just emotionally, but with enough depth that people trust you to help.
Argument: The logic behind your idea. What’s broken in the current approach, what you see differently, and why that difference matters.
When those three are in place, people don’t just hear your message, they remember it, repeat it, and start to see things through your lens.
5. Don’t Pitch Too Early
One of the most common mistakes experts make is jumping straight to the solution. You’ve got something valuable to offer, so you lead with it. You explain the idea, show how it works, maybe even tell a story to bring it to life.
But it still doesn’t land and the reason is simple.
If your audience still believes the current approach works, they’re not ready to hear something new. They’ll nod, maybe even compliment your delivery, but they won’t act on what you shared. Because in their mind, there’s no real problem yet.
That’s why it’s your job to lay out the current logic first. Name the method people are already using. Walk through how it works or how it’s supposed to work. Then show where it falls short. Let them feel the limits for themselves.
That’s what creates the opening. Not just for your insight to land, but for it to feel necessary.
6. Direction Over Misdirection
There’s a trend in communication, especially in keynotes and content marketing, to hold the punchline until the end. To surprise the audience. To build up tension and then deliver a twist. That works in storytelling. It works in entertainment.
But if your goal is clarity, it’s the wrong move.
Real clarity means showing your audience where you’re headed early on. You don’t need to spoil the journey, you just need to give them a reason to stay with you.
Instead of trying to outsmart your audience, focus their attention. Let them see the path, and make it compelling enough that they want to follow it all the way through.
7. Thought Leadership Isn’t a Brand Strategy
A lot of people say they want to build thought leadership, but what they’re actually doing is avoiding risk. They post regularly, share insights, maybe even build a following but they’re not taking positions. They’re not offering judgment or making predictions.
And without those things, it’s just content.
Real thought leadership asks more of you. Sharing what you’ve noticed. Naming the patterns. Offering a way forward.
It’s not always comfortable. But if you want to build trust, shift thinking, or lead in your space, that’s the work. You keep showing up, not just to be present, but to be clear.
Want the full conversation?
This article pulls the big takeaways but the full interview with Brian Miller is packed with examples, frameworks, and real-time clarity. Watch it now on YouTube
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