Breaking news: There might be another term for thought leadership!

If you’re doing something, don’t let me interrupt.

But if you’re just playing with things on your desk, you might be interested to know that leadership communication consultant Leslie Gaines-Ross is “starting to wonder if thought leadership is morphing into an entirely new terminology in this digital age—content provider.”

Thought leadership, we hardly knew ye!

Don’t panic, dear reader. Leslie tells us on her blog that she and a friend talked and they decided that “anyone can be deemed a content provider but not everyone can be called a thought leader.”

Her reasoning: “Most people on Twitter or Facebook provide content of sorts but it is not always unique or new or truly awe-inspiring.”

She goes on to rank various types of communication as “chatter>content provider>thought leader>original>genius.”

“It’s hard to say what all this adds up to,” she adds, “but the reputation of thought leadership as well as content provider needs a better definition. Just providing content … is different than providing new thinking that leads people to think twice or act differently or even possibly change lives. Something to ponder.”

If you’ve got nothing else to do. —DM