Stephen Waldron, 11/18/2019

Current Occupation: Graduate student
Former Occupation: Indexer
Contact Information: Stephen Waldron is working on a Ph.D. in theology. He sometimes wonders why we now have "thought leaders" and what exactly their qualifications might be. He also isn't exactly sure why some people get paid a lot and others don't. He can be reached at stephenwaldron0 at gmail dot com.

 

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Thought Leadership

 

Socrates and Jesus and Hypatia were all

innovating, disruptive thought leaders until

mobs moved their respective cheeses across

the River Styx–countless small-minded ferrymice

 

who refused to buy into the visioning of

those industry pacesetters, which was marked by

strategic dynamism, an awareness of market conditions,

and a willingness to make the tough decisions.

 

“People tend to resist change,” said Socrates,

who lost a municipal consulting contract.

His intern wrote up a case study on their difficulties

with organizational change and development.

 

And Jesus tried to create efficiencies and improve cash flow

by cutting out unnecessary vendors,

but encountered resistance due to rent-seeking behaviors

and an agricultural cartel’s public-private partnership.

 

How Hypatia attempted to shape an entrepreneurial space,

when direct competitors engaged in regulatory capture

in the aftermath of the Alexandria TedX fiasco,

just before catching the trireme for Davos.

 

All this shows the importance of succession planning:

that intern Socrates hired? 

He started a variety of spin-offs,

which gained market share in key 

global education-sector supply hubs.

And when Jesus flew the coop? 

His board of directors launched the greatest conglomerate of all time.

But Hypatia, it seems, leaned in a bit too far

and failed to establish a contingency plan.