The whole article in one paragraph.

Simon Sinek is a leader in the $779bn thought leadership industry. Thought leaders sell expertise without experience and advice without accountability. When you genuinely need to get through something hard you need an expert, not a thought leader. An expert has experienced the same adversity, can share what worked for them, and has a genuine investment in seeing you win. This article shows you how to spot the difference.

Years ago, I was leading a product launch for a joint venture between Google and PWC that was slamming into a wall. The CFO’s office was mortified by how much money we were burning and how little we were selling, enterprise customers were hesitant about the technology, and the sales teams from both companies were fighting over who ‘owned’ which client account. It seemed imminent that we would be shut down and fired. 

On one especially stressful day a friend sent me a YouTube video, hoping to calm me down. In the video a highly-caffeinated, bespectacled man with a not-quite-English accent sat across from a deferential interviewer and explained to a large crowd how CFOs have it wrong about innovation.

“I hear this from CFOs all the time,” the man said. “And it makes me laugh every time. 
‘CFO, what’s your priority?’ 
‘Efficiency and innovation.’
‘Good luck with that.’” The man laughed out loud, and then exclaimed, “Innovation is not efficient! Innovation is trial and error! Innovation is experimentation!… The worst thing you can do is cut someone off who’s passionate about something.” The man emphasized his points with strong movements of his hands and arms.

The man was Simon Sinek. It was clear to me that he’d never spoken to a CFO about innovation in his life.
Nor had he ever had to defend his innovation to an enterprise CFO.
He was making $hit up.
He was hoping that people like me, who were actually in the trenches and stuck and scared, would trust him to lead us out of the darkness into the light. It struck me as narcissistic and predatory.

In addition to never advising CFOs on their innovation investment strategy, Simon Sinek has also never led a squadron of Marines in Afghanistan. Nor has he led a massive change management initiative as a middle manager in a large company. But he makes millions selling talks, books, workshops, courses, and advisory engagements based on the lessons learned from those who did these things.  

Simon Sinek is at the apex of the thought leadership industry. Thought leaders sell expertise without experience, and advice without accountability to people who badly need legitimate help.

The ascent of LinkedIn, TED talks, YouTube, and a shift by financially struggling business publications to a pay-for-play model has made the industry explode to an estimated $779bn

What I needed at that moment, working for Google/PWC, was a survivor - not a thought leader.

I needed someone who had endured what I was going through to say, “You’re not alone. I’ve been where you are. Here’s how I got to the other side. It’s really hard - but there’s hope if you’ll let me help you.” 

Experts Are Survivors. Thought Leaders Are Observers.

Who someone was before they started teaching tells you a lot about why they teach and what you’ll learn from them. 

Simon Sinek worked in advertising. He’s extremely qualified to teach you how to build a brand for a product, company, or yourself. In fact, he shared one of the foundations of brand identity in his breakthrough TED talk, “Start With Why.” But when he claims expertise in a domain where he has no experience, he loses credibility (and integrity, in my view).

Someone who has achieved the desired outcome that they are teaching you to accomplish is an expert - not a thought leader. There’s a big difference. An expert had to overcome the setbacks and failures that stand in the way of a breakthrough. They know which elements of the journey can be hacked, and which elements have no shortcut and just need to be endured. They can separate the signal from the noise. They don’t bullshit you about what it takes to survive and thrive. Their goal is not to look smart, but to help you get unstuck. Your growth is part of their healing. (That sounds weird, but correct.)

April Dunford teaches people about product positioning because she spent her career in the trenches of it. She’s more than just a master of her craft. She also cares about the people she serves. She’s energized by their success. She’s deeply connected to their struggles.

My boss many years ago, Ran Fuchs, was an expert in investing. He loved where business school education stopped and the real world of investing started. He was a passionate mentor who loved showing the calculations you need to make when the data you want isn’t available, and the conventional tools stop working. He could read the psychology of buyers and sellers like others read charts. He was an expert. 

I try to be that expert in my own career. I’ve launched 33 new products in the enterprise. I’ve seen too many outstanding innovators build amazing things that get destroyed by politics and obstructionism. The difference between success and failure has very little to do with strategy or technology, It has to do with leaders who can anticipate the defense and deploy the right strategy to get through it. Behind every successful innovation is a community of people who picked each other up and kept moving forward. That’s the reason I created Punks & Pinstripes. It’s the community I needed and couldn’t find when I was in the trenches of innovation. 

A true expert who can actually lead you through adversity to growth has the following attributes:

1. They show their scars. They started at the same place as you. They made it through to the other side. They are careful not to oversimplify or over-glorify. This is why many people who spent millions on therapy and rehabs are only actually able to stay sober in the folding chairs and church basements of Alcoholics Anonymous, where they are led by other recovering addicts as opposed to highly paid addiction counselors.

2. They show their batting average. They are fully transparent about their wins and losses. This is why Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Capital, is such an outstanding teacher. He constantly reexamines the mistakes he’s made as well as the wins. And he does so without judgment or bravado.

3. They genuinely want you to win. This is the reason I hugely admire Jason Fried, founder of Basecamp, and author of ReWork. He encourages people to email him directly and he responds. He’s very clear that you will still get stuck if you follow the best advice, and he wants to help you in those moments. People who’ve been through hard things experience personal growth by helping others get through the same thing. 

When you genuinely need to get through something hard you need an expert, not a thought leader. An expert has experienced the same adversity, can share what worked for them, and has a deeply felt investment in seeing you win. 

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