Chapter One: The Basics, Which Are Far From Basic
We’ll begin with the basics which aren’t very basic at all. That’s because we crack the nut of the 21st Century Disciplines of Market Leaders, which I wrote in the days of yore, around the turn of the century that are the foundation for being a thought leader. And then we’ll meander through all sorts of weirdness from insights about the professional speaker’s circuit to some of my clients, and from your choice to become a thought leader or not, to a quote from Plato that should make every CFO tremble, and not tremble in euphoria.
But first, a bit of worthless wonder. I was interested in learning what actors played Socrates in the movies and on TV, and the results are as mad-as-a-hatter (whatever that means). Try this list on for size: Tony Steedman (yes, he played Socrates in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure); Eric Idle who played Socrates in the famous Monte Python sketch, The Philosopher’s Football Match; James Mason who played the Soc-Master in a TV movie (yes, that James Mason who starred in one of my favorite Paul Newman movies, The Verdict); Peter Ustinov, a terrific actor who played Socrates in Barefoot in Athens (who won two Academy Awards for the movies Spartacus and Topkapi); Elliot Gould who played the man in the flick, Little Hercules (Gould starred in some of my favorite films including Getting Straight, Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice, M.A.S.H, The Long Goodbye and California Split); and John Belushi in the SNL skit, The Playboy Philosophy.
And speaking of philosophy, I’ll be back with you tomorrow with more insights about our original thought leaders.