Nobody believes thought leadership anymore – here’s what to do instead

Let’s just say it: most “thought leadership” is landfill.

It’s not thoughtful. It doesn’t lead. And nobody’s buying it – not figuratively, not literally.

We all know the CEO didn’t write that column for Finextra. It was either AI or a freelancer on Fiverr. Or likely both. And you were scammed. You paid for reputation and got a beige ghost story with your name stapled to the top.

It gets worse. You shared it. You added a humblebrag caption about “grateful to be featured”. But your customers didn’t read it. Your team didn’t read it. You didn’t even read it.

So let’s stop pretending this is working.

How we got here

Once upon a time, thought leadership meant: here’s something hard-won from the front line.

Now it means: here’s a 700-word keyword dump, padded with McKinsey stats and fluffed by AI, pretending to be human.

It got diluted by:

• ghostwriting agencies who care more about cadence than insight
• CMOs addicted to “producing content” over saying something real
• founders who want credibility without the inconvenience of having a point of view
• AI tools trained on 20 years of marketing blather and now feeding it back like reheated slop.

The result? You get the same post over and over:

In today’s rapidly evolving landscape, it’s more important than ever to leverage agility, innovation, and customer-centricity…

I’ve seen SaaS documentation with more originality.

This isn’t just cringe – it’s a business problem

Here’s the bit people miss: if your content feels hollow, your credibility does too.

Customers aren’t dumb. They know when something’s real. And they really know when it isn’t. If every article, whitepaper, and LinkedIn post sounds like it came out of the same middle-manager content farm, you’re not building trust – you’re adding noise.

Worse, you’re spending time and money to sound like everyone else – and everyone else sounds boring.

And here’s the kicker: the very people you want to reach – the operators, the buyers, the real decision-makers – they stopped clicking two years ago. They’ve seen the playbook. They’ve muted the voice.

They’re not tired of content. They’re tired of yours.

What not to do (stop doing this today)

Let’s keep this simple:

• don’t publish a blog post if your only point is that AI is interesting
• don’t write about “customer experience” if you’ve never spoken to a support ticket
• don’t quote McKinsey unless you’ve actually read page 47 and disagreed with it
• don’t open with “In today’s fast-paced digital world…”
• don’t put your head of partnerships on a panel and call it an insight piece
• don’t use the word “delight” unless you’re selling cake
• don’t call it “strategic thinking” when it’s a listicle

And finally, don’t you dare pretend that AI-written, SEO-jammed, zero-friction fluff is leadership.

It’s not. It’s furniture.

What to do instead

Here’s what actually works. This isn’t theory – it’s what the smartest operators are already doing.

1. Write from scar tissue

Tell me about the deal you blew. The integration that fell over. The time your fraud system flagged 40% of legit customers and you didn’t sleep for three nights. Then tell me what you changed.

2. Say the thing that costs you something

The best posts make someone in your marketing team nervous. If your content has zero risk, it has zero value.

3. Go usefully narrow

Nobody needs “5 ways to optimise your checkout”. Give me: “How we stopped drop-off in Brazil after Google Pay went weird on Pixel phones”.

4. Write for your buyers, not your peers

Most B2B content reads like it was written to impress other marketers. Your customer doesn’t care about your funnel – they care about their failure rate.

5. Be human, not performative

If your ghostwritten article couldn’t possibly be traced back to your personality, then don’t put your name on it.

6. Build something that couldn’t be faked

If AI could write it, and your intern could fake it, it shouldn’t be published. End of story.

What comes next

We’re entering the trust era.

After years of content inflation – ebooks nobody opens, thought pieces nobody believes, whitepapers that say nothing – there’s a reset coming. And it’s good news for the people who actually have something to say.

Real experience. Real data. Real voice. That’s what cuts through now.

And yes, it takes longer. You can’t outsource your credibility. But you can scale clarity. You can scale usefulness. You can scale truth.

Write like you mean it. Write fewer things, better. Write something that makes your sales team nod and your customers forward it to their mate.

Because nobody believes thought leadership anymore.

But people still believe people.

Start there.