Ever watch one of those juice infomercials that feature some self-created celebrity whirring blueberries in a blender? And did you believe, as they scraped all that fruit into a shoot, that this speaker was actually an authority on their subject?

Everyone and everything is a brand, especially online. With that truism, however, comes this attendant and dubious proposition: Anyone with some knowledge and a point of view can present themselves as a thought leader to promote whatever brand they'd like to sell.

And then there's the thought leaders on thought leadership. The headlines go like this: How to Establish Yourself as a Thought Leader in Six Easy Steps. Seen one like it? Google that phrase. There's a ton of 'em out there.

Here's the result: Thought leadership is now so poorly defined, and so diluted by over-assignment, that some bloggers actually purport that effective thought leadership involves relying upon your audience set the agenda, answering their questions, and remaining reactive to their lead.

That's leadership? Not the last time I checked.

Perhaps we need to step back a bit and reassess the situation, consider the history of the concept and re-establish what we mean by leader and how one gets there. What does it means to be nominated rather than to nominate ourselves?