The Thoughtful Executive is a weekly executive-level newsletter on thought leadership, content marketing, and strategic messaging for the C-suite. Delivered every Wednesday.
Welcome—or welcome back—to The Thoughtful Executive!
Recently we wrapped up the first phase of our newsletter with a health check for your executive thought leadership programs.
Next, I want to look at our work as thought leadership operators, managers, and execs from another angle.
So I went job hunting.
Not for me. For you.
I pulled recent job postings with “thought leadership” in the title. Across levels. Heads of. Directors. Managers. Specialists. Freelance LinkedIn thought leadership writers. All of it.
I wanted to see how employers are describing this work in 2026. What they expect. What skills they care about. How they talk about the role inside their own orgs.
Not so you can compare yourself to a Fortune 500 job description. So you can see your own work more clearly. Get the language that makes it easier to talk about what you do. And maybe reconsider how you do your job.
This is not one job. It is a stack of them.
When you look at the postings side by side, you do not see a single “thought leadership” role.
You see a stack.
Senior leaders who own a full agenda for a business line. Often titled something like Head of Thought Leadership and Content Marketing, reporting into a senior marketing or comms leader.
Mid-level managers responsible for planning and execution across channels, often paired with internal communications or content strategy.
Specialists and contractors focused on specific things like LinkedIn thought leadership, executive social, or presentation content.
Same phrase in the title. Very different seats around the table.
The interesting part is not the salary band. It’s the shape of the work that keeps repeating underneath.
What these roles actually ask for
Across levels and industries, the same asks show up again and again.
You can use these as a lens for your own role, whatever your current title is.
1. Turning complex thinking into clear stories
Almost every posting leads with writing and editing.
Not requirements to post on social or demands to use this or that analytics tool.
Writing.
Long form, executive level content
White papers and research summaries
Op-eds and bylined articles
Keynote and panel scripts
High stakes presentations for external audiences
At more junior levels, that shows up as drafting and revising. At more senior levels, it’s setting standards and coaching others.
Either way, the core is the same. Take messy, complex thinking and turn it into something a real person can follow.
If your team is strong at distribution but light on this kind of writing, that’s useful to see. The market is telling you where the bar is.
2. Working directly with executives and experts
Every role assumes some level of direct partnership with senior people.
You see phrases like:
“Partner with senior leaders”
“Influence and challenge investment professionals on themes and priorities”
“Support leaders in sounding authentic, confident, and consistent”
Even at specialist levels, the expectation is that you are close enough to the source to capture how they actually think, not just how a brief describes them.
That means:
You can sit in a room with your exec or expert and ask basic questions without feeling stupid
You can say “this does not land yet” and keep their trust
You can pull out specifics and stories they would not have volunteered on their own
If you are always working through an intermediary, that’s something to think about. It doesn’t make your work less valuable. It just points to where you might want to move over time.
3. Owning a slice of the agenda, not just the output
At the top end, the roles are asked to set the agenda.
“Prioritize high-impact themes”
“Shape and drive the strategic direction for thought leadership”
Lower down the stack, the language shifts, but the idea is the same.
“Contribute to the editorial roadmap”
“Identify timely topics based on market trends and customer needs”
“Proactively suggest ideas for content and campaigns”
You’re not just waiting for someone to hand you topics. You have a point of view on what belongs on the platform and what does not.
If you feel like you are stuck as the person who just gets things out the door, these postings are a reminder. Part of this job is deciding what is worth saying in the first place.
4. Bridging teams, not living in a silo
Thought leadership roles live in marketing and comms on paper. But the work itself sits between groups.
Job descriptions list partnerships with:
Product and research
Sales and customer success
Legal and compliance
PR and brand
Executive offices and chiefs of staff
The thought leadership person is the bridge between subject matter expertise and the outside world.
At different levels, that looks like:
Coordinating reviews and approvals
Pulling data and stories from inside teams
Making sure what you publish aligns with how the business actually sells and delivers
If your program lives entirely inside marketing, with no steady connection to the rest of the org, that’s an opportunity to reach beyond the walls, make your life easier, and help redefine how you and your colleagues think about and do thought leadership.
5. Connecting the work to outcomes that matter
The newer postings talk about measurement differently.
They’re not just talking about impressions and engagement. You see things like:
“Lead generation and pipeline influence”
“Brand sentiment and reputation with key audiences”
“Share of voice in priority topics and markets”
“Advisor engagement growth”
Maybe you don’t own the dashboards yourself. But the expectation is that thought leadership has a job to do beyond creating visibility.
At a minimum, that means you can answer questions like:
Which pieces actually changed how people saw the company
What topics drew in the right people, not just the most people
Where thought leadership has shown up in deals, renewals, or strategic conversations
If you’re not tracking that yet, don’t wait for permission to start. You can begin with a simple list of pieces that moved something and build from there.
What most of these postings are not talking about
The gaps are just as telling.
Most descriptions do not mention:
How the team will capture market intelligence from content
How they will protect the executive’s actual voice from getting flattened
How this work fits into a broader feedback loop with sales, product, or strategy
And, frankly, a lot of the stuff we’ve covered over the last six (!) months
If you’re doing this, you’re already going beyond what most of these descriptions spell out. That doesn’t make you “better” than someone in one of these roles. I don’t ever want to talk about thought leadership in that sense because the opportunities and what you can accomplish vary and can’t exactly be compared because companies have different people, expertise, circumstances—all that stuff. Doing what you’re doing and seeing your work through the lens of the topics we’ve talked about means you can see parts of the job that a lot of companies are not naming yet.
How the storyteller trend fits into this
You’ve probably seen the stories about companies hiring “storytellers.”
LinkedIn job postings mentioning “storyteller” have doubled in the past year, with tens of thousands of openings across marketing, media, and communications. Big tech companies have created roles like head of storytelling, narrative director, and customer storytelling manager.
This is happening because the old channels are shrinking.
Print circulation is down. Traffic to major news sites has fallen. Reporters and editors are stretched thin.
And, obviously, AI-written content is flopping. Or should I say slopping. (🤣)
So companies are building their own media arms. They’re launching newsletters, podcasts, video series, and executive platforms. They want people who can shape a narrative, not just write a press release.
Thought leadership roles sit inside that same shift.
While “storyteller” became the loud, public version of this trend, thought leadership roles have been the quieter version for the 10-15 years. Sitting closer to the executive. Focused on specific challenges, markets, and ideas.
You have been doing this work before it had a neat label.
The good news is, the market is finally catching up. The uncomfortable news is, expectations are going up with it.
How to use all of this in your own role
You don’t need to overhaul your job because of a few LinkedIn postings.
But you can use this information in a few very practical ways.
Use the language to describe what you already do
If you’ve ever struggled to explain your job to an exec, these descriptions give you phrases you can borrow.
“I shape and elevate your voice in the market on the challenges that matter to our buyers.”
“My job is to translate complex thinking from across the business into clear, repeatable stories our audience can use.”
“I own the thought leadership agenda for this space and partner with you on what belongs on your platform.”
Those are all truer to your work than “I write content.”
Spot where you are already ahead
If you are:
Running a real feedback loop on your content
Protecting executive voice in drafts and reviews
Giving your company intelligence back from what you publish
You’re doing things most job descriptions do not even mention.
See one area you want to lean into next
You don’t have to match every bullet in every posting.
But you can ask:
Do I want more direct partnership with my exec(s) this year
Do I want to own a bigger slice of the agenda, not just the calendar
Do I want to get sharper at tying what we do to business outcomes
Pick one. Not all three. Build toward it on purpose.
FAQ: Thought leadership roles and your work
Do I need “thought leadership” in my title to be doing thought leadership?
No. Thought leadership is the work, not the title.
If you are shaping an executive’s point of view, helping them publish useful thought leadership content, and building a consistent body of work across channels like email, LinkedIn, and podcasts, you are already doing thought leadership. The title can help you with scope and resourcing, but it does not create the impact on its own.
How do these job postings change how I should think about my own role?
Use them as a mirror, not a verdict.
Look at what these roles own: writing, topic selection, stakeholder partnership, and metrics that tie to real outcomes. Then ask where you already do those things, where you want to grow, and what blind spots they reveal in your current setup. The takeaway is not “copy this structure” but “see your work more clearly and decide what to strengthen next.”
Where do frameworks fit in? Do I really need one?
You do not need a fancy diagram, but you do need a way of working that is repeatable.
Most strong thought leaders have simple frameworks for how they pick topics, shape a narrative, and move from idea to publish. It helps the C‑suite, marketing, and other providers in your ecosystem understand what you do and how to plug into it. Your framework does not have to be public. It just has to help you make better decision-making calls and scale your work without losing quality.
Is this all just personal branding and self‑promotion?
Done badly, yes. Done well, no.
Good thought leadership is less about personal branding and more about solving real problems for real decision-makers in your market. It should build trust with customers, partners, and internal stakeholders because it shows how your leaders think, not just what they sell. If a piece reads like PR or pure self-promotion, it is probably not doing the job.
How does LinkedIn and social media fit into this?
Think of LinkedIn and other social media platforms as distribution and feedback, not the whole strategy.
They are great places to test ideas, see what resonates, and get real-world signals about what buyers care about. But the goal is not to game algorithms. The goal is to show up consistently with a unique perspective that connects back to deeper assets like articles, talks, webinars, and reports. Social is where you learn and listen as much as where you post.
What skills should I focus on if I want to upskill for these roles?
Start with three: writing, partnering, and measuring.
You can add tools and emerging technologies over time, including smart uses of AI tools and light automation. But the core is:
Strong writing that turns complex ideas into clear, high-quality stories
Real partnership in people with your execs and experts, including some vulnerability and honest feedback
Comfort tying your work to metrics that matter, not just views
If you want a fourth skill, choose smart partnerships inside the company. Talk regularly with product, sales, and leadership development or people teams. That is where the best stories usually hide.
Are thought leadership roles only external, or do they help with internal wellbeing and culture too?
Both.
Several postings pair thought leadership with internal communications or culture work. When you help leaders talk clearly about strategy, trade offs, and how they make decisions, you improve the internal user experience of working at the company. People understand where the business is heading and why. That has a direct effect on employee wellbeing and alignment, not just what shows up in a search engine result.
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Johnathan Silver helps executives turn judgment and experience into effective thought leadership. Through The Thoughtful Executive, he works with senior leaders and marketing teams to build thought leadership programs, sharpen executive voice, and create content that earns trust over time. His work sits at the intersection of leadership communication, content strategy, and executive decision-making.