A CEO's job is to lead a company; that's a given. But, due to things like poor business ethics and the need for strategic sustainable thinking for the future, there is a growing demand in the business arena for leaders to lead their industries and the wider world toward new visions and potentially brighter futures.
Recently I read an article by Leigh Buchanan of Inc. magazine who interviewed Ned Ward, vice-president of Stern & Associates, a Cranford, New Jersey public-relations firm. This PR firm's clients include uber-visionary Clayton Christensen - who advises business leaders who want to become known as thought leaders. Ward defines thought leadership in this way: "I would define a thought leader as someone who stands above subject-matter expertise and is an authority in their field. And they have to be able to prove that expertise with a track record."
Mary Baker Eddy
Over one hundred years ago, a New England woman named Mary Baker Eddy was the epitome of thought leadership. Eddy, a 19th century religious leader and author, was a remarkable woman clearly ahead of her time. She challenged conventional beliefs about the nature of man's existence and proved the power of prayer to heal. She lectured, taught, wrote several books, healed extensively, established a worldwide church, founded a publishing company, an internationally acclaimed newspaper, and owned sizable property in Boston and Massachusetts, U.S.A. - a feat which was unparalleled by American women of her day because they had little to no rights to vote, be property owners, or run businesses let alone have rank among the clergy!
Recently I read an article by Leigh Buchanan of Inc. magazine who interviewed Ned Ward, vice-president of Stern & Associates, a Cranford, New Jersey public-relations firm. This PR firm's clients include uber-visionary Clayton Christensen - who advises business leaders who want to become known as thought leaders. Ward defines thought leadership in this way: "I would define a thought leader as someone who stands above subject-matter expertise and is an authority in their field. And they have to be able to prove that expertise with a track record."
Mary Baker Eddy
Over one hundred years ago, a New England woman named Mary Baker Eddy was the epitome of thought leadership. Eddy, a 19th century religious leader and author, was a remarkable woman clearly ahead of her time. She challenged conventional beliefs about the nature of man's existence and proved the power of prayer to heal. She lectured, taught, wrote several books, healed extensively, established a worldwide church, founded a publishing company, an internationally acclaimed newspaper, and owned sizable property in Boston and Massachusetts, U.S.A. - a feat which was unparalleled by American women of her day because they had little to no rights to vote, be property owners, or run businesses let alone have rank among the clergy!
Spiritual Healing from fatal injury
After a complete healing from a fatal fall one New England winter in 1866, Eddy - for three years - unfailingly devoted her time and energy to understanding how the reading of her Bible, and particularly, Jesus' healing of the man confined to his bed with paralysis, had healed her. With the Bible as her only textbook, she discovered how she was healed through the spiritual meaning and import of the scriptures. And this led her to write her signature work Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures - the definitive textbook on Christian scientific healing.
Authority in her field
This morally courageous woman led the worldwide field with authority on the subject through her revelation of Christian Science healing, and, taught others how to do it. Eddy's love for mankind was so abundant that she dedicated the remainder of her life to "... commemorate the word and works of our Master, which should reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing." (Church Manual of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts pg. 17)
Expertise with proven track record
Was Eddy able to prove her expertise with a track record? You bet! The last 100 pages of Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures is full of accounts of healing - both mental and physical - that came about simply by reading the textbook. And, two magazine publications of The Christian Science Publishing Society, The Christian Science Journal and The Christian Science Sentinel - both in print for over 100 years and still in existence today - give numerous accounts of healing that has come from the application of Christian Science.
The fascinating thing about Eddy is that her exalted vision for mankind - and she saw that the possibilities are infinite - are still just as relevant today as they were over 100 years ago.
If you are interested in learning more about this extraordinary thought leader, then I encourage you to visit http://christianscience.com/what-is-christian-science/about-the-founder-mary-baker-eddy. You can get more detail about Eddy's life as well as watch a video entitled Mary Baker Eddy: A Heart in Protest. It's worth visiting.
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