LinkedIn, the remarkably successful (in the
sense that it’s a product people speak about often and think you should know
about, especially if you’re looking for a job) sent me an email called “NEXT,” recommending that I follow the digital words
of Ari Emanuel, the co-CEO of William Morris Endeavor, the major Hollywood
talent agency, because he is an acknowledged “thought leader.”
I genuinely don’t blame Mr. Emanuel for this thoughtless and annoying intrusion into my life (although I do have major scores to settle with his
two hideous brothers – the Chicago Mayor who sends dead
animals to political enemies through the mail, but is still considered a liberal
champion and champion liberal, and the freakish other one who wants to chair death panels), but I think I hate the
expression “thought leader” even more than I despise the practice of using the
word "impact" as a verb.
I don’t follow Fucking Thought Leaders. Instead, as my
generation's bard advised, I watch the parking meters instead.
Other
thought leaders LinkedIn suggested, whom I won’t be following include:
Peter Guber
CEO, Mandalay Entertainment, Owner Golden State Warriors and Los
Angeles Dodgers, #1 NYT Bestselling Author, Tell To Win
Richard
Branson
Founder at Virgin Group
Arianna
Huffington
President and Editor-in-Chief at The Huffington Post Media Group
Deepak Chopra
MD (official)
Founder at Deepak Chopra LLC
Barack Obama
President of the United States of America
Anthony (Tony)
Robbins
Chairman at Anthony Robbins Holdings, Inc.
Jeff Weiner
CEO at Linkedin
Cory Booker
Mayor, Newark NJ
When I say “following,” I should add that Linkedin provides on-screen commands reading, for example, “Follow Barack!”
As a citizen of this republic, I find that admonition scary.
However, I may consider their suggestion that I follow the distinguished Ethiopian/Swedish chef (and, apparently, thought
leader) Marcus Samuelsson.
Years ago, Caroline and I discovered Samuelsson’s cooking when he introduced his talents to Manhattan at Aquavit. In interviews he cuts an attractive, imaginative and modest figure.
His gravlax is heavenly. His Jansson's Temptation sounds devilish, but it isn't unless you're
violently opposed to anchovies.
Illustrations:
Top:
Follower of Filippino Lippi, Worship of the Golden
Calf, ca. 1500, National Gallery, London.
Second and Third: Bael and Belzebuth
from Dictionnaire Infernal, Jacques Albin Simon Collin de
Plancy, 1818.
Lower: Devils in fresco details, Rila Monastery, Bulgaria,
ca. 1846.
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