Thanks for this post, Mike. I agree it's crowded out there! As a new entrant to the 'leadership advisor" field (from industry to academia &amp; consulting), I must say it's initially overwhelming, then it's quite frustrating, and right now I'm at the point where it's actually totally confusing!

It would be so much easier if people would clearly identify their position and reasons for blogging, etc (maybe on this site, we could do that even). In doing this, I'm not saying anyone should 'ignore' anyone else. It's just that then there are categories and more clarity.

I think the problem is firstly that not too many are looking for a niche. It's all so generalized and lots of the content just echoes itself all over the place. Secondly, so much of it (as David says above) is self-help content. Some lists of advice are good, but most are basically waffle. In a book store, I think only 10-20% of the web leadership content would find itself in the leadership section!

On the subject of the lack of groundbreaking stuff, I do actually see a shift developing, but it's slow. I think that it responds to the times. From the 50's to the 80's hardly anything happened until the "Transformational Leadership" concept - and that was in response to things getting much more dynamic around that time. Shared leadership concepts came about due to an increasing need for innovation and the authentic concept is very much a response to the turmoil brought about by disappointments and a universal need for leaders to make positive impacts on the world.

But maybe there is a shift occurring, and maybe all this blogging is a symptom. It's just a theory I'm throwing out, but aren't many of us saying that anyone can be a leader wherever they are? Are we not looking for leadership 'acts' at every level of organizations now?

I am totally with you when you say that you "believe our world is suffering greatly due to a lack of leadership.". It's serious. But perhaps what's happening is that people are making attempts to respond but because of a lack of leadership knowledge they're grasping at stuff - hence the leadership self-help...

Just thinking out loud.