Confession time.

When I see a post with a title like, 103 Genuine Marketing Thought Leaders To Follow, my heart sinks. A part of me really wants to be on the list. A part of me is already a bit bitter, because I’m worried that I may have been left out. A part of me could care less about lists like this, because I know that I’m really doing the work (as Seth Godin and Steven Pressfield call it). A part of me wants others to appreciate the work that I do. A part of me knows that I don’t put in the self-promotion time that many of my peers do to get attention. A part of me wonders what I have to do, if the work that I’ve done to date didn’t get me on a list over one hundred other folks. It’s a mixed bag a personal emotions. Still, my heart does skip a beat, as I click through these types of articles.

From panic to warmth.

So, here I go clicking through this well-designed and well-written SlideShare. I see a lot of familiar faces. Friends. Peers. People whose work I deeply respect. Then, on slide 23, my heart really does skip a beat and sink all at once. There’s my picture. It’s a whole page. The headline: “The Mastermind… A Thought Leader to Thought Leaders.” I could have never have expected this. So, a super huge thanks to Matthew Sweezey for pulling this together (and being so kind to me). Matthew is the Principal of Marketing Insights for Salesforce, and widely regarded as one of the top minds on the future of marketing. It’s one thing to make this list… it’s another to be on Matthew’s radar.

You should check this out.

Don’t worry, you can skip over slide 23, I won’t be offended. Still, this deck is chock full of super-interesting people that you really should follow. Many of them have been featured on Six Pixels of Separation – The Mirum Podcast. Many of them are about to be invited either back on, or for the first time. This is a great checklist of who’s doing stuff in marketing today.

Thanks, Matthew. Check it out here: 103 Genuine Marketing Thought Leaders.