Ideas have extraordinary power. They're the basis of the opinions, principles, and convictions that drive us. They underpin the plans we make and actions we take.

The more universal the idea, the more promise it evokes, and the more compelling the spokesperson, the more likely we are to adopt it.

You don't have to be a big shot to have valuable ideas. You just need a following of colleagues who think your ideas have merit, can make a difference, and deliver a positive outcome.

Thought-leaders make a difference

Every organization, every one of us, needs someone who gives voice to overlooked issues, unstated concerns, problematic biases, and future possibilities.

Without those voices, we tend accept the status quo, slowing our own growth.

One of the most extraordinary thought-leaders of the past twenty-five years is Oprah Winfrey. She aired her last of 4,561 talk shows on May 25, 2011.

In so many ways, Oprah is a career and business phenomenon. She says she had no vision for her talk show when she started out. She just wanted to do a good job and do no harm. That sounds like a lot of us.

In the beginning, there was no audience for her shows, so she rounded people up off the street to sit in the studio. It didn't take long before her content and approach became an audience magnet.

When Oprah was a little girl in Mississippi, she wanted to become a teacher. That's precisely what she became, but her classroom was a television show.

She discovered, through an early viewer, what she was called to teach. In a letter, the viewer wrote, "Just watching you be yourself, helped me to be myself." That idea was the seed for her thought-leadership career.

Ideas matter

We desperately seek ideas in the form of information, perspectives, insights, and answers to help us solve problems and make good choices.

Oprah's ideas emerged and solidified by listening to smart, informed, and experienced people. She also read and then read some more. She took all that learning and formed it into the simple but profound statements below. One way I think we can put each to work in our jobs is in parens:

-When we know better, we do better. (Learning and using business and leadership best practices help us make the workplace a positive experience.)
-People come into our lives for a reason. (Great mentors and challenging employees teach us how to be more effective and successful in our jobs.)
-Your past doesn't define you. (Losing your job doesn't mean you don't have valuable skills and knowledge.)
-No one but you is responsible for your life. (Own you job, your performance, and your choices; do the right things.)
-Pay it forward. (Let acts of kindness and gratitude brand you; see what a difference you will make.)
Life lessons are also career lessons, business lessons, and leadership lessons. All thoughts are things, so we need to attach them to the right work.

Give voice

A single idea can create an enormous change. Think of the ones that have impacted you.

We can be the voice that calls out bullying in the workplace, promotes diversity in hiring practices, and advocates for more transparency in corporate decision-making.

We can use our platforms to promote high standards of performance and integrity, respect for our coworkers, and fair treatment for all.

Our ideas position us to lead if we take the challenge. Thought leadership is visionary: It's the engine for change, innovation, and discovery. Let's see what good we can do.