The Odyssey’s Lesson for Thought Leadership

August 2026

How a 3,000-Year-Old Epic Poem Became a Modern Op-ed Machine

Matt Damon stars as Odysseus, epic hero and op-ed talking point.

In case you haven’t noticed, The Odyssey — the nearly 3-hour movie based on a 12,000-line poem from 3,000 years ago — is newsworthy. So newsworthy, in fact, that it’s become opinionworthy. The New York Times alone has seen fit to run a minimum of six columns on the movie and What It All Means. The sacking of Troy has had almost as much attention as the Strait of Hormuz. All these essays, which together may have as many words as the epic poem itself, offer two clear lessons to nonprofits hoping to establish thought leadership with an op-ed.

First: If you’ve got something to say, say it sharply. Dancing around an issue with mushy language will relegate an essay to oblivion. But connect a cultural moment to the fraught and complex politics of the day, and editors may publish.

Second: If you’ve got something sharp to say, don’t wait to say it. Odysseus may have taken 10 years to get home, but he paid a price for that. The price to pay for not seizing a moment for thought leadership when it presents itself is forfeiture of that moment. After all, leaders are out front. They don’t wait behind.

Why Op-Eds Build Thought Leadership

Credit: Serdar Baris

Thought leadership by nonprofit executives attracts attention, in the form of donations, influence on policy and website traffic. Establishing it through the use of op-eds is more difficult than ever, however, as the number of news organizations (and the opinion desks that run op-eds and letters to the editor) continues to shrink, leaving fewer places to run such essays. The opinion desks that remain are swamped with submissions — typically several hundred of them every single day. It takes some skill to get noticed, and also some tactical practices.

These include:

• Make a sharp and discernible point, not watered down or hidden behind institutional jargon
• Be quick so your essay is timely and relevant to what’s going on in the news or in your field
• Use facts and and tell personal stories or anecdotes, because without facts and stories you’re just another person with an opinion
• Accept editing, both from communications partners and the opinion editors who have the ultimate say over whether your essay is good enough

Thought leadership comes with risks, as does any kind of leadership. Risks include causing offense or alienating allies. But thought leadership’s benefits — boosting one’s reputation and credibility, building morale and attracting support — usually outweigh the risks.

Knowing which pitfalls to avoid is just as helpful as knowing what works. Senior Account Executive Ogo Sylla shares how not to write a compelling op-ed:

“The fastest way to write a forgettable op-ed is to spend 800 words carefully offending no one… That doesn’t mean give a hot take for the sake of it, but it does mean being willing to say something. The sharper your point of view, the more likely someone will want to publish it.”

Read more in his blog.