Your life would be completely fine if you never heard of any 'thought leader'.
Here, by 'thought leader' I try to mean, people who have some specific beliefs and process of living, who have the power of motivation, who can lead others towards positive psychology and can help improve other's life through their actions and behavior.
You and even I can be a thought leader if you have the characteristics. Now, the question is why we are talking about following thought leaders?
Human needs motivation every single day. Every person goes through managing several aspects of life. It's not always easy to push ourselves to achieve something or 'make it done' anything that we don't know. There will come a time when we need more than self-motivation. That's when it's necessary to follow someone who can lead us, who can show us the right path or make us feel better while 'taking a break', motivate us to run the rest of our journey.
You may not feel the necessity. To be honest I never feel that way too until I meet some of the thought leaders. While reading their books and listening to them, they made me understand so many things that I was not sure about. I got a clear vision about life and I now have the ability to gain more knowledge/resources if I get stuck in my journey.
There's no restriction choosing any thought leader. It can be a writer, a motivational speaker, an athlete, a singer anything. Just they need the capability to make your interest, motivates you, makes you clear about many things and gives you the courage to move forward in your life.
I think it will never be a loss to follow someone or many like that. So, why not follow some thought leaders?