I liked being a Thought Leader, I got to write papers and make pretty infographics of complicated things (that weren't very exciting), and flutter around the world with a generous expense account talking to people and presenting at conferences and meetings. I reported to no one in particular and had no targets. Unfortunately, it's one of those roles that didn't directly make money. Why can't the salespeople do that? they'd bleat on the mothership bridge. Because they're salespeople, I imagine.
So they started to clamp down on budgets and approvals, until it became a bit pointless since I couldn't do much. Basically, they evicted me from the role with strategic frustration. I got tired of arguing about it. Cunning. Alas, I'm was too expensive for redundancy, so they gave me a new hat and a pay rise, and thus now I work in Strategic Product Command. I still have Tidy Hair™ though.