Leveraging Thought Leadership

Today's guest is Mark Victor Hansen, the co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul franchise and best-selling author of The Power of Focus, The Aladdin Factor, and Dare to Win. Mark discusses how he shifted from a business going bankrupt to a best-selling author! He shares his years of experience about how the book business has changed from selling books at the back of the room to online, and how things are changing again due to COVID-19. Mark gives incredible insights into how he makes a licensed the Chicken Soup for the Soul books when no one had ever thought it was possible to license a book. We wrap up by disusing how you can keep your name relevant while travel restrictions remain in place by taking advantage of being a podcast guest and learning to speak without an audience in front of you. Three Key Takeaways: Thought leaders need to keep up with the changing environment of sales for books. Licensing your thought leadership might be the method you have not thought of to reach a huge audience. Thought Leaders should be seeking podcasts to appear on to spread the word about their content while our movement is restricted.

Today's guest is Mike Kleinemaß, Digital Marketing & Communications Expert at ThyssenKrupp, a company that deals with engineering and construction of plant technology. Mike discusses how he came to thought leadership while doing other research and how it fits into his role in digital marketing. Bill and Mike discuss the place of platforms like Linkedin in B2B sales and why building a following and creating truly useful content for your prospective clients is important. In addition, Mike talks about the importance of building a relationship in which you are open and available to answering questions, having conversations, and engaging with your followership instead of just pushing out a message. Mike helped create a task force at ThyssenKrupp and explains how that came to be, the purpose of it, and why those involved need to understand their value within the organization and the impact they have. As a digital marketing and growth expert Mike shares some incredible knowledge that can be applied to any company or organization seeking to understand how to be successful in the digital space. Three Key Takeaways: · As more digital transformations happen thought leaders need to understand the new journey their customers will undertake. · Thought leaders can gain a great deal of insight from examining the analytics of their social media and website. That information can be used to create targeted sales strategies. · Becoming a thought leader for your organization will mean understanding the purpose and goals of the company, then building a strategy to convey that to the right people.

Today's guest is David Hancock, the co-author of 16 books including Performance Driven Thinking, The Best of Guerrilla Marketing, and The Entrepreneurial Author. David is the Founder of Morgan James Publishing and Chairman of Guerrilla Marketing International. David sits down with Peter and immediately puts some commonly held myths regarding publishing to bed. During the course of their conversation, they explore the wants of a publisher and the needs of the author. They discuss the pros and cons of a book advance why it isn't just free money, and what you might want to negotiate for more than an advance. David shares what you'll want to look for in a publisher before finishing our conversation with advice for authors about to seek a publisher for their first or next book. Three Key Takeaways: Thought Leaders need to be aware that a publisher is not going to take care of everything for you during the publishing process. Many try to seek a book advance, but thought leaders would be better served to negotiate for higher royalists. When seeking a publisher for your book on thought leadership find a publisher who is going to give you the control you need over your content.

Today's guest is James Carbary, founder of Sweet Fish Media, the executive producer of the B2B Growth podcast, and the author of Content-Based Networking. James chats with us about how he is using podcasting in a much more thoughtful and strategic way to create a flywheel of content that can be used outside of the podcast itself. James talks about the questions he asks before an interview to prompt passionate replies that you can build an incredible episode around. We discuss using your podcast guests to do original research to gain powerful insights into the wants and needs of the very people you are looking to help and how you can use that research to fuel your content strategy for months to come. Finally, James shares how he is going beyond the podcast to create communities and achieve content-based networking to create meaningful relationships. If you have a podcast or are thinking of starting one this is the episode for you! Three Key Takeaways: Thought Leaders can use a podcast to forge new relationships with guests that can lead to the guest becoming a client. During your podcast don't be afraid to ask the guest to do a short survey you can use to fuel your thought leadership. A podcast about your thought leadership should be named around being a useful resource to the client and not around yourself.

Today's guest is Roger Connors, chairman and co-founder of Zero to Ten, best-selling author of Fix It, Change the Culture, Change the Game, and his upcoming book Get a Coach, Be a Coach. Roger was a co-found of Partners in Leadership before having a successful exit and is one of the top organizational cultural professionals in the world. Roger shares with us how his first book turned into a tipping point for his business to be a break out success. We discuss the lessons learned while building Partners in Leadership and the steps it took for him to successfully exit the company. Roger talks about his new book Get a Coach, Be a Coach, and how the average person has ten coach ready skills. We get into how to get the best out of those skills and coaches as well as the technology needed. If your organization is seeking coaches, you might be surrounded by them and not even know it! This is a great episode for anyone looking for or looking to become a coach for their organization. Three Key Takeaways: If a thought leader wants to be able to exit their business, then it needs to be based around models and not your name and charisma. The average person has ten coach ready skills and most skills take fifteen minutes or less! Thought Leaders using digital solutions need to help organizations adopt a culture that can use it, not just teach them the ins and outs of the software.

Today's guest is Larry English, president, and co-founder of Centric Consulting, a management consulting firm that guides organizations through complex digital business and technology problems. Larry has also recently written Office Optional, a timely book about moving from the office to remote working. Larry explains how his book was in the works before COVID-19, how his company has been working virtually for 20 years, how they have cultivated a positive work culture, and how they are teaching others to do the same. We discuss the issues employees face when starting to work remotely, like finding a work/life balance, managing the freedom of not being in an office, and avoiding having your team feel disconnected from each other and the organization. We end the conversation talking about understanding how a book can play into your business, why something's that are important to do won't have a measurable ROI, and why producing content can give you an edge on your competition. This is a great episode for anyone working in or managing a company dealing with the hardships of moving your teams to work virtually. Three Key Takeaways: Thought Leadership will play a huge part in maintaining the culture of an organization during the move to remote working. Not all thought leadership will have a hard ROI, yet the importance of your content will be immense. Thought Leaders should consider the breadth of their content and how it will play into the future of how people work and live.

Today's guest is Trond Arne Undheim, author of Pandemic Aftermath and Disruption Games, host of Futurized Podcast, speaker, and futurist. Trond joins us to share how it can be tricky being a thought leader on a blend of topics and how there is an underlying common thread that connects it all together. We discuss why Trond writes books, how he monetizes them, and why sales of the book aren't where your focus should be. Trond explains what a Futurist is and how he has grown into that title. Plus we look at the future of thought leadership post COVID-19 and why Trond believes the role is going to come roaring back! Three Key Takeaways: Networking in thought leadership isn't just about connecting people, it also involves making knowledge connections. Writing a book on your thought leadership can create a gateway to paid speaking. Thought Leaders need to have actionable content instead of motivational speeches. There is no alternative to a knowledge-based view of the future.

Today's guest is Elizabeth Bachman, Presentation Skills Trainer at Strategic Speaking for Results, host of Speakers Who Get Results podcast, and former founder and artistic director of the Tyrolean Opera Program. Elizabeth shares how she helps professionals find their voice, get on the stage and elevate their profile within their organization. We discuss building credibility, overcoming stage fright, and ways to find opportunities to get on the stage Elizabeth discusses how her incredible talents as an opera director have allowed her to shape the way an audience takes in what speakers are sending out and how you can tailor your message to the different audiences without having to change the meaning of your content. We wrap up the conversation talking about Elizabeth's passion for working with women to break the gender stereotypes that exist. She shares valuable advice for women looking to break into the speaking scene and why allies could be the difference-maker. The advice in this episode can take young speakers out from behind their computer to the stage and beyond! Three Key Takeaways: If you want to be recognized for your Thought Leadership you have to stand up and be noticed. Having a poor speaking engagement doesn't have to be the end of your Thought Leadership. It is simply a moment to learn, go back to the basics, and continue to practice. Thought Leaders should seek allies who believe in you to keep you going when you doubt yourself.

Today's guest is Mark Hunter, author of best-selling books High Profit Prospecting, High Profit Sales, and his newest book A Mind for Sales, Mark is a Certified Speaking Professional, and one of the top 50 sales and marketing leaders in the world. Mark shares with us how the role of sales has changed over the years as technology has evolved and how it is changing again in the face of COVID-19. We discuss how to modify sales training to deliver it online with the same efficiency as in person. Mark talks about the need to protect your fee, regardless of the method your content is delivered because your fee should be based on the outcome of your content. This episode is full of amazing sales tips from one of the world's best! If you want to keep up with the changing landscape you'll want to tune in to this episode. Three Key Takeaways: Sell your thought leadership is less about education and more about helping a client to see what they did not think was possible. If you need to take your sales training online you'll need to break your thought leadership into smaller bit-sized chunks then you would for a two day event. The price of your thought leadership needs to be based on the outcomes you deliver and not the method of delivery.

Today's guest is Bennie Fowler, former Group Vice President, Global Quality and New Model Launch at the Ford Motor Company. Bennie has taken his 40 years of executive experience and is now President and CEO of Bennie Fowler LLC where he is helping clients with their most challenging and complex business problems. Bennie shares where his passion for thought leadership comes from and how his decades of experience in the C-Suite have played a big role in his ability to help others now. We discuss how teams can deliver quality and productivity at the same time when good leadership is in place. Bennie talks about how he wrote down and documented the various processes he was involved with at Ford and how those practices have helped in creating content for his new venture. If you are an executive thinking about making the jump to thought leadership, this episode has some great advice on what you'll need to do to create a road map to success in a new career. Three Key Takeaways: Thought Leaders can use the years of experience in a previous role to develop new content. Thought Leaders need to be able to adjust and adapt to the needs of their clients. When transitioning from executive to Thought Leader you'll want to have a road map of where you want to go and who you want to help.

Today's guest is Brandon Steiner, the founder of the Steiner Agency and Collectible Exchange, host of Unplugged Podcast, and author of You Gotta Have Balls and The Business Playbook. Brandon is a sports marketer, renowned motivational speaker, and creator of the Everything Bagel! Brandon shares how he actually created the Everything Bagel in 1973 before starting Steiner Sports where he represented athletes for speaking engagements and corporate appearances. Brandon talks about how the blog he started opened the door to become a speaker and author. He explains how he is open and honest, which might not always be pretty but creates a close connection with the audience. We also discuss how Brandon branched out from his sports crowd to join the McKay Group to grow as a speaker and author. Three Key Takeaways: Thought leaders need to create content for their audience to get to know them and trust their voice. Thought Leadership should be truthful and transparent, even when it shows the hardships of your journey. If you thought leadership encourages others to grow and change, you need to be able to grow and change as well.

Today's guest is Nora Super, the Executive Director at Milken Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that helps people build meaningful lives. She is also the Executive Director of the Alliance to Improve Dementia Care at the Milken Institute. Nora explains the power of Convening Authority and how it helps in thought leadership to make high-level changes to global problems. We chat about the need to get the right people in the room and how to get others to understand the importance of your issue. We also discuss the creation of the Alliance to Improve Dementia Care, the white paper that started it, and the types of members that are included to create a community through a shared passion to find clarity around the mission and purpose. Three Key Takeaways: Thought leaders need to get the right people in the room to find the right solutions. A topic might be important to you, but unless your thought leadership makes it important to others it will fall on deaf ears. If your thought leadership duplicates work that is already being done it might be best to join forces with them to elevate the conversation.

Today's guest is Terry Jones, founder of Kayak and Travelocity, author of Disruption Off and Innovation On. Terry is a digital disruptor, and venture capitalist with a deep knowledge of what it takes to change and thrive in a changing industry. We discuss with Terry what thought leaders and keynote speakers who have been disrupted by COVID-19 should be thinking about. We explore methods to continue delivering content, examine why price should be protected even when delivering digital content, and what types of speakers might be hardest hit. If you are a speaker and thought leader wondering how to continue working, worrying about the future of large scale meetings, and the communities that host them this is a conversation you won't want to miss. Three Key Takeaways: Thought leaders need to find a way to deliver quality digital productions from home. If the content of your thought leadership has not changed then the price should not be deeply slashed, even while delivering it remotely. Corporations will still want thought leadership, but you'll have to be clear about the value you offer.

Today's guest is Vince Molinaro, founder, and CEO of Leadership Contract Inc, former Managing Director - Leadership Solutions at Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions, author of the best-selling book The Leadership Contract and Accountable Leaders. Vince shares his experience working at Knightsbridge helping to establish the brand and creating differentiated intellectual property. We explore how the new knowledge he created was used to help grow the business and expand from Canada into the US market. Vince shares how different selling thought leadership can be from other products and the difficulties sales teams can have with it and the methods he has used to bring the marketing and sales team together to create a more effective pipeline. Three Key Takeaways: Thought leaders can use writing articles and creating other content to help establish their brand. Targeting areas with a similar culture can help thought leaders take their content across borders and into new markets. Thought leaders should have their sales team take the program they are having them sell to ensure they fully understand the product they are selling.

Today's guest is Todd Cherches, the founder of Big Blue Gumball, a consulting firm specializing in leadership development, management training, team building, public speaking, and coaching. Todd is a TEDx speaker and the author of VisuaLeadership! Todd shares his story of the winding road that took him from his dream of working at TV studios to becoming a thought leader. We explore the challenges introverts face and how to grow as a speaker and trainer. Todd explains how his book was born from ten years of notes and 2000 pages of content. He shares valuable advice for getting your idea on the page and hitting a deadline. Three Key Takeaways: When opportunities present themselves, thought leaders need to jump on them even if they feel out of their comfort zone. Introverted thought leaders can be excellent speakers with time and practice. Getting a book written on your thought leadership will require dedicated time to write without distraction.

Today's guest is Anthony Vade, the Experience Architect at FMAV an audiovisual and event technology company that is helping event planners and thought leaders transform how events are produced. Anthony starts by explaining what an experience architect does and how he is helping to transform the events industry to be more than just a box of gear. We discuss the Event Design Collective and the Events Canvas, what the core principles are and how this powerful tool is helping uncover what the needs are and how to get everyone in alignment with what the event should be. Anthony gives some excellent advice for speakers seeking to find a solution in our COVID-19 world where digital presentation is the only available avenue. We get some insight into the technology available and what the future of events might look like using VR, AR, XR, or a mix of these exciting technologies. You can find a sample of the uses of technology Anthony spoke of here. Three Key Takeaways: When planning a digital event thought leaders need to consider timeframe and intimacy. Thought leaders will want to ensure everyone involved in an event and on the same page about what they want the event to accomplish. If thought leaders are going to produce digital content you have to ensure your audio quality is good or risk losing your audience.

Today's guest is Scott Miller, Executive Vice President of Thought Leadership at Franklin Covey, the host of On Leadership with Scott Miller and co-author of Everyone Deserves a Great Manager. This conversation focuses on how both Scott and Peter both work to develop and launch new thought leaders, they compare methods and tactics. We explore why defining your audience is the biggest challenge thought leaders face, how social media plays a massive role when looking to publish a book, and why you need to know and understand who your competition is. This episode is chalked full of insight from two people with decades of knowledge on helping thought leaders find success. If you want a jump-start on your thought leadership career this episode is for you. Three Key Takeaways: Thought Leaders need to find and understand their audience. Your content can not be for everyone. Social media has become a very important platform thought leaders need to cultivate if they want to get a book published. Your content doesn't have to be 100% new ideas. It is okay to stand on the shoulders of other thought leaders and expand the conversation.

Today's guest is Al Shalloway, Director of Thought Leadership for Agile at Scale Programs and Founder and former CEO of Netobjectives. Al joins us to talk about how he is using thought leadership at the Project Management Institute to help teams and entire businesses learn to become more agile. We discuss how to scale an idea into a movement, the importance of understanding value stream management, and why leaders need to be in the middle of the pack, not out in front of it. Three Key Takeaways: Thought Leaders need to help teams to become more agile to help create a business that is agile. Sometimes it is better for you thought leadership to focus on the part that the client needs to know and not overwhelm them with trying to take over everything. Thought Leaders need to step back and seek the big picture to see the problem or they might find themselves solving a symptom and not the real problem.

Today we are joined by JD Gershbein, the Founder and CEO of Owlish Communications, a company that helps clients build a strong online presence to achieve a distinctive and competitive edge. JD is a TEDx speaker, LinkedIn expert on personal branding, and at one time a member of the Second City Improv group in Chicago! JD takes us down his unusual path towards becoming the digital branding expert he has become and how his improv skills are still at use every day. We discuss LinkedIn as a platform that has evolved from a job seeker site to possibly the most important document you'll build in all of business. With the evolution of LinkedIn, we have seen video become a prominent source of content, JD shares with us what you need to keep in mind when doing video and why your brand could be on the line. This is an insightful conversation for anyone looking to expand their LinkedIn profile or exploring video as a means of delivering their content. Three Key Takeaways: Thought Leaders can use LinkedIn as a flexible platform that can change and grow with them. Delivering your thought leadership by video requires a certain level of authenticity and production value. Improvisation isn't just a skill for the stage, thought leaders can develop it to have better conversations.

Today's guest is Mike Mansfield, the Program Director for the Aegon Center for Longevity and Retirement. We talk with Mike about the research that goes into creating thought leadership for retirement planning and how Aegon is helping people think about more than just finances for their later stages of life. Mike shares how Aegon is finding their audience and reaching them by partnering with other organizations, the methods they use to measure success, and how thought leadership is serving both the organization and its clients. Plus we explore how the preparation and deployment of their retirement readiness survey have changed post-COVID-19. Three Key Takeaways: · How the previous experience Thought Leaders have can elevate their message. · Thought Leadership is as much of a people game as it is a knowledge game. · Use short targeted content to reach specific groups with your thought leadership that might not spend the time to read a full survey or report.

Today we have the lovely Juliet Funt joining us! Juliet is a keynote speaker, the CEO of White Space at Work, a business that for the last decade has helped businesses gain back thousands of hours of lost productivity by helping employees find more time to pause and think. In 2021 Juliet's first business book being published by HarperCollins will hit the market. We take a retrospective of Juliet's work starting with her time as a youth and education speaker, how her speaking advanced to helping at the university level, and finally turned into a message that corporations could use. Juliet explains exactly what her platform White Space is, where the idea came from, and how her content has evolved over the years and across modalities. This is a great conversation that shows how thought leadership can go from a single page with three words written on it to advise for Fortune 500 companies. Three Key Takeaways: · Thought Leaders should keep a notepad or voice recorded to jot down ideas as they come to them regardless of when or where inspiration strikes. · Thought leaders need to document stories of client success using their content. It can be useful in many ways in the future. · Locking yourself in a room with other creative types for a long period of time can create more impactful thought leadership than what will come out of several hour-long conversations.

Wow— It's been 2 and a half years of doing the podcast and I'm honored to have had the privilege of interviewing so many world-renowned thought leaders. I'm proud to present to you our 250th episode today featuring none other than Tom Peters. Thanks to all of my guests and listeners for making the podcast a success. I hope that many thought leaders, authors, academics speakers, and organizational thought leaders continue to achieve the impact and leverage they wish from their work. - Peter Winick Tom Peters is the co-author of In Search of Excellence—the book that changed the way the world does business, in addition to seventeen other books that have sold more than 10 million copies combined and recipient of the Thinkers50 Lifetime Achievement Award. Tom shares candid stories of his time writing In Search of Excellence, and how it found success amongst an audience that no one was targeting at the time, despite many expecting the book to be a failure. We discuss his article The Brand Called You, how it changed the way people market themselves, and how many who've read it have actually missed the true meaning. Don't miss this fascinating conversation with one of the most prolific business authors and speakers in the world. Three Key Takeaways: · How timing can play a big part in the success of your thought leadership. · Why you can't be mad at others when they misinterpret your thought leadership. · What you need to do to make your thought leadership invaluable to your organization.

Today's guest is Brian Smith, the Founder of UGG a company started on shores of Southern California that would become a globally recognized brand. He is the author of The Birth of a Brand, and one of the most sought after speakers and business leaders in the country. Brian tells the tale of starting UGG and eventually selling it in the late 90s, writing The Birth of a Brand during the recession from years of notes on building UGG, and how he became a keynote speaker using many of the themes from the book. We discuss the speaking business as it existed prior to the global pandemic and how speakers are continuing to work without being able to travel. If you are a speaker concerned about the future of your industry this episode has great insights into speaking during COVID-19, what the future of speaking might look like, and why being social will always be a key to successful speaking. Three Key Takeaways: How thought leaders can take one modality and use it in different formats. What stages a thought leader can expect their business go to through and how they compare to stages of life. What keynote speaking for thought leaders looks like now and might look like in the future.

Today's guest is Steve Markman, who has headed the conference divisions for Comdex and The Conference Board before launching his own firm Markman Speaker Management in 1994 where he provides executive visibility and speaker bureau services. Steve gives us some insight into the free-speaking circuit and how executives and organizations can get raise visibility, gain credibility, and get their thought leadership message out to large audiences. We discuss what conference organizers look for when speakers submit proposals, who you want your audience to be, and why COVID-19 isn't the end of the speaking industry. If you are a speaker waiting for COVID-19 to pass, you need to hear this episode and learn how you can get speaking from the comfort of your home. Three Key Takeaways: Why thought leaders should consider speaking for free. What thought leaders should absolutely avoid doing when pitching to conferences for speaking gigs. What thought leader speaks should be doing to be prosperous in a COVID-19 workplace.

Today's guest is Jessica Rhodes the leading expert on how to leverage podcast guesting for increased brand awareness, generation of more leads, and how to gain higher profits. She created the podcast booking industry in 2013 when she founded Interview Connections, the first and leading agency of its kind. Plus she is the host of Rock the Podcast, a podcast where you will learn all about podcast guesting and how to leverage podcast interviews to grow your brand awareness. Jessica shares the benefits of committing long term to be a podcast guest and why trying it short term will not have the desired effect. We discuss finding the podcasts that are right for you, narrowing your audience, and perhaps most importantly having systems in place to leverage your episodes after they go live. This is an incredible episode packed with a ton of great advice for anyone looking to increase their positioning by being a guest on podcasts. Three Key Takeaways: · The length of time thought leaders need to commit to being involved in the podcast guest circuit. · Why thought leaders need to be specific about the type of podcast they appear on. · How being a guest as a thought leader can be more than an interview and why you need to take the opportunity to build a relationship.

Today's guest is Scott Ambler, Project Management Institute Vice President and Chief Scientist of Disciplined Agile. Scott is the co-creator of the Disciplined Agile Toolkit, author of Introduction to Disciplined Agile Delivery, and Choose Your WoW. Scott talks with us about the creation and evolution of the Disciplined Agile Toolkit and how businesses can use it to create agile teams capable of responding to various situations properly regardless of their skillset, then adjust in the future as they learn and grow. We discuss the position of Disciplined Agile at PMI and how the two work and learn together to be a stronger single organization and how PMI has allowed stronger creation of communities that include chapters all over the world helping people learn and expand their knowledge. Three Key Takeaways: · How thought leaders can use Agile Discipline to better adjust to any situation. · Why thought leaders should not get stuck in a "best practice" might not be for the best. · Why thought leaders need to focus on creating communities and what can be gained from them.

Today's guest is Bea Wray! Bea has been a speaker for 20 years on the topics of entrepreneurship, leadership, and women in business. She is the co-founder of the Millennial Women Network and author of the upcoming book What an MBA Taught Me…: But My Kids Made Me Learn which is available for pre-order! Bea and Peter dig deep to explore the questions many business authors never ask themselves and why 1/3 of authors writing business books never actually finish them. Bea tells us the Who, What, and Why questions you need to ask before you put pen to paper. Plus we examine not only the financial cost of publishing a book but the opportunity cost which many overlook. Don't miss this incredibly insightful conversation for anyone looking to publish a business book from two people with a ton of real-life experience on the topics. Three Key Takeaways: What questions thought leaders should be asking themselves before starting a book. How can thought leaders figure out the real cost of a book and what can you expect as a return on that investment? What thought leaders can expect from publishers and how to ensure the long term success of your book.

Today we have two guests from FLSmidth, a company that provides global cement and mining industries with factories, machinery, and knowhow. William Leahy is a Senior Marketing/Communications Manager & Strategist for the mining industry. Morten Fløe Knudsen leads Thought Leadership Communication for the cement industry. Together William and Morten explain how they use thought leadership to carry on conversations with customers and make their brand known as the go-to people for an industry with a long buying cycle. They share how FLSmidth is focused on sustainability and how digitization plays a big role in making scarce resources go further than ever before. In this episode, William and Morten give invaluable advice for any thought leader who works in an industry with a sales cycle that measures in years, not months or weeks. Three Key Takeaways: · How thought leadership can be used to influence long sales cycles and keep you relevant. · Why digitization is playing a big part of their thought leadership. · What audience and issues thought leaders need to keep in mind when dealing with long sales cycles.

Today's guest is Lindy Greer, an associate professor of management and organization at the University of Michigan and Faculty Director of the Sanger Leadership Center. She focuses on how to design and lead effective organizational teams, with specific interests in intra-group hierarchy, conflict, diversity, leadership, and emotion. Lindy introduces us to what is being taught to leaders and how science and data are playing a bigger role in the instruction than ever before. We explore what companies are looking for in leadership both from the perspective of older audiences and in the digital world. Lindy spends some time sharing her experience publishing her content beyond the world of academia, how to gain credibility and tips for co-authoring! We wrap the episode up discussing distance working and learning, as well as the best practices being used to create a more efficient and productive workforce for remote working Three Key Takeaways: What traits thought leaders need to consider for good leadership. How thought leaders can gain credibility and get published in various mediums. What thought leaders can do to create a strong team working remotely.

Today's guest is Surya Kolluri, the managing director at Bank of America leading Thought Leadership efforts for retirement and personal wealth business services with a deep strategy background. Surya chats with Bill about how Bank of America is forming partnerships with groups you might not typically associate with banking to create valuable thought leadership to help their clients through various life stages. Surya shares how he is leading the team to act as a bridge between their researchers and the clients looking for solutions to complicated problems. Plus we discuss best practices for delivering your thought leadership so that is not only remembered but used. Three Key Takeaways: · Why organizational thought leaders should seek to form partnerships with other groups to leverage leading thinkers outside of their own company. · How thought leaders can create deeper and emotional connections to their clients. · What methods thought leaders should consider for the delivery of their message to colleagues, associates, and the outside world.

Today's guest is Merit Kahn, the founder of Merit-based Business, co-host of The Smarter Sales Show podcast, author of Myth Shift: Challenging The Truths That Sabotage Success, Certified Professional Speaker, entrepreneur, educator, and even stand-up comedian! Merit explains how she started her sales training business after leaving a radio station as an ad salesperson. She used free speaking as a marketing tool for her sales program but loved speaking so much she started to explore how to make that the business. Merit and Peter discuss the tools used for training and which fall into the professional or personal development bucket and why many methods that were once considered personal are a hard part of the business world now. We wrap up talking about the need to have systems in place to ensure every speaking engagement has the highest possibility of a follow-up conversation and why you can't leave that responsibility to the audience. Three Key Takeaways: How doing thought leaders speaking for free can lead to higher-paying paid gigs. Why thought leaders need to have emotional intelligence and why it is now a business skill. What steps thought leaders can take to follow up with their audience after a speaking engagement.

Today's guest is Cynthia O'Neal, the thought Leadership and content strategist for the intelligent networking division at Verizon professional services with 20 years' experience leading change across marketing, sales, and technology in both the corporate and government sectors. Cynthia walks us through what Intelligent Networking is and how Version is using it to maintain a cutting edge in their industry. Cynthia discussed how she is helping subject matter experts develop and implement thought leadership for use on the marketing side. She shares how they are creating their methodology for use internally before taking it externally, the challenges they've faced and the incredible success they've achieved. Three Key Takeaways: How thought leadership connects to intelligent networking. How to develop organizational thought leadership methodologies and strategies. Why you need to equip people with the right thought leadership tools to ensure they are comfortable talking about the subject.

Today we have a special episode with two guests! Richard Citrin is the president of Citrin Consulting, author of The Resilience Advantage, an international consultant, leadership coach, and organizational psychologist. Michael Couch is the president of Michael Couch and Associates with 30 years of experience as an internal organization effectiveness consultant combined with Business Unit P&L and Operations Management experience. Together they co-authored the book Strategy Driven Leadership. Richard and Michael tell us how they came together to write the book to find matching their background and experience was beneficial to their clients and each other. We learn how they divided the writing duties, had multiple publishers interested, and why they chose their publisher they did. During the interview, we explore their goals, expectations, and the effects of getting their book on the market had on their consulting. Three Key Takeaways: How thought leaders can come together to co-author a book. What thought leaders should ask their publisher before signing with them. What thought leaders can expect from a publisher in terms of marketing and sales support.

Today's guest is Sean Davis, Information Security Advisor, DevSecOps at TransUnion, and former Chief Transformation Evangelist at Equifax. Sean sits down with us to explain the role of an evangelist, the challenges they face, methods of engaging with clients, and how to build trust. We discuss how connecting with employees and helping them understand their value to the mission and vision of the company can increase happiness and uncap the potential client satisfaction. Sean goes into detail on connecting the evangelism in the field to the leadership and management of the company to help define how the overall vision comes to life. We finish off with Sean sharing some great tips for anyone entering the role of evangelist for their organization. Three Key Takeaways: · How to evangelize your thought leadership to build trust. · How thought leaders can improve employee satisfaction by helping them understand their importance to the overall mission. · What hardships thought leaders will face when trying to spread the message of the company.

Today's guest Elizabeth McCourt, Global Leadership Executive Coach for McCourt Leadership Group, TEDx speaker, consultant, and author of the fiction novel Sin in the Big Easy and soon to be the author of her first business book. Elizabeth has had many roles during her career and she highlights how going from lawyer to headhunter to consultant and coach makes perfect sense! She explores how she gave a TEDx talk, how the creativity used to write her fiction novel has come around to help her clients, and why failure isn't bad it can be the non-linear path to success! Three Key Takeaways: · How thought leaders can use all the experience from previous careers to excel. · Why creativity that isn't part of your billable thought leader hours can be beneficial to your clients. · Why thought leaders should consider the purpose of their book before picking a publishing option.

Today's guest is Matthijs Van den Broek, head of thought leadership and the energy industry at WUA!; a digital research consultancy in Amsterdam that focused on digital experience benchmarking and the customer journey. Matthijs discusses how his work at WUA! moves thought leadership from the role of a small team to the duty for every employee at the organization. We discuss the methods they've used to form guidelines for involvement and the hurdles they face getting people involved. Matthijs shares how they used their thought leadership in 2016 to write the book The Digital Excellent Challenge, what success looks like, and how they are connecting their thought leadership to sales and marketing to fill the sales pipeline while building trust with their clients. Three Key Takeaways: · How thought leadership can be created by an entire organization. · What the biggest obstacles are that prevent people from getting involved in creating thought leadership. · Why connecting your thought leadership with your marketing team can prevent your assets from sitting idle.

Today's guest is Srinivas Rao, the founder of Unmistakable Creative, host of the long-running hugely popular Unmistakable Creative podcast. He is also the author of a number of books such as An Audience of One and The Small Army Strategy. Srinivas has a candid conversation with us about the world of podcasts. We decrypt the imperfect information that is out there regarding podcasting and how it isn't a get rich quick scheme. Srinivas and Peter discuss the levels of digital intimacy that can be created with an audience, and how a scripted conversation can actually be more stilted than a candid one that flows naturally. Three Key Takeaways: Why thought leaders might want a podcast and why it might not be the medium for you. How thought leaders can create a higher level of digital intimacy with their audience. Why telling a great story is the key for thought leaders to grab their audience.

Today's guest is Stan Lepeak. he is the founder and Chief Research Officer at Lepeak LLC. Previously he served as head of marketing research and thought leadership for KPMG consulting and global head of marketing research and thought leadership at EquaTerra. Stan has more than 20 years of experience in developing and researching thought leadership. Stan shares with us the difference between working at the back of the house vs client-facing, as well as what can slow down or speed up the process of moving thought leadership between the two. Stan guides us through what content developers should be thinking about to grab the attention of busy executives and why you are wasting your time if you don't have a next-step build into your conversation. We end the conversation with Stan giving three great pieces of advice for anyone developing thought leadership for their organization. If you are looking to join your organization's thought leadership team this episode is for you! Three Key Takeaways: The key differences between qualitative and quantitative thought leadership. Where to find new voices for your organization's thought leadership team. Why thinking about thought leadership from the view of the consumer is important.

Today's guest is Cassie Solomon, CEO of The New Group and co-author of Leading Successful Change. Cassie shares her experience as a co-author with Gregory Shea and how his academic approach blends perfectly with her case study method. She also discusses revising the book to include more relevant cases from her own experiences. Cassie talks about her next book and the pivot to helping clients navigate an uncertain future and how her expertise in change management fits perfectly into her emerging role as a futurist. Three Key Takeaways: How thought leadership can be used to navigate change in organizations. Why blending two perspectives on the same thought leadership made for an incredible book. What a futurist is and why thought leadership plays an important role.

Today's guest is Nicole Truhe, Director of Thought Leadership at United Health Care Community and State. Nicole sits down with Peter to discuss how she uses her position to educate the space about emerging health and human services policy. We discuss the different effects of internal vs. external Thought Leadership. Why her position isn't part of the marketing team and why the number of followers isn't as important as who your followers are. Three Key Takeaways: How you can use Thought Leadership to influence policy. Why building a network of Thought Leadership is important for your own message. What stats are truly important to the growth of your Thought Leadership on social media

Today's guest is David C. Baker an advisor to entrepreneurial creatives worldwide who has written five books including The Business of Expertise and is the co-host of the podcast 2Bobs. We start with David sharing the importance of positioning yourself as an expert in your field. We discuss having to say no and getting over the fear of lost opportunities. Then the conversation shifts to the practice of giving away your content and why you need to hold back on applied knowledge. Finally, we wrap up with tips on getting through rough times and coming out the other side without giving up the position you've built. Three Key Takeaways: Why Thought Leaders need to narrow their focus to create a better position. How giving away your Thought Leadership can make closing a sale easier. Why you should never water down your focus as a Thought Leader even when times are rough.

Today's guest is Ernie Humphrey, the Vice President of Thought Leadership at Stampli. Ernie was a long time treasury manager before becoming a Thought Leader and community builder for finance professionals. We talk about what it takes to build a community, how to build credibility, what content to use, and whether you should be monetizing the community you are building. Three Key Takeaways: How you can get an audience to take notice of your Thought Leadership? What steps you can take as a Thought Leader to build a trusted community. What you can do to build credibility as a Thought Leader.

Today's guest is Thom Singer, a renowned speaker on growth leadership, author of a dozen books including Batteries Not Included, and host of the podcast Cool Things Entrepreneurs Do. Thom shares his journey from sales and marketing to Thought Leader and how he realized he wanted to be a keynote speaker. Thom details how he gets bookings and the various touchpoints he uses to stay on the radar of potential meeting planners. Peter and Thom discuss the sometimes difficult task of making both audiences and the planner who hired you happy. Three Key Takeaways: How a Thought Leader can follow up with potential clients. The ways Thought Leaders can make the life of a meeting planner easier. Why Thought Leaders doing speaking engagements should involve themselves in the conference beyond their stage time.

Today's guest is Polly Mitchell-Guthrie, Vice President of Industry Outreach and Thought Leadership at Kinaxis - a technology company focused on the supply chain. Polly talks to us about how Kinaxis is earning trust through credible standalone Thought Leader content that comes from not only within the company but from their peers as well. We discuss the difficult task of measuring the success of Thought Leadership and how Kinaxis uses a promoter score as part of their metric. Plus Polly gives some great insight into what anyone looking to bring Thought Leadership to their organization will need and what they should be prepared to do. Three Key Takeaways: How to gain trust with Thought Leadership is more than just speaking about your own organization. Why Thought Leadership needs to be bi-directional. What an up and coming Thought Leader needs to be thinking about before jumping into the role in their organization.

Our guest today is Jonah Berger, a marketing professor at Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, international best-selling author of Contagious, Invisible Influence, and the Catalyst. He is a world expert on change, word of mouth influence, and consumer behavior. Jonah takes us through his world as a Thought Leader and how publishing his book Contagion opened the door to new opportunities. We discuss the highs and lows of being a speaker and the types of projects he takes on as a consultant. Last but not least Jonah gives advice on the challenging marketplace both publishers and authors face. This is advice you certainly don't want to miss. Three Key Takeaways: · How Thought Leaders can position themselves for better bookings with speaker bureaus. · Why Thought Leaders need to understand the purpose of their book in order to get the most out of it. · What Thought Leaders can learn by working in different industries that push your boundaries.

Today's guest is Jean Accius a nationally recognized thought leader on aging, longevity, and long term health care policy and the Senior Vice President of Global Thought Leadership at AARP. Jean shares with us what Organizational Thought Leadership is at AARP, who their target audience is, and what successful thought leadership looks like for them. Bill and Jean have a deep conversation about the multi-generational workforce that exists today, how untraditional partners can be the key to spreading the conversation, and how Jean is leading a team to influence the influencers for positive change around the world. Three Key Takeaways: How to take Thought Leadership from idea to impact. What AARP is doing to share their Thought Leadership in the age of COVID-19. Why Jean encourages his team of Thought Leaders to go out in the community and come back with new ideas.

Today's guest is Alex Osterwalder an influential strategy innovation expert, the co-founder of Strategyzer, and author of the best-selling book Business Model Generation. Alex shares how he followed the positive signals he found in response to his blog and other early sources towards writing his first book and the unconventional ways he found the funding to get an unconventional book to market. Three Key Takeaways: How to take your Thought Leadership from book to digital products. Why you need to listen to even the weak signals in your Thought Leadership. What you can do to build a business model around the Thought Leadership in your book

Today's guest is Marci Alboher, the author of The Encore Career Handbook and Vice President at Encore.org a non-profit focused on connecting, collaborating, and innovating across generations. Marci tells us how Encore is using Thought Leadership to change the story for older people in the workplace. We discuss what goals they are trying to achieve, the need for a myriad of perspectives, and how they gain visibility to influence change in the world. Three Key Takeaways: How to use Thought Leadership to navigate the change from the corporate sector to non-profit. The difference between a solo Thought Leader and Organizational Thought Leadership and how Encore blends the two effectively. Why Thought Leaders can have a greater reach by having multiple voices all speaking about the same subject.

Today's guest is Simon Leslie, CEO and Founder of Ink Global and the author of There is no F in Sales. Ink Global delivers print magazines for airlines; an industry many thought obsolete, yet Simon leads his company to grow year after year. Join us as Simon shares why he wrote his book: There is no F in Sales, which highlights the struggles and successes of his career. Learn why having a published book has personally changed Simon, how he views business, and what opportunities are on the table now that he is an author. Three Key Takeaways: How you can gain confidence in your Thought Leadership from publishing a book. Why Thought Leaders need to think long term and not just about the next quarter. Why you need to understand the contract you sign in order to get the full potential of putting your thought leadership into a book. When is the right time to put your Thought Leadership into a book?

Today COO of Thought Leadership Leverage Bill Sherman takes over the topic Organizational Thought Leadership; in future episodes both Bill and Peter will tackle the subject. Bill's first guest is Dan Hawthorne Director of Industrial-Organizational Psychology at PAIRIN. PAIRIN is a social enterprise software company looking to do good in the world by helping people get the answers they are looking for. Dan explains how they use science to back up their Thought Leadership while building behavoiral assessments to help people find jobs, advance in their careers, and move into their next stage of life. We also talk with Dan about how the world has changed in recent months, how he is adapting to it, and how his company is doing their part to bring validated information in a way people can understand. Three Key Takeaways: How to use good science to back up your Thought Leadership. Why using the right language in your Thought Leadership is key to the audience being able to grasp the subject. How to celebrate the success of Thought Leadership.