Leveraging Thought Leadership

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.

Today's guest is Becky Robinson, the Found, and CEO of Weaving Influence, a company that helps authors and Thought Leaders build online influence. Becky gives us tips on looking at the bigger picture when focusing your social media to promote a book. How you can leverage the larger platforms of people in your network, and why you should be giving your book away for free! Three Key Takeaways: How to measure the success of a Thought Leader's book. Why you might expect larger sales of a Thought Leadership book in year 2 than year 1. Why you should focus on a single platform for your Thought Leadership.

Today's guest is Chris Clews, a speaker, marketing consultant, and author of What 80s Pop Culture Teaches Us About Today's Workplace. Chris takes us on a journey from having 23 years in corporate marketing to being a Thought Leader spreading his message using 80s pop culture to connect with audiences in ways they will retain. Three Key Takeaways: How to move from a corporate position to an independent Thought Leader. When to make the move from your day job to Thought Leader. What you need to do to test your Thought Leadership early on.

Today we sit down with Anthony J. Algmin, Founder and CEO Algmin Data Leadership and author of Data Leadership: Stop Talking About Data and Start Making an Impact! Anthony shares his journey of starting his company and writing his book. We discuss reasons to revisit your own book now and whether you should hold back your IP or make it fully accessible. Three Key Takeaways: · Why Thought Leaders should make their IP accessible. · How revisiting your own book can give you a fresh look at your own Thought Leadership. · Why Thought Leaders need to understand the data they have available to them.

Today we interview Joan Driggs, the VP of Content and Thought Leadership at Information Resources Inc. She shares how to get buy-in on Thought Leadership from senior management and people in the field. We explore the idea of soft ROI and how to measure the return on your Thought Leadership. Finally, we wrap up by discussing spreading content across multiple platforms to suit the needs of various audience types. Three Key Takeaways: · How to measure the return on Thought Leadership. · What you can do to get buy-in for Thought Leadership in your organization. · How to move Thought Leadership to new modalities and new audiences.

Today we have the pleasure of talking with Michael Watkins, Co-Founder of Genesis Advisors and author of Right from the Start and International Best-seller The First 90 Days. Michael discusses his switch from academic to consultant, Thought Leader, and author. We discuss his hit book and the difference in approach from his first book. Three Key Takeaways: · How academics differ from Thought Leaders. · Why being able to scale your Thought Leadership is the key to a successful business. · How Thought Leaders can take advantage of a test bed audience.

Today's guest is Jesse Finkelstein, the Co-Founder, and Principal of Page Two, an agency run by publishing veterans helping non-fiction authors navigate their full range of publishing options to achieve each client's unique goals. Jesse shares her experience in the publishing world, what to watch out for when signing a contract, how to avoid friction with your publisher and the type of control you can maintain by not going with a big publishing house.

If you're a thought leadership speaker looking to create real impact, you need to base your work on a strong content model. Don't know how? Then this episode's for you! Today's guest is Lee Colan, a leadership adviser, consultant, best-selling author of multiple articles, co-founder of the L Group, and author of 14 leadership books including his new release, The Power of Positive Coaching. He's here to talk to us about thought leadership speakership, creating content models, and providing actionable insights that move your audience to act - from the minute you leave the stage. If you're looking to create a strong content model for your thought leadership, TLL can help!

Is authenticity the most important part of your thought leadership? Authenticity is a major reason why clients listen - and a high factor in forging a strong, continued relationship! In today's episode, we interviewed Carmen Fontana, an organizational thought leader specializing in Cloud and Emerging Tech. She leads Centric's Innovation program, helping identify and cultivate new ways of solving clients' problems, and she's here to talk to us about authenticity, engagement, and how to get your thought leadership to resonate inside and outside of your organization. If you want your thought leadership to resonate, you need to distinguish between thoughts that are sand, clay, and bedrock!

Do you know the difference between "accidental" and "intentional" risk? Are you taking enough risks to grow your business? Today's guest is Steve Anderson, sought-after speaker, influencer, and author of the widely anticipated book, The Bezos Letters. Steve has a Masters in Law, and for the last 20 years, he has crossed the nation speaking for state and national organizations, helping people make sense of rapidly changing technology, and learn how to effectively use these new tools. He talks to us about his new book, the process it took to write it, and how his book is opening doors! Steve also addresses the idea of "intentional" risk, and why businesses need to be able to take risks in order to survive and prosper. This is a great episode, so listen in! If you're writing a business book, you need to know the 3 Things Your Book Needs From You!

Today's episode is a compilation of our favorite guests, talking to us about the ins-and-outs of digital products and online learning! John Tota, a pioneer in online education for corporate training, moved from a Wall Street career to founding his own company, Edulence, developing online training solutions for corporate educators. He talks to us about the trends in online learning, and what thought leaders need to understand to operate successfully in that space. Patricia Fripp, the first female president of the National Speakers Association and a Hall of Fame speaker. She discusses ways to take content, put it online through multiple modalities, and scale it to every end of the price spectrum. Lastly, we have Vince Poscente, Olympic skier, award winning sales and marketing executive, and member of both the USA and Canadian Speaker Hall of Fame. He talks about how speakers and speaking agents can make each others' lives easier, how to create real relationships through digital connections, and why great production value is a must. We hope you enjoy this compilation about digital products and online learning!

Do you know the difference between using your visionary thought leadership for social interaction, and actually building a business that thrives – and helps others? Today's guest is Julian Birkinshaw, Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the London Business School, and the Academic Director of the Deloitte Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. He's also the author of Reinventing Management: Smarter Choices for Getting Work Done and Becoming a Better Boss: Why Good Management is So Difficult. Listen in as he discusses thought leadership academia, and how to bring your visionary thought leadership to the world in a way that solves problems – and makes money!

A lot of thought leaders wonder how to align their thought leadership to business metrics, and what it looks like to achieve "success" with your thought leadership. If it's crossed your mind, then this is the episode for you! We interviewed Alan Alper, V.P. of corporate marketing and global thought leadership programs at Cognizant Technology Solutions, which is a global I.T. consulting and business services company. Alan's work with organizational thought leadership is groundbreaking, and helping to forge new standards for content marketing in major organizations worldwide. He talks about ways to give your thought leadership a credible foundation, why sharing your thought leadership content for free can increase your business, and why he created a "Blue-Ribbon Panel" of the best and brightest thought leadership within his organization. Listen in, and learn more!

The average business book sells less than 2000 copies in its lifespan, with that in mind, would you want to invest thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours into getting one to market? What purpose could the book serve that makes it all worth it? Michael Bungay Stanier is the founder of Box of Crayons, Canadian Coach of the Year, and author of the self-published books The Coaching Habit and The Advice Trap that have collectively sold more than 700,00 copies! Michael has recently stepped away from the CEO role at Box of Crayons and shares the experience of handing his company over to a new CEO. Peter asks about the pains of making that step and the positive outcomes from it. With Michael having two hugely successful self-published books on the market we had to ask him about the secret sauce to that accomplishment. Michael walks us through writing, publishing, and most importantly marketing his books and why you have to commit to the long game. If you want to play the long game get TLL on your team and we will help you create a long-lasting successful book campaign.

As a keynote speaker and content creator, your message will probably connect with your target audience regardless of where in the world they live. However, the business side of those engagements could be wildly different. Keld Jensen is the Founder and CEO of Marketwatch Center for Negotiations, a speaker with 20 years experience, author of 24 books including The SMARTnership Negotiation Manual and Honest Negotiation. K As a dual citizen in Denmark and the United States Keld shares his unique insights into speaking in North America and across the pond. What can you expect regarding fees and how are those audiences different? Keld has written 24 books and discusses how you narrow down what to put into a book and how to set expectations for getting your book published. Keld has managed to write two dozen books and still maintains a very successful business. Writing a book can become all-consuming Don't Let the Process of Writing a Book Control You Or Your Business!

Ten years ago many people thought the idea of being on Twitter or Facebook was a silly waste of time. Not a serious place for business leaders to be. Now building your social media platform is an essential piece of almost every business out there. Today we offer a wide assortment of advice on getting the most of your social media platform from some of the people that use those mediums best. Andy Molinsky is a Professor at Brandeis University's International Business School, with a joint appointment in the Department of Psychology and author of Global Dexterity and Reach starts us off sharing what it takes to build a platform and how you will need to change and adapt as both content and platform evolve. Then Holly G. Green the CEO of The Human Factor and author of Using your Brain to Win walks us through the rules and protocols of the various social media platforms and what value you should place on metrics. Do likes and shares have a value? Finally, we wrap things up with Rusty Shelton the Founder and CEO of Zilker Media and author of Authority Marketing and Mastering the New Media Landscape. Rusty will help you figure out which platforms to invest in, what channels build relationships and which sustain them and how you can use Twitter as a cocktail party to build relationships with targeted groups. If you want to add an extra punch to your platform take a minute to read the Four Qualities That Make a Platform Powerful!

If you are starting a content-based business you'll need to keep things lean and focused. Are you sure your hypothesis around your content, audience, and marketing are correct? Have you test them or have you starting making content without a lot of research because you have a passion to put the idea out there regardless of who might listen to it. Our guest Steve Blank is the father of modern entrepreneurship and credited with starting the lean startup movement. He is the author of The Four Steps to the Epiphany and The Startup Owner's Manual. We discuss the need to be specific about the problem you are solving and the results that will happen as a result of it. Steve explains why he gives his best ideas away and how that will attract more people to you. We dive deep into creating content, the questions you need to ask yourself and whether you need to reinvent the wheel or if it is okay to stand on the shoulders of others. One major product people are pulled towards is writing a book, but you have to understand the reason for doing it. Here is a short video of Peter talking about Reasons to Write a book that might be helpful.

The art of customer experience can be a difficult thing to master. Determining the content you audience wants, in what format, and even if you should co-create can lead to different end results and different experience journeys for the client. Our guest Claus Raasted is the co-founder and director of the College of Extraordinary Experiences, Senior adviser to McKinsey, author, coach, and host of The Business of Extraordinary Experiences podcast. Claus has a long history of experience design that started in his teens doing Live Action Role Playing. Claus shares with Peter how NOT being a perfectionist allows him to get things done and produce content at an alarming rate. We debate the time and place to bring your A-game and when it's okay to simply get the content out to the world. Plus we explore how to deal with the gap that might exist between your level of content creation and the level at which your audience can consume and comprehend it. Claus has no problem finding his productivity but often it can be a hurdle to get over. TLL has a perspective on how tension can Improve Productivity.

Many authors and content creators try to break into the speaking space to further promote their Thought Leadership and reach new clients. If this is a route you are looking to take then this is a must-listen episode for you! Today we collect advice from some of the best keynote speakers in the industry. Robert "Dusty" Staub is the founder and CEO of Staub Leadership and author of The Heart of Leadership, and The Seven Acts of Courage Robert starts us off talking about the strategic use of speaking and the type of audience you need to seek out. Next up we have Anton Gunn, a keynote speaker and author of The Presidential Principles and The Audacity of Leadership. Anton tells us how to narrow down who you'll serve best and the differences between what the buyer of a keynote and the buyer of consulting services looks like. Nick Morgan, the world-renowned founder of Public Words and the author of Can You Hear Me? and Power Cues brings us home with advice about going from entertainment versus impactful and the pressure speakers are facing today. If you are going to have any hope of achieving a successful keynote you need to keep the audience's attention. Check out our Smart Guide to Audience Engagement.

The average person only reads 18 pages of a non-fiction book. With this in mind is writing a 200+ page business book going to serve you best? Or could you get the content you need down in 50 pages and increase the chances of your book getting read? Our guest Judy Weintraub is the Founder of SkillBites, host of the SkillBites podcast and is helping empower people, inspire them to write and help them get published. Judy talks about helping clients write short-form books that act as a perfect lead generating tool. We cover the clients and industries that this type of book works best for and the advantages that it offers. We also discuss the need for a marketing plan to make the most of the book and ways to pull readers of the book into other modalities and product offerings. Don't get lost making a book and other products, make sure you have a Roadmap!

Receiving coaching can help you find new success but you have to be able to look into the mirror and commit to changes. If you are not willing to change it will be a waste of time for both you and the coach. Oleg Konovalov is on the Thinkers50 Radar, has been recognized as #1 Global Thought Leader on Culture by Thinkers 360 and is #1 Global Leading Coach by Marshall Goldsmith Thinkers50. He is also the author of Leaderology and our guest this week! Oleg talks with us about the differences in coaching in Russia versus other places in the world. He shares how he helps people realize what is new, what is coming, and how to close the gap between them and the people they need to connect with. Plus he shares the word a coach needs to watch out for from potential clients that might signal they are not ready to commit to change. Failure is something we all experience. Oleg discusses finding success in failure and we have some additional thoughts on Failing Forward.

The road to becoming a Thought Leader is seldom a straight one. Our guest this week built a thriving business from a book that was meant to close that chapter of his career. David Friedman is the Founder and CEO of High Performing Culture, author of Fundamentally Different and Culture by Design. Now David is bringing culture to the palm of your hand with the mobile app CultureWise. David and Peter discuss the process of writing a book to leave a legacy and how that turned into speaking gigs, engagements, then a whole new career. We explore the process for turning a speaking hobby into a business model that would not solely rely on having David in the room. Last we finish up by finding the things you do instinctively that need to be codified if you want others to be able to teach your method. David specializes in helping companies design world-class culture. We have some thoughts for Changing a Company's Culture.

It's hard to believe we are celebrating our 200th episode already! We have had the honor of talking to so many amazing authors, speakers, consultants, and even some musicians, comedians, and even an Olympic Athlete! In this episode, we highlight just a few of the guests and insightful stories and advice they have given us. Mitch Joel - Discusses staying true to your voice and needing a platform to get a publishing deal. Corey Blake - Shares going from actor to brand storyteller and gives advice for nailing your content. Rita McGrath - a best-selling author shares her experience writing and publishing with and without a co-author. Joe Nocera - talks about taking a long-discarded story and turning it into a smash hit podcast. Steve Farber - tells us how he uses love in the workplace to forge stronger leaders. We'd like to thank all of our listeners, and ask you to continue tuning in, sharing our content, and sending us your ideas. We look forward to making the next 100 episodes even more successful!

Branding has become a fast-growing market. Everyone and everything wants to become a recognizable brand. With everyone competing in the same fast-moving space, how do you make a brand that stands out and creates a positive emotional connection to your audience? Today's guest is Liz Nickles an award-winning marketer and advertiser. She is the President of Black Label Brand Development a company that specializes in branding, marketing, and strategic vision. She is also the author of 15 books including Brandstorm. Liz joins us to share her years of experience building globally recognized brands. We discuss how branding is an emotional institution and how hitting the wrong emotions can have a destructive effect. In addition, we get into the changes in publishing over the years and what it takes to have a successful collaboration with a publisher. Plus Liz shares what the first thing publishers ask and you might be surprised to learn that it isn't "What is your book about?" In today's business, you only have a few seconds to get your point across, this includes letting potential customers know what your brand is about. Peter shares how a Powerful Manifesto is a great way to achieve this!

We often talk about how once you have found your lane you should stick to it. What if you have a message outside that lane that you just have to get out? Should you do it? Can it be successful? John Jantsch is the Founder of Duct Tape Marketing Consultant Network. He hosts the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, author of Duct Tape Marketing and Duct Tape Selling. His new book The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur takes a step away from the Duct Tape Brand he is best known for focusing on the Entrepreneur mindset. John shares how he made contacts and grew his network doing free speaking, which sped up the sales cycle for his consultant work. John and Peter discuss the risks and rewards of stepping outside the brand you are known for. Then we wrap up by discussing building a network to deliver your message and the investments that must be made to ensure that the message is the same regardless of who delivers it. John's new book provides evergreen content that will simply never go out of style. Do you know what makes an asset evergreen?

Moving from working at a big brand to starting your own marketing firm will present a number of new challenges. How will you face pitching to the big brands without a big name behind you? What will you have to provide to stay a step ahead? Ron Tite is an award-winning advertisement writer and creative director, author of Everyone's An Artist (or At Least They Should Be) and Think. Do. Say. and is the Founder of Church and State, a Toronto based content and marketing agency. Ron shares how he took a 20-year career as a corporate stand-up comedian and flipped the career to be a corporate professional with a sense of humor. We discuss building a marketing firm and how to win business over larger well-established brands. Testing new ideas by adding to existing speeches and finally developing a book as a framework and methodology that isn't dependent on your presence for it to be effective. Ron has done an amazing job of making his content clear and memorable. Take a minute to read this article about making your Thought Leadership as easy as "Stop, Drop, and Roll."

Too often authors start writing based on an idea they have or solution they think the market needs without having interacted with their target audience or taken the solution into the field. Then when the final product is a flop they are disappointed and surprised. Today we chat with three incredible authors who have taken their direct experience working in the industry and created books to codify their message and help an even wider audience. We start with Chip Conley who is the Founder of the Modern Elder Academy. Chip talks to us about not only identifying your audience but coming to understand what influences them. In addition, he tells us about his experience working at Airbnb and how his time as a mentor-led to writing Wisdom at Work and coined the term "Modern Elder." Next up is Shane Green the CEO of SGEi and has drawn on his past experience at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company to create effective training to create meaningful change to corporate culture. That valuable experience ultimately became his book Culture Hacker. Shane shares why you need to have a long term vision and how you can use it as a marketing tool. Last but certainly not least is Erika Andersen a founding partner of Proteus International and author of Be Bad First. She shares how she wrote the book by mapping sections of it to her product offerings. Plus she shares how she uses her books to build credibility and increase brand awareness. When you are ready to turn your experience into a book be sure to read these tips to learn what your book will need from you!

If you plan to self publish or take a more traditional route with your book you still have to be the champion for it and have an established platform to market it to if you want it to take off. Joesph Michelli is an internationally sought after speaker, consultant and best-selling author of several books including Driven to Delight and The AirBnB Way. Joseph speaks with us about how he writes books about globally recognized brands while working with them to improve their business. We discuss the changes to publishing and what rights publishers want a big piece of. In addition, Peter and Joesph share their thoughts on moving the contents of a book into other modalities to reach a larger audience. Last we finish off with discussing speaking, what role bureaus play and if those relationships are still important. If you have a keynote or book and want to move it to other modalities you'll want to think about the market strategy. We have some tips for ensuring you have the right medium for your message.

Do you consider your favorite musician to be a Thought Leader? Take a minute to think about the message they deliver, their ability to inspire and captivate an audience. Freddie Ravel is a Grammy Nominated performer who has worked with legends like Earth, Wind, and Fire, Madonna, and Prince. Now Freddie merges his music with education to bring his message of active listening to crowds around the world. Freddie explains how his concerts bring edutainment to the stage with a captivating tempo. Peter and Freddie discuss the business side of keynote speaking, building a relationship with speaker agents, and doing your homework before a gig and being specific about what you bring to the table. If you have a unique take on the speaker's industry and are seeking to gain visibility let Thought Leadership Leverage help get you out there.

The problems that blue-collar business face isn't all that different than those fortune 500s have to deal with. High turnover rates, stagnating growth, and untapped potential of employees. Are the solutions to these problems the same regardless of the business model? Jamie Gerdsen is the President and CEO of Apollo Home a home heating & cooling and electrical company, author of Squirrels, Boats, and Thoroughbreds and Zombies Ate my Business and is connecting with traditional businesses to help them grow and renew via Main Street Leadership. Jamie talks about how he wrote his first book from the personal lessons he had learned at Apollo Home and how with Peter's help they turned that book into an assessment that traditional businesses can use to understand where they are and ultimately how to get everyone focused in the same direction. Jamie and Peter discuss the need to ensure that if you write a book it is filled with content people will want to read and that you are not writing it to fulfill your own ego. Jamie has proven assessments can be a valuable asset. If you are thinking about making your own check out our 3 Tips and Tricks for Building an Awesome Assessment.

To be a successful keynote speaker you need a lot of skills. The right message to deliver, credibility, a stage presence, and magic? Jon Petz is the best-selling author of Boring Meetings Suck and Significance In Simple Moments. He is a world-renown keynoter and emcee that brings stage magic and a performance mindset to delight and surprise audiences at all levels. Jon chronicles how he merged previous careers of sales and marketing with magic to deliver motivational keynotes around the world. Peter and Jon explore the reasons for having used both self-published and used traditional publishing house methods. Plus they discuss the often difficult topic of pricing and providing value for your fee. Jon literally uses magic to keep his audience engaged. If you find yourself struggling to keep an audience's attention check out our guide to smart (and simple!) audience engagement!

An essential part of your Thought Leadership is solid content. Without it, you will not be able to reach the audience you want or have the impact you desire. Creating compelling content isn't cut and dry but today we have a wealth of knowledge to share on the topic. Gregg L Witt is a speaker, author of The Gen Z Frequency, and Chief Strategy Officer of Engage Youth Company. He has a keen knowledge of how to connect with tweens, teens, and young adults. Greg discusses building strategy around giving content away while keeping key pieces gated. David Mammano is the author of Crash and Learn, TEDx speaker an America's Entrepreneur Coach! David shares how you have to follow the dollars to find what the market wants, why you should not create in isolation and how you can engage your followers and peers to test material. Nancy Halpern is a pioneer in leadership development coaching executives inspiring to the c-suite. We talk with Nancy about the trouble of getting lost in your head and the need to have ideas externally validated. Plus she shares why you just need to focus on what you need to do in the next 15 minutes to push things forward Once you have brilliant content in place you'll need a solid model for it. Check out this article for creating an effective content model.

When you see a professional mix-martial arts professional you don't think "There is someone who has anxiety." The fact is most people have shortcomings or demons they need to overcome. Our guest Eliot Marshall is a former UFC fighter, co-owner and head instructor at Easton Training Center, host of the Gospel of Fire podcast and author of the Gospel of Fire. Eliot gets candid about his struggles with anxiety and having a complete breakdown. He shares how with the help of friends he built himself back up and is now taking the lessons he learned to help others. We discuss Eliot's podcast and how it's the perfect medium for a guy who really likes to talk and get to know people. A common struggle Thought Leaders need to overcome is Content Insecurity, check out this article to make sure Content Insecurity isn't destroying your work.

Why are negative habits easier to build and what can we learn from them? Is it possible to use the very formula that we build negative habits with and flip it on its head to slowly build positive habits? Our guest Adam Fridman is the Founder of the digital marketing Mabbly - where exceptional cultures happen when people pursue purpose together. He is also the co-author of The Science of Story and Founder of Pro Habits - a positive psychology-based application that links professional habits to personal and organizational goals. Pro habits is a highly customizable application that can help you take your company values and make them actionable! Adam shares how authors, speakers, and consultants can use Pro Habits to help people create long-lasting change by taking micro-actions every day that help build positive habits. We discuss using similar principles social media uses to provide a shot of dopamine to keep you coming back and gamification techniques to keep you engaged. We share some further insight into the Secrets of Changing a Company's Culture that might help you determine why Pro Habits might be the tool you need if you are looking to change your company's culture.

There is no straight path to becoming a Thought Leader. Many come from careers where what they have learned can be applied to making content to help others. The question remains is the transition from those careers to Thought Leader easy? Today we talk with John O'Grady a West Point grad, former Army colonel, and distinguished combat leader who managed a 14.4 billion dollar portfolio for the US military. John shares with us the successes and struggles of transitioning into the Thought Leader space. We discuss the skills and experiences that he is using to build content and coach in the private sector. Plus John talks about the assumptions he had coming into his new career and the lessons he has learned. If you are starting the metamorphosis to Thought Leader, Peter shares the Three Things you'll need.

Whether you are just starting your Thought Leadership practice or looking to expand you are going to need cash flow. Creating multiple revenue streams and being smart about where you spend your hard-earned income can be a challenge even for veterans in the field. Our guest Ken "Mr. Biz" Wentworth is the author of the best-selling books Pathway to Profits and How to be a Cash Flow Pro. He is also the host of the Mr. Biz radio show where he shares more than 20 years of experience with his listeners. Mr. Biz explains how someone who doesn't enjoy writing ended up with on the best-sellers list, plus he describes how you can extract value from your book by giving it away! Plus we talk about creating multiple price points for content to serve a wider clientele that you might not be able to reach otherwise. Right now Mr. Biz has an incredible offer for his Profit Program. If you are looking for a financial tune-up of your business this might be the solution you've been looking for. Getting your book on the best-seller list isn't an easy task, but we've got some great tips to help you get there.

If you ask anyone how they feel about trust, you won't find anyone who is against it. Despite that becoming trusted and trusting others can be one of the hardest things to accomplish. Trust can not be measured on a chart or calculated in any ROI. In this episode, we discuss building trust with clients, partners, and your audience. Charlie Green is the Founder and CEO of Trusted Advisor Associates and as the author of The Trusted Advisor, he is well versed in the topic. He talks to us about going from product-centric to client-centric and the many benefits of having a client that trusts you. Jack Daly is the author of The Sales Playbook and leading speaker and trainer with more than 30 years of experience. Jack explains why you need to be passionate and get your ego out of the way. Plus we discuss the doors that open when you are able to build a trustworthy reputation with industry associations. Peter Shankman is the author of Faster Than Normal and living proof that having ADHD can be a blessing. You just have to learn to use your faster brain. Peter explains why we have to get into the heads of our audience and understand what they want. Then we can use that information to give them what they want and need, only then do we earn the privilege of our audience. If you want your audience to trust you, you'll need content that connects with them in an authentic and meaningful way. Check out this short video on content to Enlighten, Inspire, and Guide your audience!

When it comes to being a consultant it is a massive mistake to be a generalist. You might be able to widen your audience after years of being established but starting out you have to know your message, your audience, and their problems. David A Fields has plus years of experience include consulting, speaking and writing The Irresistible Consultant's Guide to Winning Clients. He has made a career of helping consulting practices become lucrative and lifestyle friendly. David shares his experience with us on what marketing you can do and what you MUST do. In addition, he explains why having your content solidified is vitally important and why if your core idea isn't easily repeatable then your message isn't clear enough. It can be easy to veer from your core message into topics that interest you. We share some thoughts on why you have to have message discipline and stick to an editorial plan.