Leveraging Thought Leadership

How do you get people to think about new ideas?And then, how do you move your audience from thinking - to buying? To examine how ideas go from brainstorming to industry-changing, I've invited Pete O'Heeron to join me for today's podcast. Pete is the Founder and CEO of FibroBiologics, a leading biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing fibroblast cell-based therapies. We kick the conversation off discussing how Fibroblast has gone from a few peer reviewed papers a year to dozens each week in the span of a mere eight years. Pete helps us understand exactly what fibroblast cells are and why the amount of interest and important research for them has spiked. Not only is research into fibroblast cells new but the work Pete is doing at FibroBiologics is going in directions no one else is. Pete discusses why they are doing work no one else is and how the research and science are the mechanics that steer the direction of the company. Working on such new and cutting edge ideas often means having to convert people from no, to yes. Pete shares how their scientific discovery board is made up of world leaders in stem cell research, which gives the work they do a great deal of credibility. This creates an opportunity to start conversations that spark interest in what the company is doing and allows the science to sell itself as people dig into these new ideas. Pete offers great insight into how to take new niche ideas from prototype to market and have conversations that draws your audience in. Three Key Takeaways: · Allowing research and science to dictate the direction of your company can take you in new directions. · Getting new ideas out means starting a conversation with the points that will spark interest. After that follow with research and science that can't be disputed. · Having a board within your company that is filled with respected professionals will give the new ideas you produce a level of credibility that others might not have.

An investment in thought leadership - for yourself or your org - compounds over time. Starting earlier in your career will have a greater impact. So what's stopping you from getting started? For today's episode, I've invited Vaishali Dialani to chat with us. Vaishali is a Senior Customer Experience Strategist at Konabos Consulting; a full-service, end-to-end, digital experience solutions agency. Vaishali paints a picture of her earliest journey in thought leadership by participating in everything she could find, and every event possible – often leading events, even though it was early in her education and career. By taking these initiatives she was able to get speaking and presenting opportunities that strengthened her confidence and opened the door to networking prospects. Meeting a connection at a conference is great but you need to follow up to foster that new relationship. Vaishali shares how she does active outreach, reaching out via LinkedIn to grow her network. She goes beyond people she has met in person and explains what you should be looking for in a contact before reaching out. Finally, Vaishali shares how growing up in India and being from a blended family gives her unique perspectives that she uses to enhance her Customer Experience (CX) work. We learn how her personality not only affects the CX work she does but also how her personality is blended directly into the work. In this episode Vaishali shares incredible advice for starting the thought leadership experience, excelling at customer experience, and nurturing a network of value. Three Key Takeaways: · Thought Leadership doesn't have to be industry changing ideas. If you have thoughts and opinions - share them! · You are never going to know everything about your field of expertise. Share what you know now, you can share now. · People don't invest enough in learning. You can never know enough and can always be sharpening your craft.

All right, thoughtleaders – be honest. Have you ever nodded off a little during a presentation? Now imagine a conference filled with rock and roll, choreographed numbers, and comedy. That's a presentation you'd sit up and pay attention to! Our guest today is Kraig Kleeman, the founder and Executive Producer for Rock the C-Suite a production company that brings electrifying original and relevant musical performances to corporate events. In addition, he is the author of The Must-React System: User's Guide to Prospecting C-Suite Executives which provides a strategy for winning meetings with senior executives. Kraig shares where the inspiration for Rock the C-Suite came from and how corporate messaging is better received through the performing arts. He describes the high energy performances he produces that can be the main stage of a conference delivering an audience-focused show that provides researched topics that mean the most to those putting on the event. Before Kraig was rocking the stage he had authored The Must-React System and he explains why when doing outreach leading with value proposition and product benefit language might seem intuitive it actually isn't the most effective method. In fact, providing fact-based briefings combined with smart questions can allow the potential client to map your research to their own experiences and advance you to the next step! Kraig provides great advice for landing meetings with executives and creating high-octane events that any company can take advantage of. Three Key Takeaways: · Conference producers should prioritize the well-being of the audience over the distribution of information. If the audience has zoned out, they will not take in the information. · When crafting content for a conference make sure to collaborate with the event owner to really dial in a deliverable that is effective for them and their audience. · Cold call outreach to executives will have greater success if you lead with fact based research and not value proposition

Data Governance may not sound exciting - but it's critical! It covers how your company produces, consumes, collects, and destroys data. So, with businesses generating and using more data than ever, why is this role so often forgotten? Our guest today is Lauren Maffeo, Author of "Designing Data Governance from the Ground Up" and an adjunct Lecturer of Design at The George Washington University. Lauren sets the tone for us by explaining what Data Governance is and how too much data is produced for one person or even a single team to own it all. Lauren lays out how you can create data points from subject matter experts around key areas of data your company produces or ingests, such as Sales, Marketing, and Customer Data; each of which can then have sub-sets to provide even more structure. Lauren shares why you need to understand how data works in the subject matter expert's day to day job and how data governance will help them do their job more effectively. In addition, we learn about data dictionaries and the big part they play in data governance and enablement efforts to ensure clarity is provided across domains on the exact meaning of terms that might have different meanings depending on the context. Three Key Takeaways: · The biggest challenge to doing data governance well is having a thought leadership strategy around it to get other colleagues on board. · There is too much data produced today for one person or one team to own all of it. You need to make it a collective effort across technical and non-technical roles. · You can not succeed in sales, marketing, or customer success without data.

The road to becoming a Thought Leader is never a straight one. So going from college basketball coach to book influencer might not seem that odd. Still, the map to get there is fascinating! Our guest today is Owen Sammarone the Founder and CEO of Unleash the Knowledge, LLC; an online, educational community of lifelong learners and avid readers helping authors reach a larger audience. Having a business based around books you might assume Owen has a background in publishing or marketing, but he was previously a graduate assistant with the UConn men's basketball program. Owen shares that while he loved basketball his true passion came from the self-development habits of coaches. Owen began to explore what his coach was reading and listening to, then sharing the takeaways he found on Instagram, nurturing a following of self-development junkies. After Owen was contacted by a heart doctor, seeking to pay for promotion of his new book to Owen's followers he realized Unleash the Knowledge could be more than a social media platform. IT could become a business model. Through this episode Owen shares his journey growing his platform and finding his footing as well as tips you can use to grow your own social media platform! Three Key Takeaways: · In order to grow a social media platform you need to create a niche that works for your audience and provides value. · Certain social media platforms tend to skew towards certain trends or topics. That doesn't mean you can't grow a successful audience outside those bubbles if you are dedicated to it. · Growing a platform requires consistency. You can't just post when you need something from your audience.

There are few thought leaders who work behind the scenes to create, develop, and deploy programs while simultaneously being the face of the brand. What does it take to find success on both ends? Today we've invited internationally recognized presenter, content developer, business leader and coach Curtis Bateman! He is currently the Vice President of International Direct Offices at FranklinCovey, and was previously the President and CEO of Red Tree Leadership before orchestrated a buyout to FranklinCovey. With few thought leaders working both the back and front of the house, Curtis gives us some insights into what it takes to be successful doing both. He tells us about the passion and extra hours that are required to practice what you preach. However creating doesn't have to be a solo job, in fact, Curtis shares how having Brain Buddies can help sharpen your skills. Having a knowledgeable team around you to help research stories and ideas as well as draft or polish content creates a high quality end product. Curtis tells us how being in the market place every day while creating content creates a constant cycle of feedback as content goes out to the audience, gets live reactions, and can be revised based on that input. This system has been used to pressure test everything from their framework to his newest book Change: How to Turn Uncertainty Into Opportunity. Having had a boutique company that exited to FranklinCovey, Curtis fully understands what it takes to position yourself for acquisition. While each instance is different Curtis shares how having principle-based content that matched up with the prospective buyer, having a Fortune 50 client, and thought leaders with significant industry experience that were capable of making contributions inside the new organization all played a role in a successful acquisition. Three Key Takeaways: · Content creation doesn't have to be a single player game. By working with others you can polish your skills and elevate your content. · Taking ideas to your audience and revising based on feedback can give you real time advice on where the market agrees or disagrees with your content. · Exiting a boutique firm for a bigger company means you don't get to touch every aspect of the business anymore. You have to learn to trust others.

How do you get attention for a product that could be used by millions but few are aware of without having a massive marketing budget? Thought leadership! Our guest today is Martha Orellana, Vice President of Marketing for MrSteam, a company that converts regular showers into steam showers in personal residence as well as gyms and spas. While most people have heard of a steam shower, few would imagine that you could have one in your home or that people have had them for decades. Martha shares the history of MrSteam and the challenges they faced getting people to know they could have such a product in their own home. By targeting and educating architects, plumbers, and designers MrSteam was able to create a chain that not only knew about their offerings but became champions of it! When it came to educating the professionals that would be installing and selling their products Martha went beyond information sessions or bookwork, creating elegant invitations to Camp Feelgood, hosted at high end hotels where they would not only explain the health benefits of steam showers, but spend time in them providing a luxury experience they could then speak directly to when answering questions of future clients. Martha offers great insights into reaching new audiences and differentiating yourself from the pack by using interesting, dramatic, and meaningful tactics. Three Key Takeaways: · When you don't have a massive marketing budget, solid thought leadership can allow you to punch above your weight class. · When getting the message about your offering out you have to target the right audience. By going after the professionals between you and your product you can educate the supply chain and create champions. · Theatric and dramatic visuals can often help grab the audience's attention and allow you to differentiate yourself from the competition.

Publishers often look at books as seasonal, but an author needs to look at their book as a long term investment. What should you be thinking of a year before publishing, and how can your book help your business - even years after it was released? I've invited Katie Anderson, internationally recognized leadership coach, consultant, speaker, and founder of Katie Anderson Consulting to join me. At the time of this recording, Katie was celebrating the three year anniversary of her book, Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn: Lessons from Toyota Leader Isao Yoshino on a Lifetime of Continuous Learning. Katie's journey into thought leadership literally took her around the world, from California to Australia and then to Japan, where she had the unique opportunity to partner with Isao Yoshino, a 40-year Toyota Motor Corporation leader. This time spent together became the fuel for her book, Learning to Lead, in which she weaves together Mr. Yoshino's heartwarming and deeply reflective stories of personal discovery and organizational history, and offers her own unique perspective, with the intention of helping others learn to lead and lead to learn. In the year leading up to publishing the book, Katie had a lot of big decisions to make. Katie shares how she was introduced to traditional publishers both big and small, but ultimately chose to self-publish. We learn the importance of having the goals of the publisher align with those of the author, and how an author can maintain control over the message and look of the book. Now, three years after publishing, Katie shares the impact the book has had on her business and what she did to ensure it found its way into the right hands. She talks about sharing stories from the book and doing so from the heart, without a focus on selling units, but with a passion for the lessons that can be learned and the impact and value the book can have for others. Three Key Takeaways: * You need to have a full understanding of the purpose of your book. Allow that purpose to influence the choices around publishing, look, and feel. * There needs to be complete alignment between a publisher and author. If you can't find that perhaps another publishing method would better suit you. * When self-publishing it is still important to hire professionals to do the work you are not good at. This will ensure a polished end product.

You need top talent to start a thought leadership function in your organization. But what if that talent already exists in your org? Whether you are responsible for starting a thought leadership function at a startup, or at a large company, you need to have the right talent, the right org support, and the right metrics to define success. In today's episode, we're chatting with Dr. Karthik Nagendra, Founder and CEO of ThoughtStarters, the first thought leadership marketing company in Asia. He's also the author of The Thought Leader Way: Leading Your Business with Thought Leadership in an Altered World, which details his experience and journey as a thought leader, and offers mental blueprints for helping new thought leaders and their teams excel. Karthik takes us back to 2007, when he first started doing thought leadership at a startup in an emerging field. He shares how an assessment they created boosted the profile of the organization, and shaped the engineering industry as a whole. Moving onto larger corporate thought leadership roles, Karthik shares how he helped stand up thought leadership as a research wing. He worked to identify internal subject matter experts and help them "come out of the shadows" and share their knowledge and passion. This partnership led to co-created white papers and other content that elevated organizational awareness while increasing their credibility. We also discuss category creation and the need to continue to look forward, finding new ways to solve old problems. Karthik discusses how we often keep doing things the same old way, even if that way might not be as effective as it once was. He explains how he's helped take salespeople down a journey of exploration and experimentation, to a point where it influences their peers to seek newer methods as well. This episode tackles thought leadership from both a large and small scale, and offers advice for leaders, sales teams, marketing, and researchers alike! Three Key Takeaways: * When starting a thought leadership function look internally for experts who are eager to share their knowledge and passion. Then give them a platform to do so. * The buy-in from senior leadership is key when starting thought leadership. If they don't believe in working for the long game, then thought leadership won't be effective. * If you are asking poor questions you are going to get poor answers. And if you are creating thought leadership from those answers, people are going to think you're a poor thought leader.

Thought leading is a busy life! You write books, travel for keynote speaking, network with other experts and create lots of content. However, that means your business is limited to your personal time! So, what can you do to help your content sell itself? Our guest today has excelled at everything "thought leadership," including the ability to remove himself from the day to day of a business he built. Michael Bungay Stainer is the best-selling author of The Coaching Habit, a renowned keynote speaker, and Founder of Box of Crayons, a learning and development company that provides training to enterprise companies. With Michael's newest book How to Work with (Almost) Anyone: Five Questions for Building the Best Possible Relationships having just hit the shelf we start our conversation discussing the phases of a book launch and how marketing a book is more than marketing just the book. He shares how a book can become the gateway to your larger ecosystem. Michael gives the pros and cons of traditional and hybrid publishing as well as why you need to treat your book like starting a business, giving it at least 2 – 3 years to flourish and grow. In addition to being an author Michael knows the keynote speaking side of the business sharing how at the best of times focusing on speaking can be lucrative, ending with standing ovations and nice hotel rooms. However it can also mean hundreds of days on the road, airport delays, and fatigue. We learn the criteria Michael uses for saying Yes to a possible gig and how speaking can fit into your business model. Books and speaking are powerful tools for spreading thought leadership but how can your business go on without you writing and speaking? As the Founder of Box of Crayons, Michael ensured the company benefitted from his best-selling books and reputation, but also ensured the sales training could stand without him. He shares both the B2B and B2C strategy that is allowing him to work 1 hour a month for Box of Crayons without the company falling apart in his absence. This episode is a master class on everything a thought leader needs to know to ensure not only the success of their personal brand, but the company they someday will leave behind. Three Key Takeaways: · It is really hard to write a book. Except compared to marketing a book. It's really hard to market a book... except compared to getting people to read a book. · Hybrid publishing means you are the executive editor of your book. You get to call it what you want and give it the look and feel you want. · As time goes on you need to watch the market and see if your target avatars have changed. When they do you may need to update your content and offers to accommodate their growing needs.

You've been invited as a guest on a podcast! How exciting! But... what now? What should you say, and how do you use this opportunity to shine a spotlight on your best ideas? Our guest today is Dana Lindahl, the Founder and CEO of Legendary Podcasts, an agency that helps clients get booked on podcasts, so they can increase their visibility, brand, and legacy! Being a guest on a podcast can be of tremendous benefit to your thought leadership. Dana explains how most clients are seeking to increase their exposure, create brand awareness, and generate leads. Many believe being on a podcast with a larger audience is the way to do this but Dana clarifies why a smaller audience is the one that needs to hear your message the most can have more impact. Getting booked on a podcast often means doing a quick call beforehand to ensure what the guest has to offer fits the needs of the host's show. We discover how a shockingly low number of potential guests have taken the time to listen to the show they are seeking to be on. Dana tells us why this is a critical mistake that can lead to the guest being passed over. The host/guest relationship needs to be a mutual one where the guest is providing valuable information to the host's audience. If both ends are not getting something out of the interview it might not be the right fit. Finally, Dana takes us beyond the podcast interview to the benefits that can blossom afterward. A guest appearance is more than a way to reach a larger audience it is a unique networking opportunity where the host and guest can find further ways to work together, share their network, and help each other. However, if only one side is doing the work the relationship will fail leading to missed opportunities. If you are looking to be a guest on podcasts, you'll want to check out this link where Dana has collected valuable information you can put to use in your quest to become a legendary guest! Three Key Takeaways: * A podcast that directly speaks to the audience you want to reach most is more powerful than a larger more general audience. * When seeking to be a guest on a podcast research both the show and the host. Listen to the previous episode to identify how you can provide value to their audience. * The value of a podcast doesn't have to be one-and-done. The episode can be repurposed into blog posts, infographics, and sound bites continuing to provide content for weeks.

We've all heard the saying, "many hands make light work." Can collaborating help thought leadership content reach scale and create greater impact? In today's episode, we discuss the critical impact of allies and ambassadors in thought leadership. We highlight valuable conversations from past guests that truly understand that collaboration with influencers and others can significantly elevate a brand or idea. Morag Barrett is the Founder and CEO of Skye Team. She helps us define what allies and ambassadors are and how they can help take ideas to scale or even create a movement that would be unachievable alone. Kerry-Ann Stimpson, Chief Marketing Officer at The JMMB Group shares how the influence of a corporate brand can be expanded by working in tandem to build personal brands of the employees. We learn how this creates new ways for the audience to interact with the brand while increasing confidence and trust in both brands. Jacqueline Jodl, Senior Vice President of Global Youth & Education, and Haylie Wrubel, Director of Global Unified Champion Schools discuss the importance of allies and ambassadors to the Special Olympics. They share how they seek out thought leaders that are sharing message which run parallel to their own, then co-create content to reach a larger audience with the message. Three Key Takeaways: * Personal brands can be good for corporate brands. Don't feel the need to micro-manage employees who are building their own brand. Instead, work with them to align the goals of the individual with the organization. * Allies and ambassadors often create a greater level of trust in a brand. People trust individuals faster than organizations. * Having brand ambassadors is a great way to be better in tune with what is being said about your brand.

If fewer people are buying and reading books, why should a thought leader write one? Today we delve into the world of authorship and publishing with Henry Mintzberg. Henry is a Cleghorn Professor of Management Studies at McGill University and the author of more than 20 books including Managers Not MBAs: A Hard Look at the Soft Practice of Managing and Management Development and Simply Managing: What Managers Do - and Can Do Better. Our conversation starts by discussing where you find the value in writing a book. Whether it be the intrinsic value of codifying your thought leadership or the extrinsic value of higher engagement and client acquisition. Henry shares with us his compulsion to write books, regardless of if they succeed or not. He discusses how a few newer books have not done as well as expected and how difficult topics like climate change might play a part in those results. When publishing about important, but hard topics that many would rather not think about how do you get your message out? Henry talks about expanding into new modalities to capture the audience's attention and how hard it is to get uninterrupted attention for your topic. He explains how interruption is just one of the reasons a book can have a bigger impact than articles, even if the book reaches only a fraction of the audience a short-form piece might. Three Key Takeaways: · Reaching ten thousand people with a book can be far more influential than reaching one hundred thousand people with an article. · A publication date is not a measurement of value. Many books continue to be relevant years after their publication. · Do what is in your heart. Don't let anyone talk you into something else because you will end up doing it badly.

If you're going to practice thought leadership, you need good instincts. You've also got to ask good questions! To discuss how thought leadership can be beneficial in change management I've invited The Chief Innovation Officer at Prosci, Tim Creasey to join me. In addition to his work helping individuals and organizations build their own capabilities in change management, Tim is the author of Change Management: The People Side of Change. For Tim and Prosci, creating thought leadership starts with pattern recognition and identification. By asking questions of hundreds of people and documenting their answers you are able to start to see the patterns that already exist and get input on how to create impactful change. Only then can you synthesize the information into content that is actionable and accessible. Creating content that can have a positive impact goes beyond research and a good idea. What you make has to be relevant to the audience and suited to their knowledge level. Tim discusses setting a contextual anchor for the conversation and using different modalities to reach the audience where they are comfortable and in a way they can understand. Three Key Takeaways: · Thought leadership comes from a lot of hard work, and asking smart questions. Then discerning the patterns that others can act on. · There is an art to asking the nuanced questions that are going to yield the insights you are looking for. · Creating good thought leadership comes from collecting data, analyzing it, and then turning those findings into actionable content that is easily accessible.

Thought leadership is a great source for lead generation. So how do you create content that a sales team can easily access and assess? And how can you measure the success of it? To discuss these topics I've invited Dani Buckley the Vice President and General Manager of LeadG2 to join me. LeadG2 is a sales performance agency helping businesses sell smarter and faster. Dani is also the host of the podcast Sell Smarter, Sell Faster where she offers insights, strategies, and real-world examples to help her audience take sales enablement to the next level. Our conversation begins by establishing a baseline of how thought leadership and lead gen intersect. Dani talks about how powerful thought leadership can be and how it really needs to come from a philosophical belief in wanting to help people and your industry, even if you never get anything in return. Next, we discuss reaching your audience and focusing on them. Dani shares how they have a created persona they keep in mind while creating content, but also how a few times a year they look at who their largest clients are. Discuss what their needs and problems are, even reaching out to them to gain greater insights into what they are looking for. Then incorporate that real-world information into the content they create. Often the bridge between sales and thought leadership can be a tough one to cross. Dani tells us why it doesn't have to be. Having a sales background she offers examples of what sales team love to see from thought leaders, from the time of content they seek, how technology can make it accessible, and even help evaluate how popular or useful content is. Three Key Takeaways: · When creating thought leadership for sales teams take the time to understand their role. Listen to sales calls, and get to know what they do, and what sales conversations sound like. · Thought leadership has a compounding effect year over year. Start making content early and be consistent in sticking with it. · Thought leadership needs to be created with a very specific audience in mind. Look at the clients you've had success with and use them as a template of who you should be speaking to.

Accountability and compassion are often thought of as two things that can't go together. Yet they are not ideas that are in opposition to each other. In fact, when put together they can have a transformational effect on the employees, leaders, and culture of your organization. In order to really understand how we can merge these two concepts I've invited Nate Regier to join me. He is the Founder and CEO of Next Element, a global leadership firm helping build cultures of compassionate accountability. And his newest book is Compassionate Accountability: How Leaders Build Connection and Get Results. We start with Nate explaining exactly what Compassionate Accountability and why putting the two ideas together can create psychological safety and build trust that will ultimately lead to stronger relationships and increased performance. Now that we know what Compassionate Accountability is, how can we practice it? Nate explains how he has developed a working definition of compassion that helps to shift our mindsets. This mindset is about more than simply getting along it is about being an active participant in solving problems and being in the trenches together. Not only does Nate help us understand how to practice this mindset he shares how you can deploy it across your entire organization! In order to do that you have to be clear about what the behaviors norms are. Nate lays out the six areas of organizational life where you can apply this new lens, how you can identify critical behaviors being manifested, where the gaps are, and where the opportunities for improvement are. If you want to see revolutionary change in yourself and your organization you'll want to listen to this episode and immediately pick up Nate's book! Three Key Takeaways: · Leaders that hold people accountable without also treating them as valuable and capable will not have employees for long. · Compassion is a teachable and learning capability. And it can have a dramatic positive impact on people's lives. · If we struggle together and bring more compassion to the world then everyone wins.

Thought Leadership can be very complicated, with nuanced ideas and industry jargon. Unfortunately, complex language and niche ideas won't catch your audience's attention! To explore how to take big thought leadership ideas to market, I've invited Jessica Duffield to join me. Jessica is a Senior Consultant at Thought Leadership Leverage. She's worked with clients for nearly 10 years, helping them create content, find their best audience, and go to scale with unique ideas. We discuss the most effective ways to take big ideas and turn them into bit-sized content, ensuring your audience will notice them - and easily remember the content. Jessica walks us through the process of finding the strongest core ideas of your thought leadership and focusing on those, creating a simplified vision of your content that can be easily grasped. In addition to breaking your content down, you need to know your audience - who do you want to work with and for? Jessica gives valuable advice not only for finding your audience, but understanding their needs, worries, and where they are within their organizations. Additionally, we discuss the need for a hook that will grab your audience quickly. Jessica shares how and why sharing your story authenticity can be the "hook" you need to get your audience to stop scrolling and want more. Three Key Takeaways: * You often only get a few seconds to grab your audience's attention. And if you can't evoke interest and curiosity in your idea in that time, you've failed. * When creating content, sometimes you'll have to "Kill Your Darlings" to maintain focus on the most important facets of your thought leadership and your audience. * Big ideas don't have to be complicated. In fact, making your ideas easy to understand means a larger audience will be able to consume your content and follow you to the next level.

Summary:Ever heard, "To be successful, you have to get out of your comfort zone!" But if your "comfort zone" aligns with your core values, what then? Can you find an alignment between those values and marketing that will allow you to stay in your comfort zone and find success? Our guest today is the "Go for Yes Gal!" Stacey Hall! Stacey is the founder of Success with Stacey Hall, a well-known success strategist, TedX speaker, and best-selling author with her fifth book "Selling from Your Comfort Zone: The Power of Alignment Marketing". Our conversation starts by covering the 23 years between Stacey's first and fifth books. She shares what has changed and what has stayed the same in the publishing industry and why she returned to BK Publishing for her newest book. Stacey discusses the content of her book Selling from Your Comfort Zone explaining how people want to stay aligned with their core values and are no longer willing to let them go. She covers how the current environment for sales can be confusing and why it is often better to stay in your comfort zone, expanding on it in alignment with your current values and skills. In addition to learning about the content of the book Stacey shares how she is marketing the book and what she is doing differently now. She gives us insights into using technology like social media, AI, and podcasts to market the book from home to create both free and paid offshoots of the book that you can use to lead people to the book or your other offerings. Three Key Takeaways: * Put tidbits of your book on social media. Don't just tell them the book is coming give them bits of the content as a teaser. * When creating free tie-ins to the book, they have to come out before the book to create interest and excitement. * It is important to publish your book in different formats. Paper, ebooks, and audio have all become popular methods of consuming books.

AI is a powerful tool that is growing at an astonishing rate, but can thought leaders trust the technology? Or should a human be keeping an eye on the process - and importantly, the output? Our guest today is Stephanie Grayson, a Content Marketing Leader and Thought Leadership Advisor with experience in the worlds of agency marketing, large consulting houses, and enterprise scale software. She is also an AI enthusiast with a creative view on how to best use this remarkable new technology. We start the conversation by defining the difference between thought leadership and content marketing. Stephanie helps us understand how content marketing focuses on the now, while thought leadership focuses on the future. Stephanie explains how the current limitations of AI make it unlikely to generate truly new ideas that could be considered genuine thought leadership. In addition, since AI can only learn from what we give it we have to be careful about introducing bias and be sure to fact check any results it gives to ensure it isn't a very convincing AI hallucination. So if AI isn't completely trustworthy, how can we best use it? Stephanie shares AI would be capable of sorting through huge datasets that might be too cost and time prohibitive for people to go through. From these datasets, the AI could deliver valuable stats and even pose answers to various hypotheses allowing the thought leader to spend more time asking smart questions. Three Key Takeaways: * AI cannot (yet) accomplish the level of thought leadership that gets executive response. Collation is not creation! * Great thought leadership should stop you in your tracks for a moment and make you say, "Now that is a unique and interesting #idea." * There is a need for more than one set of eyes on large company-level data-backed thought leadership - be it human or AI. Check your facts, your sources and make sure everything is correct.

Thought leaders have a passion for ideas, frameworks, and methodologies. But many struggle with defining their brand, finding clients, and maintaining a stable revenue stream. Don't worry - help is on the way! Today, we're talking with Vaughn Sigmon, the co-founder of Results Driven Leadership which specializes in helping businesses unlock their full potential through transformative leadership practices. Vaughn is also the host of The Business Mechanic – where he shares his expertise to improve the impact of executives and managers by enhancing their knowledge, skills, and abilities. Leaving a stable executive position to start his own leadership development business was a huge risk. We talk with Vaughn about the driving force behind his shift in career and why he chose the area he did. Leadership development is a crowded space to enter. Vaughn shares what he did to stand out and win clients. Acquiring clients is the hardest part that few want to talk about. We learn how it requires a multi-step marketing process that creates multiple touch points, allowing potential clients to get to know you, what you stand for, and the problems you are able to solve. Vaughn explains how the two main marketing platforms he has been using are LinkedIn and podcasting. We learn how Vaughn became smart and focused on who his audience would be and how to create awareness, interest, and a relationship with your audience on the platform. Finally, we learn about the advantages of starting a podcast or doing the circuit as a guest. Plus, he shares tips for getting your audience to engage and move further down the sales funnel. Three Key Takeaways: · You need to get in front of the right people so they get to know you. If they don't buy who you are they're not going to buy your concepts. · If you are smart and focused, your message is on point, LinkedIn can be a gold mine. · The title of a podcast or blog entry is of utmost importance. Having great content won't matter if no one reads it because the title does not entice them.

Authors tend to be very proud of their books and believe what they've written can help anyone, anywhere! Although that might be correct, the hard truth is you are going to have to focus on the .001% of the population that is going to get the most out of your book and that will in turn get the most out of your content. To discuss the ins and outs of marketing to your target audience we've invited first time author Michelle Gladieux to join us. Michelle is the president of Gladieux Consulting, which offers one-on-one executive and employee coaching and strategic plan facilitation. Michelle's first book is Communicate with Courage: Taking Risks to Overcome the Four Hidden Challenges. Michelle shares how she spent four years writing her book to ensure it was ready for publication. Then, her editor suggested that she rewrite the book and focus on an overarching message that would better resonate and pull the reader in. That message would become the four hidden challenges that prevent people from becoming fearless and peerless communicators Peter and Michelle discuss the hard task of marketing a book, and why you need to start marketing before you're published. We learn what personal touches Michelle used to give the book legs and what experiments she has tried and is continuing to do that have a low cost but potentially high impact! Three Key Takeaways: · For most people making money cannot be the main driver for writing a book. · Don't be afraid of failure when experimenting with marketing. Some ideas might not fly, but others could go further than you might imagine. · It is easy to fall into the trap of feeling like everyone can use your book. In order to get the best return on your investment you have to drill down deep into who your target avatar really is.

It's celebration time! The Leveraging Thought Leadership podcast is celebrating our 500th episode with our co-hosts, Peter Winick and Bill Sherman. In this special episode, Bill and Peter share news about their most recent white paper, "The OrgTL Canvas," and walk us through the deep insights they've gained by spending more than 20 years working with thought leaders, from Fortune 500 and Global 100 successes to new, single-shingle startups - all looking to get their remarkable insights out into the world. Over the past four years, Peter and Bill have spoken with more than 250 heads of thought leadership, many of them on this very podcast. Those conversations have given them incredible insight into the pain points that organizations face when creating, curating, and sustaining thought leadership initiatives. The OrgTL Canvas synthesizes their acumen into actionable steps that help organizations use thought leadership to gain higher visibility, greater success, and a strong, loyal following. In today's conversation, Bill and Peter share how organizations are changing the way they interact with consumers (and potential clients), and how thought leadership can bridge the gap that leads to "next steps" for their audience. They discuss thought leadership strategy (and how to create one), as well as the baseline criteria and metrics you should use, the warning signals that your strategy isn't working, and the importance of alignment across the organization. The OrgTL Canvas is a framework that can help your ideas spread beyond the walls of your organization, and create real impact. We're pleased to share it, and to join with our listeners in celebrating an amazing 500 episodes of Leveraging Thought Leadership. Thank you for listening to our podcast, and here's to 500 more! Three Key Takeaways: * Strategy does not happen by accident. It has to be purposeful. * You only need 3 - 5 core provocative ideas to bang the drum on. More isn't always better. * Thought leadership works to facilitate awareness, provoke curiosity, and serve as a call to education.

Many organizations want to formalize their thought leadership efforts and take it to the next level. But how do you turn a "casual thought leadership presence" into something more? Today, we discuss ways to harness a "casual" message and turn it into powerful thought leadership that you can take to scale. Our guests are Stacey Flax, Thought Leadership Communication Manager and Carlos Williams, Applications Development Manager from Hach, an organization that focuses on water analysis. Stacey and Carlos share how people at Hach had been doing thought leadership on their own, before Hach chose to formalize it and amplify the expertise the organization had to offer. Carlos explains how part of the job of a thought leader is to convey your message in relatable terms but also somehow make it fun, through story or anecdotes. Stacey further explains the need to take a step back and think about your message. Who are you trying to reach? What's the core essence of your insights? They discuss how to convey your thought leadership message in different ways, using different media forms and different techniques. We also learn how Stacey aided in putting the formal structure in place, getting a baseline of subject matter experts, cataloging all of the previously produced content, and gaining further support from the leadership by being able to show the impact thought leadership was having. As a bonus, we take a look back at John Snow's discovery of cholera in the water in the 1920s - perhaps some of the first thought leadership on the topic of water analysis - and how those insights still affect us today. Three Key Takeaways: * When formalizing thought leadership within an organization, start by discovering the experts in your organization, and curate the material they have already produced into a usable catalog. * When creating thought leadership for technical or niche topics, it is important to use storytelling to spice up the content and make it somehow relatable. * Ensure any information you distribute in your thought leadership aligns with the organization's strategy.

Executives often feel they need to be the ones creating thought leadership, but true thought leadership needs to move beyond a single person. That's how insights goes the distance; it needs to be elevated by others while you are not in the room. In order to fully understand how organizations build their thought leadership teams, I've invited Will Milano to join me. Will is the Chief Marketing Officer for Integrity Solutions, which focuses on sales training for organizations. He is also the host of the podcast "Mental Selling". Early in Will's career, he found that content and insights could drive conversations, increase credibility, and create strong brand affinity. Since then, he has been encouraging organizations to move their thought leadership beyond the C-Suite, bringing senior consultants into the game and allowing clients to see the full extent of what your organization has to offer. While many fear saying too much or "giving away the magic," it actually works as a sneak peek that shows clients why they need your services. One of the hardest parts of creating a thought leadership engine is keeping it going. Will shares how having a knowledgeable team can make it easier to keep that engine going and take your ideas to scale. In addition we learn the importance of by-lines, which give potential clients a name they can seek further content from and grow to trust, and why you'll want to not only meet your audience where they are, but also meet your content creators where they are most comfortable. Three Key Takeaways: · Thought leadership is about relationship building. Building trust and credibility and authenticity as a brand (and individuals in a brand) above anything else. · Early in the sales cycle customers care far more about what you have to say than what you have to sell. · More and more people are seeking to know exactly where their information is coming from. By-lines on articles allow the audience to build trust and know it isn't simply AI-generated content.

Ever thought about writing a book to support your thought leadership? Or maybe you have already written a book - and now you're trying to get the word out! Either way, a book can be an incredible investment for an entrepreneur, but to get the full return on that investment, you'll need a marketing plan and a product roadmap. Today, we've invited Stephanie Chandler to be our guest. Stephanie is an experienced consultant, specializing in content marketing, internet marketing, social media, search engine optimization, and publishing. She is also the founder and CEO of Stephanie Chandler Enterprises, and the author of The Nonfiction Book Publishing Plan and The Nonfiction Book Marketing Plan. We start our conversation by discussing the huge changes in the publishing industry during the last few years. Stephanie shares that physical books are still being read (as well as a surge in e-books), but sales of audiobooks are rising, and expected to grow exponentially through 2030. In addition to audio, self-publishing has exploded - bringing more than 1 million titles to the market each year! With so many books being published, having a strong promotion strategy has never been more important. But what does that look like? Stephanie walks us through the best methods to include in your marketing plan, from podcasts and Amazon promotions to book tours and speaking gigs, as well as giving us surprising insight into one method that might not work as well as you think! In addition to promoting the book, entrepreneurs will want to create additional products to support that book, and give customers something to put into practice right away. Stephanie shares insights around workshops and webinars, and explains an underutilized method that can actually make more money than your book - with less effort! Be sure to listen in! Three Key Takeaways: * Well-written, well-produced, and well-promoted books will always rise to the top. * Social media isn't a great way to sell books. It's great to build a platform and your e-mail list. * To give your book the best chance of success, spend as much time on preparing the promotion strategy and supporting materials as you do in writing the manuscript.

When you start a new thought leadership project, what's the first question you ask? Do you look at who the project is for? What does it mean to your organization? What the ROI could be? Today's guest asks the question, "What is universally true about this topic?" Our guest today is Mark Miller, Vice President of High Performance Leadership, Chick-fil-A Inc. and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author of The Secret: What Great Leaders Know and Do and his newest book Culture Rules: The Leader's Guide to Creating the Ultimate Competitive Advantage. Mark takes us back to his first book and how it was born out of necessity: Chick-fil-A wanted stronger leadership, and took it upon themselves to do the research to find out what that takes. During the process, Ken Blanchard realized the work being done not only articulated what great leaders do at Chick-fil-A, but more, it touched on the things that distinguished great leaders throughout history. And thus, Mark created The Secret: What Great Leaders Know and Do. With every project, Mark starts with the seemingly simple question, "What is universally true about this topic?" The question acts as a guideline to create a point of view on emerging business issues, and builds a foundation that can serve their organization and the world at large because the viewpoint created reaches beyond any one industry and to the heart of topics like leadership and culture. Having authored and published books for twenty years, Mark has seen a lot of change. We discuss the strategies Mark is employing as an author, to keep landing on the Wall Street Journal Best Sellers list. We explore prelaunch campaigns, creating a personal army of enthusiastic ambassadors to share the news about your book, and more. Mark gives us the inside track of how he used incentives, gamification, and helping non-profits, to promote the book and find his audience. Three Key Takeaways: · With most projects, try to start with "What is universally true about the topic?" · Everything rises and falls with leaders. If you can help them grow their capacity, impact, and influence, then everyone wins. · Multi-faceted book launch campaigns that recruit champions, incentivize their participation, and generate Amazon reviews are just a few ways to have a successful book.

Storytelling is one of the most powerful ways you can elevate your thought leadership. It can create an emotional connection, convey the need for change, or provide a vision of the future. In this episode, we collect advice from our experts on the various ways a thought leader can utilize the storytelling skill to elevate their content. Adam Zuckerman is Product Leader, Employee Engagement Software at Willis Towers Watson. Adam shares how his personal approach of sharing experiences in storytelling can help connect the research and data you provide with your audience in meaningful ways. Mary Cronin is a Research Professor at the Carroll School of Management, Boston College. She teaches about entrepreneurship, and explains to us how storytelling is a vital component of the success of both thought leaders and startups. At the time of publication, Michelle Mellon was the Thought Leadership Director of SalientMG. She is also a published fiction author. Michelle takes her experience writing stories and applies those same principles to writing thought leadership explaining how the fundamentals of storytelling need to be followed, as well as how they can be broken to create engaging narratives. Our final guest is Christopher Brace, Adjunct Professor of Marketing at MICA. Christopher helps us understand how storytelling can be used in marketing to build brands. He explains how, by employing a listening ear, you can discover the emotional territories of your audience that will help you know what resonates most with them. Three Key Takeaways: * Storytelling is a component of the success of entrepreneurs and thought leaders; yet storytelling is often neglected. * Don't be afraid to provide predictions for the future in your thought leadership. Your speculation doesn't have to be 100% right it just has to provide a glimpse of what could be around the corner. * When starting a narrative look at the questions of "What if" but ensure the basic elements of storytelling are not forgotten.

Consultants often approach clients seeking to answer the question, "How can I help you?" What would happen if you instead asked, "What can you and I create together, to solve the problem?" Our guest today is Jennifer Kenny. Jennifer is a speaker, technology leader, strategic advisor, and bestselling author of "The Innovation Mindset: A Proven Method to Fuel Performance and Results" Jennifer shares with us how her career started out in geology, where she delved into the depths of systems thinking. Those practices, built to support her scientific hypotheses, led her to consulting and developing her own content. Jennifer's innovative attitude to solving problems by using a mastery of coordination, communication, and co-creation of solutions elevated her approach, and allowed her and her clients to overcome complex challenges. One problem that was not easily solved was writing her bestselling book, The Innovation Mindset. Jennifer tells us how the book started with an entirely different focus before getting scrapped for a second iteration… which she also discarded! Through conversation with Page Two Publishing, Jennifer realized that she should be focusing on innovation and collaborative ideas - and thus, her book was born. In addition, Jennifer talks about the huge learning curve that exists in the publishing industry, and how she worked with her daughter to enhance her own capabilities and create an incredible book! Three Key Takeaways: * If you are going to share your mastery of a complex field or system, you need to make it easy for your audience to understand your insights. * Aspiring authors should find a good editor that can elevate a manuscript to its full potential. * If you are going to write with a partner, you need to understand the intricacies of collaboration - and communication!

Some thought leaders focus on long form content, like research papers or books. Others prefer short form media, such as videos and infographics. It's simple: audiences gravitate to formats they prefer. If you know your audience, you can use this information to get your content in front of them - but what happens when your ideas run into modality barriers? Today, Bill Sherman, host of the Leveraging Thought Leadership podcast and the COO of Thought Leadership Leverage, goes solo to discuss the "Comfortable Corners of Thought Leadership" Framework. Bill takes us through each of the four corners helping us understand as content creators how there is a difference between being comfortable with our idea and being comfortable with a modality. We learn that exploring a new modality while working through an idea can spell disaster while sticking with a modality you are most comfortable with while discussing a well-polished idea can allow you to shine! However, what happens when your favorite medium is not one the audience is comfortable with? Bill explains that on average the majority of your audience is going to have a low to mid-level of comfort with your idea, so leaning into a modality they are more comfortable with can help keep them engaged. During this episode, Bill helps us to understand the nuances of using various modalities, from both the perspective of the content creator and the intended audience. Three Key Takeaways: * Where is your comfort zone? Do you stretch yourself to new modalities? Is your comfort zone the same as your audience's? * When looking at the four corners, remember to consider them from the audience's point-of-view. * Avoid "sitting in the opposite corner" (no matter how comfortable it is there!) from your audience.

Healthcare is a serious topic, and it needs great thought leadership to disseminate information swiftly and clearly to those that need it most. In today's episode, we revisit our conversations with three guests who focus on thought leadership for healthcare organizations. * Our first guest is Jean Accius, who at the time of airing was the Senior Vice-President, Global Thought Leadership and International Affairs for AARP. Jean helps us understand how thought leadership can position an organization at the forefront of the issues, challenge the status quo, and engage new audiences. * Next, we turn to a conversation with Traci Conley, Thought Leadership Manager for Standard Imaging, Inc. Traci understands the importance of being able to get valuable information to healthcare professionals and patients. We discuss what you have to do when traditional mediums of communication break down, and how you can continue to provide high quality knowledge and care in the face of restrictions. * Finally, we catch up with Craig Joseph, Chief Medical Officer at Nordic Consulting and Jerome Pagani, the Vice President, Head of Thought Leadership at Nordic Consulting. While healthcare is a serious topic, Craig and Jerome share how they inject a bit of humor into their message in a way that allows them to grab their audience's attention and build trust. Three Key Takeaways: * Knowledge is the world's most important currency! * Carefully crafted humor can make serious topics more relatable and easier to discuss. * Well-thought out virtual experiences can deliver the same information and impact as an in person event.

Our guest today is Miriam Schulman, a portrait painter who has had her work displayed in galleries and collected internationally. While this might seem like an unlikely guest for a thought leadership podcast, she is also the author of Artpreneur: The Step-by-Step Guide to Making a Sustainable Living from Your Creativity, host of the Inspiration Place podcast and creator of the popular online art class site, the Inspiration Place. Lots of people have incredible talent. Unfortunately, most creative talent goes overlooked and underappreciated. Miriam shares how the same creativity that feeds your talent can be turned into a survival strategy - through clever marketing. The ability to try new things and be creative can trump a lack of experience (even in marketing!), if you are willing to do a little hard work. Miram discusses her book launch, and how she is marketing her book using the same advice she offers others. In addition, she shares strategies that her book launch team uses, including pre-order bonuses, social network campaigns, and other incentives that help her get reviews and buzz - before the book even hits store shelves. Whether you are an artist seeking advice on making your passion profitable, or a traditional thought leader trying to spread the word about your content, this conversation has some incredibly useful advice you can put into action right away! Three Key Takeaways: * Cheaper is not always easier to sell. Regardless of price, your audience must understand how your offerings will benefit them. * Friends, family, and co-workers will be happy to share your works, but you can make it easy for them and increase the odds of them sharing by writing a blurb for them. * Book reviews are an important part of a launch strategy. They create social validation for those who are not familiar with your work.

Corporate progress for women is historically slow and filled with systemic biases that have stood for generations. So how can we raise up a new generation of female leaders capable of overcoming those challenges? Today I'm pleased to be joined by Jenna Fisher – Co-lead of Global Financial Officer Practice at Russell Reynolds Associates, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author with a new book To the Top: How Women in Corporate Leadership Are Rewriting the Rules for Success. Jenna's amazing book was 8 years in the making, and it took the pause of COVID to provide the free hours she needed to dedicate to the project in order to see it through. In February of 2022 she began interviewing amazing women in various roles and industries all over the world to learn their stories, struggles, and successes. Through these conversations, she learned how women can seize the opportunity in front of them. In addition to the traditional biases that women have to deal with, Jenna learned some of the things that women do that set them back, such as not applying for roles because they don't tick every box in the job description, while men will traditionally apply even if they only check a few of the boxes. Jenna shares some tips for how women can overcome this hurdle and why they need to put themselves out there with confidence. Finally we discuss how age and focusing on family can set women back in the workplace. Jenna explains that women often focus on being the best in their position, and changing that focus to the family means taking a risk that your career could fall to the wayside. Peter and Jenna share advice for maintaining and growing those aspects that can make a real difference in climbing the ladder, even while you're taking time for your family. This is a wonderful conversation where women at any stage of their career can gain valuable advice on moving to the top! Three Key Takeaways: * Writing a book is like having a baby. Labor is hard, but the real work begins after the child is in the world. * Women who pause their careers to focus on family need to find ways to maintain their network until they are ready to return. * Age does not define the heights that people can go. Give people the grace to run at their own pace.

People don't easily connect to abstract ideas, we connect to other human beings. With that in mind, how can a thought leader tell stories that bring your ideas to life? To answer that question I've invited David Hutchens to join me. David is the CEO of Mythos Global, the home of the Storytelling Leader program. He is also the author of Story Dash: Find, Develop, & Activate Your Most Valuable Business Stories… In Just a Few Hours! David has built his career around storytelling for business, and he's come on our show to share some of those insights with our audience. Our conversation starts with David's story; going from copywriter at advertising agencies, to attending the ASTD Expo with his portfolio, seeking an opportunity to write about the things he really cares about – innovation and leadership. David's story gives us an immediate connection to his ideas, and helps him illuminate how others can use tools he's created (like the Taxonomy of Stories and Story Deck) to find the stories they should be telling. These tools were crafted through many years of conversation, hearing the stories of business leaders all over the world. David realized many of those stories had common themes, and could be organized into categories that would give sales, strategy, innovation, thought leaders and more the ability to share stories that motivate and illuminate their audience - stories that they need to tell. While storytelling is important, David also cautions that a leader must also use other tools as well. He shares how his research into highly successful leaders indicates that 30% of a leader's communication should be story-based, while the other 70% can encompass slides, data, didactic lecturing, and other modes of rhetoric and persuasion. David has powerful insights, and keen advice into how leaders and entrepreneurs can use storytelling to break through the noise and reach your audience! Three Key Takeaways: * Build a team. If you want to go fast go alone. If you want to go far, take people with you. * Brilliant ideas don't spread on their own. They need advertising. * Attention is the new precious resource. You have to be thoughtful about how you'll break through the noise and keep the attention of your audience.

What does it take to write a book? Or host a podcast? Or to get speaking engagements based on your content? Being a thought leader can be hectic - if you know how to find the audience that needs you most! Today, we've invited the "Human Venn Diagram," Christina Wallace, to share her insights with our listeners. Christina has crafted a career at the intersection of business, technology, and the arts. She is a Senior Lecturer of Entrepreneurial Management at Harvard Business School, an angel investor, speaker, and author of "The Portfolio Life: How to Future Proof Your Career, Avoid Burnout, and Build a Life Bigger Than Your Business Card." We start our conversation by learning how Christina got started, writing bits and pieces about her best ideas and sharing them with readers and listeners. These small bits led to a column at Forbes.com, and eventually, Christina became the co-host of The Limit Does Not Exist podcast. Christina shares how each different medium helped her see different facets of her audience's needs, and gave her real-time feedback from her audience. Those details made writing her book easier - and more suited to her audience's needs! Christina explains how each chapter in her book had roots in a podcast episode, and how her written posts acted as the first draft for material that then came to full maturity in the book. Not only did her previous content shape her forward motion, it also proved her talent and value to literary agents and publishers worldwide. Not only had she established a strong audience for her insights - they were actively seeking more! Three Key Takeaways: * You can get lucky by being in the right place at the right time. It takes courage to say yes to the opportunity presented. * Having a library of online content is like leaving an everlasting trail of breadcrumbs that lead back to your services. * Thought Leaders need to proactively tell the story of why they are the expert on the topics they discuss.

Leaders often think about their legacy, from how they will build it to how it will change the industry for the better. But if others are critical of your great works - when should you consider changing lanes? Today we are joined by CB Bowman, the CEO of Courage Consulting, keynote speaker, host of the podcast Courage to Leap & Lead and now author of Courage to Leap & to Lead: A Roadmap for Redefining Failure into Success. Having a business, podcast, and book with the word Courage in the title would make you think that CB has spent her career following that path - but that simply isn't true! It was only after a conversation with Marshall Goldsmith and other thought leaders that she came to realize everything she had accomplished in her career was due to courage - her own! Courage to Leap & Lead is CB's first solo book authorship, and it's been incredibly well-received. CB shares how others told her that she was courageous, leading her to consider the major events in her life and ask herself, "How did I get here?" By answering that question, she was able to break down her strategies into a teachable 7-step process. If you are not sure about the legacy you're building, or you can't find focus among your ideas, this conversation might give you the courage to make a powerful change! Three Key Takeaways: * A thought leader must be able to pivot, build on their ideas, and recognize the strengths and challenges of their approach. * If you identify with a concept - such as courage - then you need to live with deep respect and adherence to your teachings. * Sometimes, the key to getting the answers you need is to ask the right question.

As a thought leader, you want to see your content actively helping people, not just sitting on a shelf. But how do you move insight to action? Today, we're going to talk about the intersection of thought leadership and adult learning. My guest is Manja Horner, the founder of Boost Learning Design, where she helps other big-hearted entrepreneurs make a difference - while growing their businesses. Manja tells us how she took her ideas from imagination to actualization, by presenting her insights in ways that showed they were relevant to her audience's needs. In order to do that, thought leaders have to take a step back and put themselves in their audience's shoes. What do they need to know? What problems are they trying to solve? And, most importantly, how does your content address and resolve those challenges? Creating learning that will enhance learning and skills is a difficult task, but creating thought leadership that changes mindsets and behaviors is even tougher! Manja explains why you have to ask questions, and how to encourage your audience to think in larger terms about possible solutions. Furthermore, by helping them develop empathy through role-play, she helps those who are "stuck" to develop a real growth mindset. Additional Resources: During the conversation, Bill and Manja discuss the Wired 5 Levels series; a textbook example of tailoring your ideas to various audiences. In addition Blooms Taxonomy is discussed; you can read more about it here! Three Key Takeaways: * Adults learn by doing. The faster you can take someone from information to application, the better. * When you have even 10 minutes of a learner's time, think about getting them to apply new knowledge to their situation. * There is a fine balance to knowing your audience because it can be easy to create content that is too complex or even too simple and lose them either way.

"Office shock" is the term for an abrupt, unsettling change in where, when, how, and even why we work. Over the last few years, we have seen an abnormally large number of these events, So how are thought leaders working to be prepared for an uncertain future? To get a better understanding of how to thrive in unpredictable times, I've invited Joseph Press to join me. Joseph is the Co-Founder of Make Our Future, a global consulting cooperative dedicated to transitioning organizations to more sustainable and equitable practices. Joseph takes us inside the pages of his new book Office Shock: Creating Better Futures for Working and Living, which focuses on leaders in organizations that have a need to contribute and change both their business practices and culture. The success of Office Shock hinges on it touching a nerve with those leaders, helping them to realize they have an opportunity to make the changes that are needed to build a better future for everyone. Once they do, Joseph's insights help leaders become ready for any changes the future has in store. Joseph shares why leaders need to think outside the box, going back to creating things and focusing on engaging others in collective action. Only by approaching this task humbly and with a sense of empathy and desire to connect with others who are different from you can we hope to create new connections, learn, and innovate. Three Key Takeaways: * Leaders need to be willing to remove themselves from present thinking and be more willing to think outside the now in order to be prepared for the future. * In order for your ideas to successfully reach their audience they have to strike a nerve in a way that moves them to action. * Leaders need to be self-aware and look inwards to understand their strengths and weaknesses before they can hope to have meaningful connections.

When you've spent decades behind the curtain, building brands and platforms for other thought leaders - what does it take to step into the spotlight and create your own? Our guest today is Scott Jeffrey Miller, Senior Advisor, Thought Leadership at FranklinCovey, as well as a best-selling author, and host of the hit podcast On Leadership with Scott Miller. Scott discusses the ups and downs of his journey into thought leadership, and what it's like to be on both sides of the fence. Scott has unique insight into what it takes to create a thought leadership platform - both for others, and for yourself! While you can hire talented people to help get your thought leadership off the ground, ultimately you are responsible for your own elevation, through social media, productization, research, and everything else - and that means you need a strong strategy to get your insights recognized. To be successful, you must have a deep understanding of your audience; what they need, what their problems are, and how you can help them. Scott explains how to look beyond simple demographics, and get to the real pain points your content can solve, so that you can connect with them in a meaningful and trustworthy way. We wrap up the conversation with Scott providing key advice for anyone seeking to become a thought leader. He shares where to start, what other successful thought leaders have in common, and what you'll need to do in order to reach that level of success. Three Key Takeaways: * Strategy is constantly changing. In order to keep up you have to be constantly taking in new data and pivoting in real time. * Have an abundance mindset! Put your ideas out into the world for free while building deeper content that can be paid for by those who need it. * If you want to start building thought leadership, here's your checklist: Read often; post often, and be prepared to play the long game.

Cyber risk and cyber security are very important, and the field is filled with experts. So how can thought leadership elevate your work in a way that connects with a larger audience? Today our guest is Jeffrey Wheatman, Cyber Risk Evangelist for Black Kite, a company that is disrupting traditional third party risk management practices worldwide by providing cyber security experts with greater visibility. While the topics that Jeffrey talks about are of the utmost importance, many people just don't have the technical knowledge to understand the details - and risks. Jeffrey explains that through thought leadership, he is able to convey complex ideas in a language that helps people connect the dots, and puts the material into a context they can clearly understand. Part of his thought leadership includes speaking at conferences and other events. Jeffrey shares why he speaks about topics such as executives who don't understand IT and understanding risk in 3rd party ecosystems, instead of focusing on the services Black Kite offers. By speaking to the issues in an authentic way, he is able to build a relationship and get potential clients thinking of what they need to solve the presented problems, which ultimately leads them back to his services. In addition to speaking, Jeffrey uses LinkedIn to spread his thought leadership message. He discusses his target of posting at least once a day and how he judges the success of each post. He also talks about why it is important to take part in the discussions others are having, offering support and why it's alright to be contrary to the original idea. Three Key Takeaways: * You need to find and embrace your own voice, with its quirks, because that authenticity will draw in an audience. * Thought leadership comes down to being able to say something short and pithy, that makes people lean in and say "I've never thought about that before." * Take what you know and compartmentalize it, so that you can share it in a way that it land with the largest audiences

If you had nearly 30 years of experience building brands like American Airlines and Pepsi, wouldn't you want to share all the great insights you'd developed? Our guest today is Michael Tuggle, the President of Tuggle Creative Inc, Chief Creative Officer of Something Else Strategies, and co-author of The Voice Of The Underdog: How Challenger Brands Create Distinction By Thinking Culture First. After having worked with Mike Sullivan (President and CEO of LOOMIS), bringing a strategic advantage to challenger brands for over 10 years, Michael knew that it was time to share his insights with others. Michael discusses what it was like working with his partner for more than 6 months of writing, and another 12 months of editing, in order to bring their book to life. We learn the process used to create the architecture of the book, how the chapters were decided and ordered, and their process: writing notes before letting the creative impulse take over. He also discusses the case studies and stories they included, to make the information more accessible. Spending 18 months putting a book together can come with a huge opportunity cost. Michael explains how self-publishing was only one part of their business model. While most will buy the book and use the information to the best of their ability, some will seek a deeper dive into the content, and will hire him to bring that content to their teams and organizations in scalable ways. Our conversation has great advice for both challenger's brands and would be authors. Three Key Takeaways: * Writing a business book is an efficient way to drive business and build credibility. * The time cost of writing a book can be large, but if you can pick up a handful of new clients it will be well worth the investment. * When writing a book don't edit yourself as you go. Allow the insights to come out then edit it later.

You're doing research for your thought leadership? Great! But how do you know that you're asking the right questions? Today, we sit down with Mike Ilecki, Vice President of Public Opinion Research and Thought Leadership at Ipsos, a multinational research and consulting firm that delivers reliable information and true understanding of society, markets, and people. People's perception is often their reality and how perception of the world is constantly changing. With that in mind Mike helps us understand how organizations need to invest in multi-year longitudinal research that tracks not only what the audience thinks and feels now but over time as it changes. Big businesses cannot hope to take the right stand on issues if they are only asking the important questions once. Just as perception changes so too does how people communicate. The method used to capture the data is as important as the questions asked. Mike takes us into the various methods of conducting research and why the method has to match the demographic you are seeking. Because of this it is best to start with the end in mind. Who is it you are trying to communicate with and what are you trying to communicate to them? We also discuss what thought leaders should be aware of when working with research partners. Mike brings his experience of the topic to the conversation explaining that thought leaders need to break out of the box of their organizations point of view and allow the research partner t consult on what the landscape actually is. By learning the right questions to ask and how to ask them you can construct a solid platform to take your message forward with a wide angle view of the topic. Three Key Takeaways: * Thought leadership can be used to better a business and more importantly better the world we live in. * Don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone. When you step out is when you experience new things, learn and grow. * In order to take the right stand on the issues that matter you have to understand how both your customers and the population in general feel about those issues.

Do you think that all you need to be successful is a great idea? Well, think again. The million-dollar idea is a myth. Even with a great insight in hand, you still have to take it to market and prove it has value. To discuss what it takes to become a success, we've invited Michael McFall, the co-Founder and co-CEO of BIGGBY Coffee. He is also the author of Grind: A No-Bullshit Approach to Take Your Business from Concept to Cash Flow and has a second book coming soon, entitled: Grow: Take Your Business from Chaos to Calm. Together, these books cover what you'll need to know to go from startup to steady cash flow. Michael talks about his start as a minimum wage barista working in his partner's coffee shop, and how that relationship grew to a partnership. That partnership launched a company that now has 340 locations with more than 100 more, coming in the next twelve months! Having spent the last 27 years helping others launch businesses, Michael felt it was time to take that accumulated knowledge and codify it in his first book. He explains how revenue is the guiding principle, and you have to have the right mentality to take a product to the marketplace. In addition, Michael shares how you have to understand your own, personal strengths and weaknesses. When you do, you can find ways to supplement your weaknesses, and leverage your strengths. This episode is packed with advice for entrepreneurs, new and established, to elevate and help them become stronger leaders. Three Key Takeaways: * A business book can be a method of self-selection. If people read it and agree with it then they might be a good fit to work with. If they don't, then it's best they move on. * Leadership means turning authority over to others, allowing them to grow into leaders, themselves. * Revenue generation is the guiding principle. You have to sell. If you are not comfortable with that you might not be suited to entrepreneurship.

If you are just closing your eyes and hoping your white paper will go to scale… You might be going about it the wrong way! Our guest today is Kasey Lobaugh, the Chief Futurist for the Consumer Industry and Principal at Deloitte Consulting, LLP. As a senior leader, Kasey is working to get people to embrace their ideas and shape the future of their company and industry as a whole. To gain a profound understanding of the future of their industry, Deloitte spent a year speaking with more than 800 people in the industry – including experts of all ages, Deloitte's customers, and even their competition. The culmination of this work is a white paper titled Buying Into Better. Kasey takes us deep into the process of the research, who they spoke to and why. While the information found in the white paper is profound, Kasey helps us understand that the paper is only a derivative of the platform they've created which will act as a long lived capability investment and objective that they are organized around. Kasey shares that scale is the biggest challenge most organizations face and how they are training people across the business to fully grasp the ideas and be able to take it into the world in actionable ways. Through a two day workshop people learn how various forces come together to create impact, examine the proud things they've learned and find empathy through role-play. Three Key Takeaways: * Value comes from scale, impact, conversation, and stories. * When doing research, one of the most profound questions you can ask is, "Who else should I talk to?" * In order to create change, you have to engage a lot of people in the process.

Statistics have shown that productivity and results go up when you work with friends. If you feel you don't have a friend at work, ask yourself the question, "Am I being a friend to others?" Today, I've invited Morag Barrett to discuss why we need friends at work and how her book, You, Me, We: Why We All Need a Friend at Work (and How to Show Up As One!) is helping people not only make friends but learn to be one as well. In addition, Morag is the Founder and CEO of SkyeTeam, an award-winning global leadership development firm. Writing a book by yourself is a hard task - but, does having co-authors make it any easier? Morag's newest book is co-authored by Eric Spencer and Ruby Vesely. Morag shares how working with them for eight years shaping the philosophy and thinking turned the book from a piece of work into a true craft - and they made writing together an easy choice and an enjoyable task. You, Me, We discusses the three points you need to be aware of in order to have friends at work. Look up, show up, step up – which all come down to intentionality. Morag shares how we all rely on others for our professional success. It doesn't matter if you are part of a small team, large group, or even working remotely. You have to be aware of those you rely on, how your feel in their presence and how they feel in yours and intentionally work to create a positive relationship one conversation at a time. You, Me, We is Morag's newest book but not her first. Having written books 8 and 5 years ago, she shares what has changed and what has stayed the same. We learn how the difficulties of writing, launching, and selling, remain just as hard, but technology such as podcasts and live streams have made marketing the book easier. These new technologies allow you to have conversations from the comfort of your home - while reaching large, new audiences. Today's conversation is packed full of advice for professionals seeking to have more positive work-place relationship, for authors about to launch a book, and for anyone that has a book seeking new ways to scale their content. Three Key Takeaways: * Instead of asking "Do I have a friend at work?" flip the script and ask yourself "Am I a friend to others at work?" Be intentional and take the first step towards building relationships. * A business book is a great way to augment the work you are already doing as a speaker, consultant or coach. * Keynote speaking can no longer rely only on entertainment. You need to be engaging and interactive for both the live and virtual audiences.

In an organization with a large C-suite, dozens of departments, and hundreds of experts, How could you possibly hope to create a unified direction? To better understand how to achieve this feat, I've invited Lynette Jackson, the Head of Communications at Siemens, to join me. Lynette has a background in journalism, communication, and branding making her the perfect person to help us explore the topic. Lynette explains how thought leadership can become an umbrella for the brands of your organization. It can give a safe space for the different disciplines across communication and marketing to come together and move forward in the same direction. Lynette describes how content creates credibility, but it doesn't have to be high level content only experts would understand. In fact, it is better to have a variety of content that draws in an audience that is new to the topic as well as having deeper pieces that allow experts to explore the bleeding edge of the idea. In addition, we discuss how to draw the experts in your organization out. Many can be concerned that talking about a future which may never come to pass might impact their credibility. Lynette shares where to find a balance between achievable and unreasonable, that will make experts keen to talk to you - and will get audiences excited and engaged. Three Key Takeaways: * When a sudden rainstorm comes, people will cluster underneath the same umbrella and find shelter together. Thought leadership is like that umbrella; where people with the same problem can be together in a defined space, and actually work together to solve their problem. * Thought leaders create valuable content that serves others, transmuting their experiences into insights. That's the science and the art of thought leadership. * Thought leadership encompasses everything from "snackable content;" to a series of white papers that go super deep; to medium-sized, bespoke pieces of content; to broad, multi-sensory content. The breadth of what's possible is amazing.

It's hard to create a successful strategy to take a book beyond the consumer market. What can you do to ensure the success of your work? Our guest today is Nick Gray, the Founder and Owner of Museum Hack and the author of The 2-Hour Cocktail Party: How to Build Big Relationships with Small Gatherings, which is the ultimate guide for hosting the perfect party to make friends and network. While The 2-Hour Cocktail Party is full of excellent insights and has hundreds of 5-star reviews, Nick still struggles to get his book into the hands of those for whom it would have the most impact. Using Nick's book as an example, Peter walks through the process of taking a book from shelf to scale. Nick has seen real-estate agents and financial advisors have great success using the content of his book, together he and Peter dive deeper into those clients to develop a clear avatar, where to find them, and how to take the content to scale by approaching associations and parent companies to license the content on a large scale. Another component to taking a book to scale is moving the contents to versatile offerings. Nick and Peter discuss how the book could become a series of videos, webinars, and training sessions that would allow great access to the material at a wide variety of price points. If you've ever wondered what it is we do at thought leadership leverage this episode is like a sneak peek at the range of consulting services we offer and how we could help you take your material to the next level. Three Key Takeaways: * A good strategy covers:1) Who do we best serve; 2) How are we going to serve them; and 3) What products, offerings, and solutions do they need? * Knowing the audience that will get the most impact (and value) from your material is critical to a book's success. * If you are thinking about sharing your story, be sure to include real stories, human moments, and a personal touch to your experience and insights. .

Writing a book can take a year or more, followed by months of planning, strategizing, and launching. Once the book hits the shelves — What's left? Jeremy Utley is the Director of Executive Educational at Stanford D.school and adjunct professor at Stanford's School of Engineering. Recently Jeremy worked with co-author Perry Klebahn to put their experience into their first book call titled "Ideaflow: The Only Business Metric That Matters." At the time of this recording, Jeremy's book had been on shelves for eight days! Jeremy expresses the gratitude he feels toward those that have come forward to thank him for the book, and the actionable ideas it contains. In addition, he shares surprises he has experienced during recording the audio version of the book. Marketing a book takes a tremendous amount of coordination, even with the resources a publisher offers. The bulk of the work lands on the author's shoulders. Jeremy talks about having to get over being self-conscious about telling people he's an author. He also explains the massive amount of help a launch team can be, in spreading the word about your book, and also in keeping you excited when your personal energy is running low. This episode has some great insights into the experience of a first time author that don't often get shared. Three Key Takeaways: · A launch team is comprised of people that are excited and happy to share the word about your book. They often come up with marketing ideas and help keep the ball rolling. · When writing a book, write the book you'd want to read. · Don't start your writing journey trying to write a book. Start with a blog, getting in the habit of writing every day to build your skill and create a wealth of material you can draw from.

Unless you are writing a book with a co-author or ghostwriter, it probably feels like a very lonely task. But what if you could find a fellowship that provided encouragement and advice? Our guest today is Jeremy Madsen, Operations Manager for BK Authors an author group affiliated with the award–winning publisher Berrett-Koehler. This group helps authors and publishers bridge the gap to bring better books to market. Jeremy starts by helping us understand what an author's group is all about. He explains that these communities, especially when supported by a publisher, can give authors a better awareness of the market and industry. In addition, mentoring is a sharing process that works best when all sides open up. Authors further down the path share advice from experience, while newer authors share information about new skills and tools that didn't exist five years ago. Finally, we discuss the timeline of publishers versus authors. Publishers have limited resources, and need to move on to the next project as soon as possible, meaning they are by your side for mere months. The author's timeline should be further-reaching, amortizing the investment over 5 – 7 years. Plus Jeremy shares the growing trend of publishers investing into a backlist of older titles, giving non-fiction books an even greater chance to see success over a longer course of years. Jeremy is deeply involved in both the writing and publishing community and brings unique insights in this episode that few others can provide. Three Key Takeaways: * Being part of an author community can be big morale booster to not be alone on the journey. * Don't be afraid to reach out to established authors who have published books in your area of expertise. You'd be surprised how generous many will be with their time and advice. * A publication date has no bearing on the importance or usefulness of a book. It is a date of reference, not an expiration.

How does the world of thought leadership intersect with the growing technology of AI? A lot of news stories lately have focused on the use of AI "bots" to answer questions, generate images, or create entire dissertations on a topic. As the technology grows closer and closer to replicating actual human thinking, we have to ask, "How will AI be used in thought leadership?" To help better understand the field we are joined by Spencer Ante. Spencer has a background in business journalism, investigative reporting and was most recently the Head of Insights at Meta. We begin the discussion by looking back at the origins of thought leadership which has been around far longer than most people assume. Spencer lays out the three phases of thought leadership he has seen from company blogs in the early days of the internet, to more sophisticated uses blending owned content with earned, paid, and social media. The through threads of all of these are honesty and trust. Spencer explains why these aspects are the foundation of good thought leadership and how you risk your reputation when your thought leadership leans into the realms of product marketing or sales enablement. As for the future of AI, Spencer share how machine learning works – that it requires humans to feed it datasets and that humans will play a key role in that learning for decades to come, working to ensure that the information it is fed is factual and verified. As AI continues to learn it will still lack concepts such as empathy, creativity and the ability to generate original ideas, the ability to connect ideas that are not obviously related remains a human quality. This means AI will serve as a great tool for thought leaders to streamline content creation, having a great new source for communication, research and marketing. This is a great conversation on a topic that is going to be relevant for many years to come. Three Key Takeaways: * The need and dependence on thought leadership will continue to grow, as trust in media and governments dwindles with an expanding world. * When creating thought leadership, lead with the problem your product solves, and not the product itself. That's how you generate an audience. * AI is clever, but it's not innovative or insightful. Thought leaders need to realize that while AI can be of use, it's their insights and experience that will really change the game.

It is important for CEOs to have a personal brand that supports their organizational brand. That's why smart CEOs build their personal thought leadership early on, and maintain it throughout their careers. Today we are joined by Raoul Davis, the Founder, and CEO of Ascendant Group Branding one of the first and most integrated CEO branding firms. In addition Raoul is the author of Firestarters: How Innovators, Instigators, and Initiators Can Inspire You to Ignite Your Own Life which is based on interviews with entrepreneurs and leaders in many walks of life, this self-help book gives readers the tools for finding success in their careers, businesses, organizations, and private lives. Raoul starts by laying out the various types of branding you can build, such as personal and organizational. We learn how a CEO with a strong personal brand can create a sense of connection and commonality with customers, making them trust and want to interact with the company as an extension of the CEO. Building such a strong trusted brand can be accomplished best with thought leadership, which can be institutionalized across the organization as a way of demonstrating leadership in an organic way that is more powerful than traditional marketing. Raoul explains how thought leadership can be evergreen lasting far after you've finished paying for traditional marketing. It's never too early to start building your thought leadership and your brand. Raoul shares advice for those early in their career on where they can start, such as by finding a niche within a larger area of expertise to drill down on and become an expert in. By sharing your thoughts and ideas on the subject on social and within your organization you can become the go-to person for that subject, which can open new doors of opportunity. This conversation provides excellent advice for starting or sharpening a personal and organizational brand that is useful to professionals at any stage of their career. Three Key Takeaways: · It is important for a CEO to have a brand that supports the brand of their organization. · Talk in terms of the interests of the audience, this allows you to communicate in a way that will provide value to them. · There is an authenticity to thought leadership when you are sharing what you know simply so others can benefit from it.