Leveraging Thought Leadership

Why do people buy? Does it come down to price and features, or are our purchasing habits driven by deeper needs? To better understand consumers, and how to successfully influence their purchasings, I've invited Kathy Risch to join me on our podcast. Kathy is the Senior Vice President, Shopper Insights & Thought Leadership at Acosta, where they provide sales, marketing, and commercial solutions to help lift businesses to success. We begin by examining the similarities and differences between purchasing physical things versus buying intangible ideas. Kathy explains that while data is black and white, people are not. Purchasing habits are based on emotions and needs; therefore, selling a product is easier when you speak to the problems that the product solves for the buyer. Selling ideas can take many forms; speaking on stage, running webinars for hundreds, or working one-on-one. Regardless of medium, Kathy says, you must always set the tone, remaining clear, organized, and straightforward when sharing your insights and ideas. In addition, you need to provide value in exchange for a client's time, delivering fresh and interesting solutions with actionable steps. If you are struggling to connect your ideas to your audience, this episode will provide valuable tips to help you get buy-in and make the sale. Three Key Takeaways: You need to connect your product's brand and vision with the emotional needs of the buyer Always be willing to explore new modalities, even if it goes outside your comfort zone. You need to meet your audience where they already get their information. Fresh insights tend to rise above the noise – always provide interesting and actionable discoveries, to show your value right away.

Can your insights literally change people's lives? That's great! But how do you make sure everyone hears what you have to say? My guest today is Stacy Mayer, a consultant and coach who works with women seeking to get promoted into higher level leadership positions. Stacy talks about her book, Promotions Made Easy: A Step-by-Step Guide to the Executive Suite, from the process of writing, to the effect the book has had on her business and her life. Stacy shares her writing journey, and talks about the impact the book has had since its publishing, elevating her credibility and ability to leverage her thought leadership. Even more, it's had a profound influence on her, personally, as people echo back the importance of her ideas. Now she sees how much deeper she can take her work, helping more women move up the ranks in big business. The effects of the book don't stop there. The book has also increased her offerings as a coach! Previously, she offered a six-week group training program, but now it has evolved to a lifetime enrollment offering peer round tables, guest coaches, and so much additional knowledge that she's been able to increase her fees. While the outcome of the book is all positive, getting it written wasn't without hardships. The idea for writing a book came from her husband and those who listen to her podcast Women Changing Leadership, feeling that she already had all the material she'd need for a book. Yet when faced with a blank page it didn't come easy. Stacy shares how the realization that she didn't have to start with the introduction, she could write the book in whichever order made sense by collecting the knowledge she had in spreadsheets and various documents she'd written over the years. Three Key Takeaways: * A thought leadership book allows your ideas to stand on their own, and reach people you may never meet in person. * Getting out and talking about your book will help grow your business, but others talking about your work will increase your reach faster. * A book doesn't have to be written in the order it will be read. Write to your passion, and write the connective tissue as you move ahead.

At one time the undisputed best embodiment of a set of ideas was a book. It was the clear winner, but is that still true? To explore today's best mediums for written media, we've turned to five-time New York Times bestselling author Dan Pink. Dan has worked as a writer for politicians and the government before going out on his own to write seven books about business, work, creativity, and behavior. Dan shares why you need to be "medium-agnostic," capable of publishing on many different mediums of media. He shares ways to test your ideas in various mediums, from books to Instagram, from TikTok to long-form articles. Once you've spread your wings a bit, you can build upon a broader foundation, leaning in on the ideas with depth and staying power. While much has changed in the publishing industry over the last twenty years, the need for robust, insightful ideas remains paramount. We discuss the need for thought leaders to produce quality content that engages your audience - and sparks your enthusiasm, too! If you've lost interest in your own ideas, the reader will never get hooked. They're only going to be as excited about your insights as you are in talking about them. When trying to determine the best medium for an idea you have to let the material tell you. Dan explains why you have to check the idea by asking "Are you sure?" to avoid having a bloated book that wastes the reader's time and undermines the idea. Three Key Takeaways: * Authors need to be good risk managers. Keep a low overhead, spend money on things that make money, and save money on everything else. * Think of a book as a long-term proposition and stick with it. Try other mediums – a lot of them! – to back up your book ideas. * It takes a certain level of maturity to leave some of your work on the editing floor, but remember that the reader needs to be entertained as well as educated - and keep things simple.

What does it take to put a great idea out into the world - and see it grow? When you have an idea that can potentially help millions, you have to be ready for the challenges that come along with trying to spread the word. Our guest today is Dr. Richard Safeer, the Chief Medical Director, Employee Health and Well-Being at Johns Hopkins Medicine. On January 19th, 2023 his first book, Cure for the Common Company: A Well-Being Prescription for a Happier, Healthier, and More Resilient Workforce hits the market, providing practical tips on creating a culture of well-being. When we think of health and well-being we rarely think of it as a team activity, but we need to have supportive people and supportive environments, including at our workplace. Richard shares how management and HR professionals can be a positive force for workers both in the office and while working remotely. He tells us about his time working at Johns Hopkins, putting the pieces together to develop an employee health and well-being strategy known as "Healthy at Hopkins," which would become the basis for his book. Richard discusses the challenges and growth that were required to get his work to market. He wrote the book without an agent (or contract), but after signing the contract, he realized that - while his work was extremely valuable, it wasn't entertaining! With inspiration from his favorite authors, Richard rewrote the book, seeking to bring more fun and catch the audience's attention, while still providing value and practical tips. Richard tells us how he is not a self-promoter by nature, but the need to get his ideas to the people that would benefit drove him to reach out and learn the skills necessary to market the book. Three Key Takeaways: * Ideas for a book can bubble up from decades of work and experience. * A book that is composed of dry facts probably won't make an impact. Your work has to be entertaining, in addition to providing value. * To put your ideas into a practical process, you may need to simplify and focus on the details.

Happy New Year! This episode showcases the best of our 2022 podcast. Listen in to hear some great insights from four amazing guests: Kelly Wright is the Founder of Culture Driven Sales which helps companies create exceptional cultures. She is also the President and COO of Gong, a company that analyses customer facing interactions to deliver the insights needed to close more deals. Kelly helps us connect thought leadership and sales. We learn why companies want to work with thought leadership partners that will challenge them and create a better environment for sales. Kelly shares what sales can do to aid in that goal and the tools they'll need to succeed. Kimberly Ellison-Taylor is an experienced accountant and active member and CEO of KET Solutions, a consulting firm focused on business growth, innovation, strategy, transformation and inclusive leadership. Kimberly has served on a number of boards and shares how thought leadership can help you prepare for such a position. Being a thought leader means having a broad perspective and an insightful, distinct view to share. Kimberly also shares how you can help the board identify gaps in their knowledge, patch them, and then use that knowledge to serve their market both internally and externally. Mark Smith is the Director, HR Thought Leadership at the Society of Human Resource Management (aka: SHRM). Mark has a Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology and years of experience in Human Resources consulting. Mark holds the first thought leadership position at his company and was responsible for building the role from the ground up. We learn the steps he had to take to make it a meaningful position within the organization and how he discovered ways to bridge the gap between the important research they were conducting and the audience they hoped to reach. Adam Zuckerman is the Product Leader, Employee Engagement Software at Willis Towers Watson, a company offering data-driven insight-led solutions in the areas of people, risk, and capital. In the last couple of years Adam has focused more on the visibility of thought leadership for the product. One of the ways he is accomplishing that is through social media, specifically LinkedIn, a platform he had previously ignored. Adam shares ways to use the platform as a powerful tool to build relationships, discover new ideas, and hone your content. Three Key Takeaways: * Thought Leadership can help you punch above your weight if you can reach your audience in meaningful ways with actionable content. * Effective thought leadership needs to be well researched, and place its insights into the hands of those that need it most. * Social media can be a powerful tool for reaching your audience, and by listening to your audience you can sharpen your content.

As we move into the New Year, we like to stop and look back at a few of the wonderful guests we've had the pleasure of talking with during the year. We hope you'll take a moment to really internalize their great advice! Art Kleiner is the Editor in Chief and Principal at Kleiner Powell International (KPI). In addition, he's an author and editorial consultant for influential thought leadership. Art starts our New Year's podcast off right by discussing difficulties one faces in building an audience. While technology has increased our reach, it also causes us to gather an audience that's fragmented across various platforms. Art shares the keys to building a sustainable audience: showing up consistently, finding ways to connect, and meeting your audience on their turf. Dan Pontefract is the Founder of the Pontefract Group, leadership strategist, author and keynote speaker. Dan discussed navigating being a public thought leader while working for an organization. This can often be a tricky position to be in and Dan explains how he managed to grow his brand as a thought leader while keeping the best interest of his organization in mind. Last but certainly not least we have Stephen M. R. Covey. He is the co-founder of Covey Link and Franklin Covey, a bestselling author and a global authority on trust, leadership and culture. Stephen shares his experience growing from an analog to digital space and the forward thinking ideas needed to drive change and stay at the top of your game in a digital world. Three Key Takeaways: * Growing a loyal audience means producing consistent content and finding ways to connect in meaningful ways. * When producing thought leadership while working for another organization you have to balance the needs of the company with your own wants. * Finding success in the digital marketplace means transitioning your intellectual property into things like certifications and workshops.

Thought leadership creates real results - but measuring them can be difficult, especially in the short-term. But smart thought leaders know: it's the long-term results that really change the game! Dorie Clark has been twice named one of the Top 50 Business Thinkers in the World by Thinkers50, and the #1 Communication Coach in the World by the Marshall Goldsmith Leading Global Coaches Awards. She's a consultant, keynote speaker, and author of multiple books including her newest: The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World. She knows that lasting success takes persistence, effort, and day-by-day advancement, completing a thousand small goals along the way. Our conversation begins on the topic of personal branding. How do you differentiate branding from thought leadership? Dorie explains how thought leadership can create trust and even put you ahead of the competition, by giving potential clients a sneak peek into who you are and where you specialize. Still, it takes long-term work to create lasting success.Dorie shares her insights into the pains a lot of thought leaders suffer when they first start creating content, and how to hang on for the first few years before your big results manifest. By combining consistent content and using multiple modalities to reach your audience, thought leadership efforts can have a huge impact on your business. Lastly, Dorie discusses her newest book, and how publishing can add to your thought leadership movement. Peter and Dorie discuss books as revenue drivers (they aren't), and how a book can introduce your audience to your content, share your most valuable insights, and generate interest in your work. Combined with a strategic business model, a book release can be an important part of building a viable business for speaking, consulting, online courses and more. Three Key Takeaways: * Thought leadership can create a level of trust and familiarity with a potential client. This can be the difference maker that sets you apart. * While there can be overlap between thought leadership and content marketing, thought leadership should be more substantive and less transactional. * Thought leadership needs many touch-points for its audience to engage. Consider writing articles, guesting on or hosting a podcast, doing keynotes, and writing a book. The more modalities you utilize, the better chance you have of reaching your audience.

For decades, businesses have used a "command and control" method of leadership, a top-down authoritative approach that gives privilege and power only to senior management. Today, finding and retaining talent is harder than ever. So why do so many businesses continue to use this outdated style? To examine the changing landscape of leadership I've invited one of the foremost experts on trust and leadership to join me. Stephen M. R. Covey is the CEO of CoveyLink, Global Practice Leader at Franklin Covey and a New York Times and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Trust and Inspire. Stephen's newest book Trust and Inspire, offers a new way to lead that is based on today's workers and workplace. He shares with us why updating our style of leadership is so critical right now and what can be accomplished by having a high trust culture. Trust can be complicated to manage and manifest. Stephen explains how to build trust at scale (both in person and remotely); what to do when trust has been broken, and the role that the themes of Trust & Inspire can play in Thought Leadership. If you feel your leadership style is no longer meeting the needs of your organization, you'll learn a lot from this episode. Three Key Takeaways: * Having a culture of trust will help you attract and retain talent. * Building trust at scale means being the model for that behavior both in private and publicly. Once others see it you become an example others can replicate. * Do not attempt to separate the principle of your message from the practice of it. Doing so can cause your message to come off as fake or disingenuous.

Our world is filled with a massive amount of content that demands attention. How do you package your thought leadership in a way that is worthy of your audience's time? In order to explore ways to create sustainable thought leadership I've invited Christopher Fox to join me. Chris is the founder and managing partner of Syncresis, which focuses on thought leadership for financial innovators: banks, financial service providers, and fintechs. A lot of brilliant ideas die on the shelf because no one heard them. Chris helps us understand what it takes to get your ideas heard and have the audience embrace them. His method of creating a Content Hive involves using all the mediums available to reach the several audiences and deliver various facets of your thought leadership to them in meaningful ways that actually change perceptions. While some might think this means blasting your thought leadership out to as many people as possible Chris explains why drilling down to the specific person and position that can have the largest influence on your business can be more effective. Thought leadership created with those people in mind can always be expanded on later for a larger audience relatively inexpensively. As individuals we have a limited amount of attention we can give to the glut of content and information that is thrown at us each day. Chris shares why thought leaders have an ethical responsibility to deliver content that creates a higher value for their audience. He also warns that if you put out content that wastes their time it poisons the soil and makes planting the next idea that much harder. Three Key Takeaways: * Thought Leadership is not about mass scale; it's about getting insights into the hands of decision-makers who are receptive to it. * When creating thought leadership, don't think of your audience in broad terms. Try to identify the people it can influence most, who have the most influence on moving your ideas forward. * Working with a thought leadership partner allows them to ask the hard questions, and force your content to become sharper and more focused on the right audience.

Many professionals end up in a career that might not represent their passion or the bigger purpose they might want out of life. So what do you do then? To explore how to discover your purpose and find the ambition to go from idea to reality, I've invited Sam Seidel and Olatunde Sobomehin to share their thoughts with us. Sam Seidel is the Director of Strategy and Research at the Stanford d.school and author of Hip Hop Genius: Remixing High School Education, which introduces an iteration of hip-hop education that goes far beyond studying music as classroom content. Olatunde Sobomehin is the CEO and Co-Founder of StreetCode Academy, a nonprofit that helps bridge the digital divide, empowering communities of color to achieve their full potential by teaching the mindset, skills, and strategies they need to embrace tech and innovation. Earlier this year, Sam and Olatunde co-authored Creative Hustle: Blaze Your Own Path and Make Work That Matters. We begin our conversation discussing their book, which began as a course taught by Sam and Olatunde at the d.school. In the course, they taught about ways to identify and navigate your creative path, and how to make a living doing things that matter. It wasn't until co-workers approached them and presented the idea of turning the course into a book that they realized the direction had greater potential. Sam and Olatunde explain how the words "Creative Hustle" are perfect for their endeavor; a combination of imagination and ambition. They want to share insights about finding new creative paths that inspire, building diverse viewpoints, and creating ventures that benefit yourself and your community, while bringing enough entrepreneurial energy to move those ideas forward. In addition, we discuss the journey of co-authoring the book, which is often a tumultuous road. Sam shares how the experience of having a co-author is preferred to writing solo and how the experience bought him so much closer to Olatunde. Three Key Takeaways: * When authoring a book, you should also be considering the business models that can be used once it is published to avoid chasing the hype. * Working with a co-author allows you to push each other to be better and make sure your ideas are concrete. * During the process of writing a book, take some time to enjoy the process.

Are your marketing and sales teams aligned to the overall business goals of your company, or is each team focused on their own success? In this episode, we sit down with Winston Henderson, Founder of ICAD Marketing and ICAD Equip. Winston has worked in both sales and marketing in the past, and now focuses on revenue alignment, and using thought leadership to bring sales and marketing together as a single, unified force. Our conversation starts with Winston's definition of "revenue alignment," and what it looks like when done successfully. Winston shapes our understanding of the power that content marketing and sales have when working together, and how they can define the customer journey - driving revenue for the entire organization. When this happens, neither department is focused on their own metrics or wins. Instead, they unify their efforts, understanding when to take the lead role and when to hand it off, and building a partnership that has exponentially more strength together than either might achieve on their own. With so many organizations struggling to find this kind of alignment, Winston shares a few of the most common reasons why teams can't unify - and three things you can start doing right now to bring yours into sync. In addition, we discuss the role that empathy plays in finding alignment throughout an organization. Winston explains that teams need to be able to step out of their bubble in order to better understand how the other functions in your company operate, and their value to your work and to the whole. Once teams have that understanding, they can better see the system as a whole, and take steps to bridge any gaps that might exist between team functions. That kind of alignment is powerful, and can change the game. Three Key Takeaways: * Don't confuse thought leadership with content marketing. Smart leaders understand the difference, and how to best use each function. * You can achieve better alignment by spending time with those outside of your role. Learn to understand other functions and perspectives, and your organization will do better as a whole. * Understand why your current customers are choosing to do business with you. This can help you better fulfill their needs, and build a strategy to increase customer satisfaction, org reputation, and revenue.

Creativity. Invention. Collaboration. Three skills that are at the heart of design, and the center of great thought leadership. Many people narrowly define "designing," whittling it down to simple artistic talent; drawing, painting, or other traditional crafts. But design is a huge world of possibility, covering thousands of mediums and a fantastic variety of skills that drive creativity, spark invention, create authentic connection, and encourage collaboration. Charlotte Burgess-Auburn is a self-described artist, educator, and extroverted introvert. She's also the Director of Community at the Stanford d.school, where she teaches the role of self-awareness in creativity and design. Her book, You Need a Manifesto: How to Craft Your Convictions and Put Them to Work, is an essential "how-to" for crafting a guiding document that establishes your intentions, increases your creativity, and helps you maintain focus and conviction as you push toward your goals. Charlotte's role as Director of Community started in the very early days of the school's establishment, and she's always been a creative force, helping the d.school's growth. Unlike the typical slower pace of research, the d.school specializes in swift cycles, rapid iteration of design, and innovative thinking. Charlotte discusses that cycle, and shares how her role has evolved from connecting with students, running info sessions, and encouraging the school's growth, to overseeing a larger group of people who collectively help students learn "thought design skills" that will help them excel when they enter the larger world outside of Stanford. One of the ways Charlotte explains her role is as "a champion for self-awareness," helping designers and tech producers understand each other's function, needs, and dependencies, and work better together. Too many people think of design as a soft, easy-to-master skill - and they'd be wrong! Design thinking shapes goals, builds connection with the audience, and sparks creativity and curiosity. Charlotte shares how she prepares students to deal with difficult critiques, giving them the resources to work with feedback so that both designers and tech creators understand why both sides of the coin are necessary to create a valuable whole. There's no substitute for true creativity and invention, and design thinking elevates any craft, moving it from "what gets it done" to "how can we solve problems, drive innovation, and foster collaboration?" That's the heart of thought leadership, and that's where Charlotte's insights shine. Three Key Takeaways: * Design skills such as creativity, collaboration, and rapid iteration, are essential to leadership roles. These "soft skills" elevate the game. * Being comfortable with change and learning how to think on your feet builds the capacity to handle even the toughest challenges. * Connections and relationships are important - even when they're outside your field. Learning from those with different skills and interests broadens your understanding, and makes you a better leader.

It's certain that thought leadership brings great value to an organization, but how do you calculate the actual ROI of your thought leadership investment? To demystify the ROI of thought leadership, I've invited Cindy Anderson and Anthony Marshall to join me for a discussion. Cindy Anderson is the Global Lead for Thought Leadership Engagement and Eminence, and Anthony Marshall is the Senior Research Director for Thought Leadership, both from the IBM Institute for Business Value. In this episode, we talk about the IBM Institute for Business Value's 20 year history delivering thought-provoking insights to business leaders about emerging trends, opportunities, and challenges. Their thought leadership reports offer prescriptive recommendations to address the most pressing challenges and opportunities, and to help determine future organizational success. Since 2004, they have conducted groundbreaking surveys, growing from 300 CEO respondents to more than 3000. Due to the long history of the survey, they have a long horizon of data to track global changes in the CEO role, responsibilities, and best practices. Recently, Cindy and Anthony lead a double blind survey of CEOs, seeking to discover the ROI of thought leadership. The survey included questions on thought leadership consumption, purchasing decisions, and more, all designed to shape insight on the effects of thought leadership, and guide CEO spending. The result was shocking! The data showed that the ROI was 156%, more than 16 times a typical marketing campaign's effectiveness. We wrap up the conversation discussing how Cindy and Anthony intend to tell the story of their research. They are writing a book which will be published in 2023, including survey data, information captured in follow-ups, the calculations used, and even a tool that companies can use to calculate their own thought leadership ROI! If you've ever tried to measure the impact of your org's thought leadership investment, this is a critical episode. Don't miss it! Three Key Takeaways: * Long-term surveys provide essential longitudinal data, showing change over time and tracking trends that underline permanent global shifts. * In order for thought leadership to flourish in an organization there needs to be an immense level of support from the CEOs - the TL team can't do it alone! * CEOs spend an average of 2 hours a week consuming thought leadership. To keep them engaged, you need to produce content that is rigorous, robust, and relevant.

One host is good but two are better! On this episode, Leveraging Thought Leadership's hosts, Peter Winick and Bill Sherman, get together to share their insights about organizational thought leadership, institutionalizing it across an organization, and how it can create authentic relationships and increase audience loyalty. There's no straightforward way to stand up a thought leadership function or position within an organization. Our hosts share their thoughts on that, and on organizations hiring for thought leadership positions (something unheard of only a few years ago!). The people filling these roles are coming from varied backgrounds – and that helps them bring unique perspectives forward, keeping an audience\s focus on the message rather than the medium. In the past, the face of organizational thought leadership might be treated like a rock star, going out on speaking gigs and taking the spotlight. While part of that image is still true, organizations today want many disparate voices sharing their thought leadership. A chorus of voices shows that your organization is full of smart people, and that helps attract and retain others. We round out the conversation by discussing how thought leaders can leverage relationships in order to drive ideas. Narrowcasting (or point casting) your thought leadership to a niche group that can have the most impact can be a game changer, but those relationships can't survive if they only exist on social media. Those relationships need to be fostered over the phone, in person, and in meaningful ways. Three Key Takeaways: * Research shows that three things are needed for successful thought leadership: Buy in from senior leadership, time, and creativity. * Seeing results from thought leadership requires a long time horizon. Much like research and development, you can't expect quick results. * Keynote speakers need to deliver more than entertainment. They need to bring something relevant, insightful, and actionable.

In a world filled with so many voices, how do you distinguish yourself, and show your value? By sharing your ideas freely, and bringing the audience to you! In today's episode, I've invited Malcolm Hawker to join me for a discussion around the value of sharing thought leadership insights outside of the traditional advisory paywall. Malcolm is the Head of Data Strategy for Profisee Software, where they help enterprises solve complex data quality issues that hold them back from so many initiatives. At a previous company, Malcolm's insights were placed behind a paywall; in order to gain access to his ideas you had to "buy in." Malcolm shares why he moved to a smaller tech firm, ditched the paywall, and immediately saw results. While the larger firm had brand equity and recognition, the freedom of medium and message he's achieved at his new position has allowed him to reach a far broader audience while maintaining alignment with the needs of his company. That's the best of both worlds! Malcolm discusses how he learned to listen to potential clients, and ask probing questions that get right to the root of their issues. This process often takes them into "negative space" – breaking open new topics and challenges that are critical to their future. This is where thought leadership has its most impact for your audience - and they'll reward you with loyalty, knowing that your ideas are sound. In addition to paywalls, scaling, and crafting a narrative, we discuss authenticity and entertainment. Malcolm shares how video can be a powerful tool to reach an audience, but warns that a balance between insight and entertainment must be found in order to bring value to your work. While your audience is unlikely to watch a bland talking head, they're looking for new ideas, insights, and awareness of their challenges that really makes them lean in and say, "This thought leader gets it!" This episode is great for explaining why there's value in sharing your ideas - take a listen, and see if you agree. Three Key Takeaways: * Leaving the paywall behind can have long term benefits that offset the revenue made from being behind the paywall. * As a thought leader for a vendor you need to have separation. If you want to be recognized as a trusted expert in your field you can't simultaneously be peddling your company's product. * Everyone has value to add. Share your ideas and insights and the value will come back to you in time.

Does your thought leadership content focus on hyping your organization or brand, or are you weaving stories where your audience can picture themselves as the hero? If the second option isn't your answer - you may be doing it wrong! Thought leadership can ensure you connect with the right audience in a meaningful way. Focusing on your audience and creating content that forges a genuine connection is one of thought leadership's strengths - but to utilize it properly, you have to know how to tell the story. Cristina Loughrey is a narrative architect and content strategist with 15+ years of experience in marketing, communications, and experiential marketing (events). She has multiple degrees in rhetoric, sociolinguistics, and analyzing societal narratives in popular American culture. Cristina addresses audience advocacy, and why it's important that the audience you want can see themselves in the story of your brand. Building that connection makes your relationship with the audience stronger. Cristina provides us with a deep understanding about how we should think about our audience, and how to find ways to speak to their hearts and minds. Cristina goes on to discuss why you need to provide room for your audience to relate and connect, and how to use storytelling to put the audience right in the middle of your content. By telling the story in a way that connects, the audience begins to see themselves as the hero of the story - and that engages them in a more dynamic way. With social media data, we no longer need to "write into the void," just hoping our message hits the audience in the right way. Cristina shares why she focuses on qualitative over quantitative data, allowing that information to inform the construction of stories that are deeply relevant to the audience. If you've been dishing out content but don't feel like your message is being heard, this episode can help you fine-tune your story and engage your audience. Three Key Takeaways: * When seeking to grab the attention of your audience the meaning of your message needs to be in the first few opening sentences. * Telling an interesting story isn't enough. You need to present it from the viewpoint of the audience, ensuring it gives them value for their time. * Don't look for an immediate payoff using thought leadership. It takes time and consistency to build trust.

Most people think that once you've hit the big role at your company, it's smooth sailing. The reality is far different. C-suite positions often have hardships, and many executives deal with a lot of stress and difficulty in their job. Once you stop and realize that corporate life isn't fulfilling for you, how do you move on? On this episode, Jennie Blumenthal, founder and CEO of Corporate Rehab joins us to share her journey from executive to entrepreneur, and how she uses what she learned through more than 20 years in corporate America to help others find their way. Jennie's also the author of Corporate Rehab: Ditch the Hustle Culture and Thrive Again, and we're fortunate to have her share her insights with us, today. During the Pandemic, Jennie was able to take a moment to stop and think about the corporate ladder she had been climbing. She stopped and asked herself, "Where is this going?" - and the answer was not one she liked. Following her heart, Jennie left her corporate job and started the journey of a thought leader, founding Corporate Rehab to help others in the same position. Jennie shares the hardships of the transition from corporate exec to entrepreneur, and how she needed to be brutally honest with herself about what she wanted to achieve, where she wanted to spend her time, and what it was better to outsource. While thought leadership played a role in Jennie's corporate position, she explains how it becomes so much more important for entrepreneurs. Without a big brand behind you, you need to produce quality content that shows your unique perspective, and find a way to share it so that others will lean in and listen to your insights. Jennie shares valuable advice for people looking to leave corporate life, or those who already have - and are still struggling to find their way. Three Key Takeaways: * Once you are out on your own you need to think hard about what your voice is and how you'll use it to impact your audience. * As an entrepreneur you won't be able to outspend big companies but thought leadership is the equalizer that lets you outthink them. * Thought Leadership content can be used to build a rapport and relationship with an audience that will have value even if they are not in a buying position.

When launching a startup, there's a lot to think about. Product, investors, marketing. But what about thought leadership? Should entrepreneurs consider making thought leadership a priority early in their venture? Thought leadership plays an important role in startups, and our guest on this episode, Eric Youngstrom, is just the person to tell us why. Eric is the Founder and CEO of Onramp Funds Inc, which provides expertise in eCommerce, fiancé, and software development to startups. Eric has a proven record of success in start-up technology companies, and brings us his insight about why thought leadership should be top-of-mind for startups. Eric explains that startups need to tell a specific story: what problem you solve, why you care about seeing it solved, and why your solution works. This story must reach buyers and potential investors - and even new hires, convincing them of the longevity and value of your startup. And the best way to tell that story is through thought leadership content. Eric goes on to discuss how thought leadership needs to open up conversations and share their ideas. Sharpening your insights, and listening to the insights of others, will only make your brand stronger. Your content can also be a recruiting pitch, bringing in top talent that shares your passion and wants to be part of a better solution. Any successful startup is going to need a savvy team of salespeople. Eric shares how thought leadership is important for the sales team, helping them understand and share the organization's goals and values right from the moment of hiring. We learn how the early years of the company are critical to developing the organization's reputation, reaching one wave of employees and then the next, and ensuring that the culture is instilled in new hires as the company grows. This episode is full of great advice for creating thought leadership that makes an impact right from the start. Don't miss it! Three Key Takeaways: ·* Startups need to be able to tell everyone what the problem they are solving is and why it matters. This needs to be done in a way that sets you and your unique idea apart from those that have come before you. * Thought Leadership is not a short term investment. By creating content that tells your story over years, you will gain trust, brand recognition, and customers. * The sales team is the last line between you and the customer. Ensure your thought leadership is understood by those teams and that it aids them in their job.

Creating an organizational assessment isn't as simple as you might think. It's more than a list of questions with multiple-choice answers like you might find in a magazine's "personality quiz." Reliable assessments take careful research, which must be validated in order to prove the results are accurate and actionable. To discuss the intricacies of creating strong thought leadership assessments, I've invited Tony Alessandra to join me. Tony Alessandra is the Founder and CEO of Assessments 24x7, the global leader in assessment technology. He is also a prolific author of more than 30 books, including What Makes Humans Tick?: Exploring the Best Validated Assessments and The Ten Qualities of the World's Greatest Communicators. Plus, he is a Hall of Fame speaker and the World's Top Communication Guru. We start our conversation by getting an understanding of the difference between an assessment and a validated assessment. Tony explains how a validated assessment meets the requirements of the American Psychological Association, getting a minimum score on a statistical measurement to ensure the results are reliable. That means clients will trust your results, and that means more business. Often, thought leaders want to take their speaking (or book) and monetize it as an assessment, but to make that work, you need to do a lot of work, validation, and statistical design. Tony gives tips for must-haves, if you want your assessment to find financial success. We'd be remiss to have a Hall of Fame speaker on without discussing the speaking industry! We close out the conversation by discussing the slow decline of speaking since the early 2000s, and the rise of virtual events. Tony shares the pros of speaking engagements using online technology, and the cons of not being in person. If you are thinking about creating an assessment for your thought leadership, this episode is essential. Three Key Takeaways: * When creating an assessment, have it validated by a third party to avoid any possible bias in the results. * If you're thinking of creating an assessment, having a mobile app for it is crucial. The more steps involved in taking an assessment, the fewer people will finish it. * Technology allows us to do speaking engagements remotely, adding slides, video, and interactive elements that can actually deliver more value than being in person.

It is rare that thought leadership content is well formed and well supported the moment it's born out of inspiration. How can you polish your content, and tighten up the message, to best connect with the audience you are looking to reach? Today our guests Jerome Pagani and Craig Joseph join us to share how they collaborate to strengthen each other's content and even add levity to serious topics to allow the audience a lighter read on heavy topics. Jerome Pagani is a behavioral neuroscientist and the Head of Thought Leadership, Research, and Insights at Nordic Consulting. Craig Joseph is a Pediatric doctor and Chief Medical Officer at Nordic Consulting. Finding a partner and method of collaboration for thought leadership isn't easy. Jerome and Craig share their process for creating quality content. We learn how their similar (but not overlapping) backgrounds allow them to establish a common understanding, while broadening one another's perspectives. Working in the healthcare field means having to tackle difficult topics and reach a wide audience. Craig talks about how humor helps them connect with the audience, and how they create connection and authenticity between themselves and their listeners, in order to help give specific, actionable recommendations that people can use immediately. In addition, we learn how they add a touch of humor to their content, while still treating serious topics with the respect those topics deserve. If you want to learn how to better collaborate and tailor your message and modality to your audience this episode will be sure to help. Three Key Takeaways: * Collaboration works best when all parties have a mutual understanding and are able to challenge each other's thinking. * When creating content, put yourself in the audience's mindset and think about what they would want to read or watch. *When standing up Thought Leadership as a function , make sure everyone understands the message and can communicate it clearly.

When we were young, we all thought we knew what life would be like when we grew up. Most of us were way off! Life is about more than preconceived notions and expectations. At some point, the steps we take should be a conscious choice, not simply a matter of following the "traditional path." It's important to change our societal expectations as our culture, lifestyle, and technology move forward. To examine ways to challenge traditional societal expectations, I've invited Zale Mednick to join me. Zale Mednick is an ophthalmologist by trade, and also host of the award winning podcast Preconceived and is also the editor of Preconceived: Challenging the Preconceptions in Our Lives. Zale shares how his journey to become a doctor took a turn when he stopped to consider pursuing interests and passions beyond his profession. He landed on the idea of a podcast, and took up the banner of investigating the preconceived notions that we rarely think to question. What holds us back? What "old" beliefs do we carry - preconceptions that aren't necessarily true anymore? While it's easy to get started with a podcast, sticking it out is often a challenge, and many podcasters stop creating by episode 25. Reaching out to friends and family, and asking them to sit for a podcast interview, gave Zack the confidence and experience he needed to build a reputation as a podcast host, broadening his guest list with people he didn't know. After having more than 100 guests, Zale thought the idea would work well as a book. He began to reach out to former guests , asking them to write essays, thought pieces, or short stories about the preconceived ideas they had challenged. 54 of them agreed to join him, and a book was born: Preconceived: Challenging the Preconceptions in Our Lives. If you are tired of going through the motions and want to jump into something new, check out this insightful episode. It's sure to spark your passion and challenge your assumptions! Three Key Takeaways: * Podcasts can take a long time to see results. You need to commit for longer than logic might dictate you should. * Repurposing and resharing content is a time saving method to reach new audiences and grow your brand. * If you are looking for a change don't let fear hold you back. Find a low risk way to make the pivot.

Too often when faced with a problem we rush to find a single solution – something safe, based on solutions we already know. These comfortable answers are nice, but what if you could create an opportunity to not only solve the problem, but excel? Jeremy Utley and Perry Klebahn are the co-authors of Ideaflow: The Only Business Metric that Matters. It is a book that explores how you and your team can generate a volume of ideas for any situation, by overcoming outdated, stagnant thinking traps. Jeremy Utley is a dynamic and engaging speaker who co-leads the d.school's Executive Education programs at Stanford University. Perry Klebahn is an Adjunct Professor and Director of Executive Education, also at Stanford's d.school. We start our conversation discussing Ideaflow, and how the creation of ideas can be summed up as a complex mathematical equation of ideas over time. Perry explains how, when rushing for a solution, we often fall short because we don't have a volume of ideas. More ideas means more potential directions to overcome a challenge, and even ideas that eventually get discarded may have something to offer our final solution. People often think that generating ideas is a task for a single, individual mind - but that's not the case. In fact, creating ideas with a team can create broader insights,by drawing on a wider pool of perspectives and backgrounds to create ideas that might be outside the experience of a single person.The more, the merrier! Much of the work Perry and Jeremy do is with entrepreneurs and students. For more than 10 years, they've been encouraging their students to use Launchpad, an accelerator which shows teams how to incorporate, develop prototypes, find customers, and prove their proposed offerings are viable. This kind of rigorous idea-testing is invaluable if you want to create solutions that make a real difference. If you want to increase the ideas moving through your organization at all levels this is one episode you won't want to skip! Three Key Takeaways: * To find great ideas, you have to let the unworkable and goofy ideas flow, as well. Don't stifle the process! * In the early stages of business, resist the urge to "lock in" on something just because it is working. Continue to generate ideas and innovate. * To become a better idea generator, ensure that you are working with a wide net of professionals and not the same small team every week.

Many professionals realize that a published book is a great business card – but is anyone actually reading it? Does your book have an impact? Today, we discuss the journey of publishing, marketing, and building a full business model from a book. To share their insights on that topic, we've invited two great guests that have the publishing process down pat. Rita Gunther McGrath is a highly regarded speaker, professor at Columbia Business School, and the author of multiple best-selling books such as Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen. A.J. Jacobs is a journalist, TED Speaker, and seven-time author including the best-selling book Thanks a Thousand: A Gratitude Journey. Our conversation starts by discussing the business side of publishing. Our best-selling authors clarify the focus of their recent work, and discuss the various purposes that a published book can serve. While creating a "book-sized" calling card will put you ahead of some, your content still needs to be more than a glorified article if you want people to read it and take action based on your insights. Many first-time authors believe that once the book is written, the job of marketing will fall to the publisher. That's no longer the truth! Nowadays, publishers have stepped back from marketing - leaving the author to get the word out themselves. Rita shares how she plans the marketing of a book before any real writing even begins, while A.J. seeks innovative and creative ways to slice the topics of his books into as many sectors as possible, in order to earn a larger audience. The final leg of our conversation involves taking the information from the page and turning it into teachable content. Our guests share their strategies for turning thought leadership insights into lessons, creating systems and capabilities for instruction that can be brought into an organization in order to create measurable impact. Three Key Takeaways: * When writing a book, ensure your content is bigger than a simple article could contain. * Consider the method of publishing and marketing for your book before you start writing. * Publishers no longer promote books. As the author, you'll need to build a platform to reach the audience by yourself.

At any given time 95% of customers are not in a buying cycle. With that in mind, how can we stay prepared for the "purchasing 5%"? Sales has seen huge changes in the last 20 years. To better understand what's happening, I've invited Michelle J Raymond to join me on today's podcast. Michelle is the Founder and B2B LinkedIn Strategist at The Good Trading Co., which provides LinkedIn strategies, training, and coaching for ambitious, innovative and purpose-driven business owners, consultants, and marketing teams. Her new book, The LinkedIn Branding Book, is a compilation of ways to support investment and profit through the power of LinkedIn. We start by defining "Social Selling," and how it has become the new standard. Michelle explains that social selling is about finding the right people, connecting with them, and nurturing relationships. By providing insightful and useful content in a constant flow, you stay top-of-mind, and when your audience is ready to buy, you are the first person they think about. It's important to keep creating content, you also need a strategy for that content. Michelle shares why a brand strategy helps understand your target market, define what to offer them, and finally, set yourself apart from the others in your niche. Often, people question whether developing a personal or a corporate brand is more important. Michelle explains why these two goals don't need to be at odds, and how blurring the line between the two can boost the signal of both and create a more powerful presence. Our conversation is packed full of advice for understanding and implementing social selling, experimenting with content, problem solving and helping people! Three Key Takeaways: * You can't be everything to everyone. Develop a brand strategy based on a deep understanding of your best target audience. * Staying top of mind means being consistent with content. Slow, or rarely-seen, posts are a fast track to invisibility and stagnancy. * Don't be afraid to post rough ideas! The feedback you receive from followers can give you valuable insight and perspective.

s your organization evolving with the needs of its culture, or are you stuck in a mindset that no longer serves your business or its employees? Our guest today is Eboni Adams Monk, the Vice President of Marketing and Commercial Excellence at Trinseo, a specialty material solutions provider that partners with companies to bring ideas to life in an imaginative, smart and sustainable manner. She is also the author of Leading Wise: Inspirational Reflections for Corporate Leaders, which offers inspirational prompts and a global perspective for corporate leadership. In our conversation with Eboni, we learn what an evolved corporate community looks like and what it does. She explains that by thinking about the impact a business has on the people and cultures in our community, we can support and enhance those around us - while assisting our company in meeting financial and operational goals. In addition, Eboni shares how she dances at the intersection of leadership, business, culture, and spirituality, encouraging business leaders to develop themselves in ways that encourage thinking and feeling deeply for the people in their employment, and in their community. This creates a stronger relationship with employees and co-workers, and that brings more out of them - and makes critical or difficult conversations easier to have. Three Key Takeaways: * Corporate culture should support the people and communities it impacts the most. * When creating content, think about how you can spark interest and curiosity in your audience. * Leaders should take time for reflection and meditation, in order to absorb the world around them and inspire transformation.

There are two major challenges thought leadership practitioners face when they sit down to codify their ideas: Too many ideas, and A big, blank page. Sitting down to codify your content can feel like a daunting task. You've got tons of insights - but when you're staring at that first page, everything freezes up. Where do you even start? To learn how to gather your insights, map them out, and codify expert solutions, I've invited Rhea Wessel, the Founder of the Institute for Thought Leadership. Rhea helps companies turn their subject-matter experts into thought leaders, enabling them to share their insights clearly, cohesively, and fluidly. Our conversation begins with a common issue: Should thought leaders give away their best insights for free? Rhea discusses the balance between how much content a thought leadership practitioner should share, and how much should be kept in reserve for clients, and most importantly - why that line exists and where to draw it. As a journalist with 25 years of experience, Rhea has developed methodologies to help experts identify topics, map them out, and apply their knowledge in a way that offers a valuable solution to their audience. This "story engine" can help overcome the fear of giving away ideas, by generating a constant flow of topical insights. Finally, we take a look at the things that make content compelling. Rhea tells us to include an element of transformation - either in a person, team, or project. In order to create that, you need to understand the full story of the transformation, from the beginning to the end. Be sure to describe the waypoints of change, and illuminate why that transformation was critical to success. Three Key Takeaways: * Good ideas that sit on the shelf aren't helpful. Giving away ideas that create buzz and show promise is the best way to get your content, and your name, recognized. * Good content will make an audience say, "Tell me more!" Make sure they see quickly what your insights do, and why they're valuable. * Compelling content needs to lead the audience through a journey of transformation.

The principles of Green Chemistry have been widely accepted, but are not widely adopted. With solutions for sustainable and profitable innovation available, where is the disconnect between these principles and their use? Our guest on this episode is Urvashi Bhatnagar, Vice President of Business Development for Healthcare at Genpact, a global professional service firm that transforms industries. She is also the co-author of The Sustainability Scorecard: How to Implement and Profit from Unexpected Solutions. The Sustainability Scorecard was co-written with Paul Anastas (also known as "The Father of Green Chemistry") while Urvashi was working toward her MBA at Yale. During discussions with Paul about the 12 Principles of Green Chemistry, they examined why those principles had not been widely applied - even though they were widely accepted! With a better understanding of the issues, they proceeded to write a book that would make a big impact in both chemistry and management. Urvashi shares the three parts of their business model. She discusses advocacy through speaking and engagements, building associated foundations to inspire and support others, and helping people transport important knowledge and structures from one field to another - where big ideas can make a real difference. We round out the conversation discussing how thought leadership's ability to help design the future. We hear about the increasing need for thought leadership in private equity and startups, and how moving a chunk of marketing budget to create and support an organization's thought leadership can strengthen an organization's reputation and offer an even higher return. This is a great episode, and we encourage you to listen in! Three Key Takeaways: * When taking scientific or research data to a general audience, write with a less academic voice and gear your insights towards leaders. * When your target market is niche, you have to be very intentional about the content you release. * Thought Leaders who are conscious leaders – focused on mentoring and enabling – can make great strides in designing a brighter future in multiple fields.

Now that publishing is easier and openly available, we see more books hitting the market than ever before. With that in mind, how can you elevate your book and create a roadmap that leads clients to you and your offerings? Today, I invite two seasoned experts to share their experience with publishing, and the tools they used to move their audience up the product ladder. * Andy Paul is the author of "Sell Without Selling Out", Host of the "Sales Enablement Podcast with Andy Paul," and is a Top 50 Global Sales Expert, consulting with the biggest businesses in the world. * John Jantsch is the President and Founder of "Duct Tape Marketing", and the author of "Duct Tape Marketing." As a consultant, he teaches business owners to streamline their marketing approach, increase revenue, and scale strategically. We begin our conversation by discussing publishing options, and how modern methods are helping authors soar. John and Andy have both published multiple books using various methods, and they discuss the pros and cons of each. Publishing is only the beginning of an author's work! A successful book launch needs an established following, one that is ready and waiting for your book to come out. Awareness can be built up through podcasts, blogs, or posts on LinkedIn. Andy and John explain how releasing consistent content helps you build a reputation, giving your followers a flow of bite-sized portions that prepare them for the full meal of the book. And last, we talk about building community. With so many people working alone, the need to communicate and share with like-minded people has increased. Our guests share how they've used cohorts, workshops, and mastermind groups to create communities that reach beyond the initial product offering, building lasting relationships. If your book isn't driving the traffic you hoped, this episode can help! Three Key Takeaways: * The moment you have an idea for a book, you need to start building a following. Don't wait to build the audience after its release! * Creating content that has value, and deploying it consistently, is key to growing your following and building a reputation. * Don't be afraid to experiment with ideas – putting them out into the world, and get feedback to help promote its value.

When businesses talk about "making a pivot," it's often thought of as something that must happen quickly and with great impact. The reality is – a successful pivot is often anything but quick, and true impact can be difficult to implement. Who better to discuss bringing big changes to organizations than the "Pivot Catalyst," Lori Michele Leavitt! Lori is the founder and President of Abridge Corp, as well as an accomplished coach, consultant, trainer, speaker, and author of The Pivot: Orchestrating Extraordinary Business Momentum. Lori shares her insights on bringing about large-scale business changes, from building momentum to bringing people on-board with the shift in mindset. If you want to make a pivot, the leadership of the organization needs to encourage the adoption of many small changes by many people over time - not demand massive changes all at once! Momentum and buy-in are both key to any lasting change. Lori has guided many businesses and leaders through this kind of process, and has learned a great deal about organizations undergoing large-scale change. She shares how she turned her processes into a book, and later, software that she continues to iterate. She's moved the needle on management software, building a leadership operating system called Aligned Momentum. Codifying your message and process into a book is complicated, but it's another step to then turn your content into software! Lori shares insights into the process she went through with her content, sharing her insights into the future of consulting software as it continues to evolve. Three Key Takeaways: * Helping an organization successfully pivot starts with getting the cultural decision-maker on board with change. * Being the smartest person in the room isn't the best way to have a lasting impact as a coach. * Change often happens faster in a safe space, and it's good to have peers and allies to help identify your blind spots in the process of organizing and driving change.

When most hear the word scale they'll think of a kitchen or bathroom scale - a tool for measuring. When it comes to thought leadership, what does "reaching scale" mean? How can you measure it, and how can you achieve it? In this special episode, I'm are going to invite a few unusual guests: frameworks and models. These models define scale, measure methods of distributing content, and find ways to assess impact. When attempting to measure and reach scale, thought leaders often look to social media metrics such as followers, engagement, and likes. But, what's the value of a "like" toward measuring thought leadership? Instead of getting wrapped up in superficial metrics, thought leadership practitioners need to understand that scale happens when people encounter an idea and choose to act on it – because thought leadership,at its very core, needs to be an idea in action. Thought leadership isn't about building the largest audience it is about building the right audience. Bill discusses the differences between Total Addressable Market (TAM), and Share of Market (SOM), the market percentage that you are currently reaching. Understanding these two numbers gives a clearer picture of the influence of your thought leadership. Further, he shares insights about Broadcasting, Narrowcasting, and Point-Casting. Broadcasting is scattering your ideas on the wind and hoping they reach the right market,. Narrowcasting means focussing on the people who need your ideas the most, while point-casting means packaging your idea in particular terms for a VIP within your TAM. If you've been struggling to reach scale, you might need to better understand how to reach your best audience. Don't default to broadcasting. Take the insights in this episode, and start increasing your SOM! Three Key Takeaways: Thought leadership needs to be an idea in action. Without action, movement, and interaction with an audience, thought leadership can't spread and thrive. Organizational thought leadership isn't about building the largest possible audience. It's about building the right audience. If you can get your idea to the VIPs in your TAM, and convince them to take action, you've gained a link to the best audiences your thought leadership could attain.

How do you connect a high-profile brand with its best audience? Through great storytelling! Liz Brunner is the Founder and CEO of Brunner Communications, assisting high-profile individuals and organizations in developing powerful, meaningful, and desirable brand identities. She is also the Founder of Brunner Academy of Online Learning, and the author of Dare to Own You: Taking Your Authenticity and Dreams into Your Next Chapter. Liz has had a number of professions over the course of her career, from high school music teacher to Emmy Award-winning news anchor. She explains that the key to her success can be summed up in two words: great storytelling. When you know the secrets of storytelling, you can capture the attention of your audience and keep them hooked. Having worked both in person and on television, it was easy for Liz to transition her work into the digital space after the pandemic started – in fact, she began to teach others how to engage in the virtual space and still move the dial. She shares why digital presenters need to think like TV stars, and how to get your audience to feel your presence - even through the lens. Our final topic revolves around the energy gained from working face-to-face, versus the newfound advantages of the digital space. Liz explains the pros and cons of each, and how to connect, communicate, and engage, developing the keys to success regardless of your medium. Three Key Takeaways: * When presenting virtually and using slides keep things moving! Use more slides with less content on each or include animations to keep the audience constantly engaged. * Looking directly into the camera when working online gives a feeling that you are looking directly at every member of your audience and engages them more. * While putting a message together you need to hook people right away, if you don't you'll miss an opportunity for your brand (personally and for your company).

There are a lot of hard-working thought leadership practitioners in the non-profit sector! What's it like to face the challenge of communicating complicated, multi-generational problems to a global audience? We're glad you asked! To better understand the role thought leadership plays at established non-profits, I've invited Meghan Quinn, Director of Thought Leadership at Habitat for Humanity International, to chat with me about her work. Meghan defines her role, elaborating on the meaning of thought leadership means at Habitat for Humanity. In a non-profit, conversations around thought leadership often start by focusing on the role and goals of the greater organization: for Habitat, that's the global affordable housing crisis. In order to have a real impact, Meghan's work needs to reach policymakers, stakeholders, and donors. Meghan tells us how moving these people to action means taking technical research and creating content that is both curated and simple-to-approach. Rule #1: If your audience doesn't understand what you're saying, and why, they certainly won't be moved to act on your information. As with many thought leadership programs, measuring success can be a difficult task. Sales data and leads aren't as tangible in the non-profit sector. Meghan shares how success at Habitat is measured, through anecdotal evidence, making connections with new backers, and deepening relationships. Her primary goals are to spread the word, and to increase credibility and trust in the organization. This kind of vision can't be measured in weeks or months - it can take years to see real results on a global scale. This conversation gives a glimpse into the unique world of thought leadership in the non-profit sector, and offers valuable insights for organizational thought leaders everywhere! Three Key Takeaways: * Curation and Digestibility are the keys to making complicated data into something a general audience can understand. * Thought Leadership isn't successful overnight. A plan and vision that spans years is needed to properly measure success. * Thought leaders need to be able to follow their instinct and not be afraid to experiment – and even fail from time to time.

During the last two years, speakers, consultants, and thought leaders have moved their presentations from in-person formats into relatively unknown digital space. Now, as we settle back into a face-to-face workplace, we look back and consider the lessons learned from online experiences. What would a new, hybrid style look like? What better way to investigate these topics than to talk with two doctors, who are both experts in their fields! Dr. Nick Morgan is one of America's top communication theorists and coaches. He is also a keynote speaker and author who helps people bring clarity to their great ideas. Dr. Joseph Michelli is a consultant, psychologist, professional speaker, and New York Times Bestselling author. He's been voted a Top 5 Global Guru in Customers Service for more than 7 years! We start by laying the foundation: discussing what the standard business model looked like, pre-pandemic. Then, we move forward, and explore how each of our guests found ways to deliver great experiences virtually. We talk about their successes, and the hardships they struggled to overcome — such as developing trust and transparency through a computer screen. The future of keynote speaking and conferences is still uncertain, and many thought leaders are exploring "hybrid" models, moving fluidly between in-person and remote presentations. Nick and Joseph discuss how they believe things will continue to play out, giving examples in the ways their businesses were returning to the "old normal," and how they continue to incorporate digital modalities. While this interview took place some months ago, the advice on how to build trust with a virtual audience is evergreen! Three Key Takeaways: * Virtual relationships can get clogged up and degrade over time – whenever possible renew that relationship in person. * If you are going to make video work you have to go deep fast. Forge a strong relationship right out of the gate by being honest, trustworthy, and transparent. * Virtual speaking means having to grab the audience's attention in the first 90 seconds. Speakers who don't have some form of interaction are missing a trick for their

In thought leadership, which comes first: the brand or the people? It's not a chicken-and-egg situation! The answer is always people. You inspire and invest in your employees, and the word spreads. Those people act as ambassadors for the brand, building a strong org reputation — and that brings in customers. In order to understand where this power cycle starts, I've invited Zoe Bermant, the CEO at ZoecialMedia, creator of the Caroself ™, and an expert in organic social media for B2B. While many believe that the brand needs to be the focus of an organization's social media, Zoe explains that the power in organizational thought leadership comes from the people who work for the company. Thought leadership is about creating a human aspect within a business relationship; moving interactions beyond data and white papers, and sharing meaningful interactions. By elevating your people, you create passionate ambassadors for your brand, and create an online presence that is credible, trustworthy, and relatable - and that brings in more customers! Learn why Zoe recommends starting this cycle at the executive level, and how doing so can create a culture of engagement both internally and externally. When executives interact with employees (and customers) online in a direct and meaningful manner, it helps build genuine relationships. This bolsters new sales, employee retention, and even talent recruitment. Great ideas can spark from anywhere, even a simple typo. Zoe shares how she mistyped "caroself" in a message to a coworker (instead of "carousel") and came up with a brilliant new idea. Using the pdf carousel function of LinkedIn, Zoe made a document that humanized her work experience, letting people know where she grew up, went to school, and even her likes and dislikes - and she called it the Caroself™. She then tagged others, and challenged them to do the same. Before long the idea had spread to thousands of users who saw the benefit of giving the world a deeper look into their personalities, and move their career prospects forward by going beyond the professional persona. We wrap up our conversation discussing women in thought leadership. Zoe works with hundreds of executives, and has seen a trend of women being overly timid about sharing their insights. Many incredibly insightful female leaders don't promote themselves through thought leadership - and they should! The chat explores why that trend continues, and gives suggestions around how to encourage others to take control of their power and seize the opportunities thought leadership presents. The world needs more great ideas! Three Key Takeaways: * The cycle of "invest in your people - let them be ambassadors for your brand - build your brand reputation - engage more new customers" is powerful, and it's one that more organizations should use. * You can't rely on a random algorithm to get the word out. You have to actively seek out and build relationships, sharing things about yourself (or your org) and creating a human connection in order to succeed. * When cultivating your social media profile, it's beneficial to ensure that personal stories still relate to your expertise or experience in a professional sense. Don't forget to show your strengths!

When it comes to the "higher purpose" of your brand or organization, how much control do you have on either versus the values customers will place on them? Today we will examine the impact COVID has had on how consumers see brands and the value we place on them. To get a better understanding I've invited Dr. Martina Obert to join me. Martina is the CEO of Meaning Global, an expert strategy consultancy helping leaders envision new possibilities for future innovation, value creation, and growth. She is also recognized by Forbes as The Meaning Expert™. Martina explains how COVID created a shift in the marketplace that moved emphasis from brands to the people they serve. The feeling of being "stuck" was pervasive, and led many consumers into a period of self-reflection about themselves, their lives, and their goals. This realignment of values as impacted advertising, and to be successful, brands today need to do more to deliver appreciable, meaningful value. Brands and organizations often promote meaning and purpose, but what does that mean — and how much control do they really have over their audience's perception? Martina shares stories about how our values impact the perception of our brands, and what audiences look for when choosing to buy. This is a fascinating conversation about the rise of the 'humanistic paradigm" and how brands, organizations, and advertising are having to change in its wake. Three Key Takeaways: * Organizations need to consider how to fundamentally improve customers' lives with their advertising, and align with each person's sense of greater meaning. * COVID-19 has made the emerging humanistic paradigm more profound and cohesive. * When starting out in thought leadership, find your niche! Hint: It's the thing you are more passionate and knowledgeable about than anyone else!

An interview with Ryan McCarty and Mark Goulston that originally aired on January 26th, 2021, as part of Leveraging Thought Leadership Live on LinkedIn. How do you use thought leadership? Some thought leaders use it to build a brand, or to share an idea. My guests today come from a background of service, and they use thought leadership to help people find purpose and hope. Ryan McCarty is a keynote speaker, co-founder of Culture of Good and co-author of Build A Culture of Good: Unleash Results by Letting Your Employees Bring Their Soul to Work. Mark Goulston is the world's leading Healthy Conflict Coach and author of multiple books including Get Out of Your Own Way: Overcoming Self-Defeating Behavior and Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone. In this episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership, we discuss how the purpose of helping others started them in their original careers (ministry and psychiatry, respectively), and how they continue following that purpose through the practice of thought leadership. Ryan shares how he spent 20 years in ministry focused on community, and how he found his purpose in helping people find a sense of purpose in their everyday lives. Mark comes from a background of psychiatry, and after his own brush with depression while in med school, rose to specializing in suicide prevention so that he could help others discover hope and meaning in their lives. Our guests have traveled parallel paths, helping others live happier and healthier lives through their work. Now, they're bringing those insights about hope and meaning to the corporate sphere. We learn how Ryan built a Culture of Good and how that philosophy gets companies to create a meaningful and fulfilling workplace that also improves the bottom line. Mark works with executives and leaders, teaching them to carve away the negative aspects that create a culture of mistrust, fear, or hopelessness at an organization, and build trust and purpose into the everyday life of the org. Our guests today provide actionable advice on how you can change the culture of your company and employees, and live a more meaningful life — starting today! Three Key Takeaways: Every leader — from thought leaders to the organizational C-Suite — needs to be authentic, caring, and purposeful, and strive to be the type of person others want to follow. Keeping a journal of thought and ideas can build a deeper understanding of everyday insights, and might even create the basis for your thought leadership! Doing good and making money doesn't have to be at odds. A profitable business can use its strength to create and fulfill a meaningful purpose.

The words power, politics, and leverage typically have a negative connotation. They bring to mind times when good people have been oppressed and mistreated. But what if you could leverage power and politics ethically? Michael Wenderoth is a speaker and executive coach who works one on one with leaders and executive teams, inspiring and teaching them to ethically leverage power and politics to get things done. Earlier this year, he authored Get Promoted: What You're Really Missing at Work That's Holding You Back, codifying his philosophies around thought leadership and morality. In today's chat, we examine power in the workplace; from the fundamentals to the uses of leverage. Too often, good people stand on the sidelines of leadership, afraid of the negative associations or power - and therefore, those people are not making a positive impact. Michael explains how power is simply the force needed to get things done. It's not good, or bad, and it can be used to help others. Michael has seen an increase in organizations wanting to shape the next generation of ethical and more diverse leadership. He shares how many people who are not used to being in a position of power or leadership can be ill-equipped to take the lead. Companies are investing in their future leaders by hiring coaches to help the next generation reach their full potential. In March of 2022, Michael published Get Promoted: What You're Really Missing at Work That's Holding You Back. We discuss why launching a book takes years of investment, and talk more about navigating the two sides of a coaching business - doing the grunt work of business, and the amazing potential of coaching. Three Key Takeaways: * Power and politics in the office can be leveraged ethically to accelerate your career. * Organizations wanting diverse leadership need to invest the time to train these potential leaders – but also accept that leadership can look different to many people. * When working as a coach for a company you need to be frank about the deliverable and how you will impact those you serve.

Our guest today is Michael Gallagher, Founder and CEO of The Stevie® Awards – the world's premier business awards. He's also the co-founder of ImageShield, a web based program that helps protect images from unauthorized use. Today, Michael tells us why he founded The Stevie® Awards, and how it has grown from its origins among The American Business Awards® to include eight award categories each with their own focus, list of categories, and schedule across the globe. Next, we turn our attention to Michael's newest endeavor: ImageShield. Millions of people share their images online every day without much thought to who else could be using those images, and negative ramifications that could come when someone steals your images and uses them without your permission. Recognizing this growing problem, Michael is developing ImageShield - a service which will provide updates to its users, helping them keep track of how and where their images are being used. Launching a new product like ImageShield requires educating the target audience on why this product is a necessity. Michael shares how he turned to Leveraging Thought Leadership for help in creating avatars, images, and strategies for reaching ImageShield's core audience and helping drive an understanding of its services Three Key Takeaways: * People have a need to be recognized for their dedication and hard work. * Good thought leadership can draw attention to common problems that are not top of mind to the average person. * When investing in thought leadership, find the people in your organization that can vocalize your org's mission, clearly and compellingly serving the brand.

Do you know why you choose one brand over another? Traditional market research focuses on what people are buying. They study the number of items sold, where they're sold, and how those numbers are shifting. But traditional research doesn't tell you why people are acting in a certain way. That's where human insight comes in! To understand the best way to merge human insight with market data, I've invited Manish Bahl to join me for a conversation. Manish is the Chief Executive and Founder of Curious Insights – where the company mission is to humanize data for analyst firms and organizations. Traditional research has its place, but it can show a limited, one-dimensional perspective. Manish explains how data often misses the "human connection," and how the warmth of human insights can make research truly revelatory. Adding an understanding of human behavior, the way individuals think and feel, puts people back at the center of market research.. Convincing C-Suite executives to participate in surveys and interviews can be a challenge. Their time is precious, but so is the information they have to offer. Manish shares his best tips for turning a data-driven interview into a two way street, where both parties are engaged and learning from the discussion. Manish also discussed how to create content that is fresh and compelling. Too often, content creators become focused on SEO results, which can create bland, cookie-cutter content. Manish shares how having passion and invoking curiosity in your audience can draw people in - and take your ideas to scale. Three Key Takeaways: * Blending human science with data collection allows us to understand what customers think and feel about our thought leadership. * In order to have successful interviews, the interviewer must also be transparent and open. A conversational experience will yield better results than a static list of questions. * People have a short attention span. If your content does not grab them in the first 5–10 lines, you will lose them.

If you thought a global pandemic would dim the lights of customer service - you thought wrong! Customers still want answers to questions, friendly assistance, and solutions for their problems. But one thing is changing: the way we deliver answers and solutions. To take a deeper look at the customer experience, and how employee satisfaction relates to it, I've invited two good friends to join me in conversation. Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, keynote speaker, bestselling author of I'll Be Back: How to Get Customers to Come Back Again & Again. Shane Green is a culture consultant for Fortune 500 companies, and Founder and President of SGEi, a company that helps customer-focused organizations develop a culture that attracts the right people and retains top talent longer. We start our conversation by discussing the way reliance on virtual meetings has created new pressure on speakers, and how the speaking industry has changed. Shep and Shane share why many organizations are likely to keep the bulk of their company-wide meetings virtual, and how that has put pressure on speakers not only to entertain but also to provide actionable advice. As part of the changes to the workforce, we've experienced The Great Resignation - which Shane feels is more of a "A Great Reshuffling." He states that more than 80% of employees who quit their job during this period were looking either for better payment or for a better culture. It's simply true that companies with higher employee satisfaction have higher customer satisfaction. Shep and Shane explore how a strong, well-communicated company vision can increase employee satisfaction, especially when supported by proper training. Companies need managers and leaders who role model that vision, and they need to celebrate the times when that vision translates into meaningful goals. Company culture is the combined attitude of the hearts and minds of an organization's employees. If you want to raise your company - and it's culture - to new heights. you'll want to listen to this episode! Three Key Takeaways: * Thought leadership practitioners delivering a keynote need to tell a good story, but also ensure that their content is actionable right away. * People have a need to collaborate and learn, so webinars need to be far more interactive, and contain more than simply a lecture. * Research and surveys must always be updated. The information you had five years ago may not be relevant today.

Thought Leadership sits at different positions in different companies. It can be bucketed with research, content marketing, or even brand building. Given those options, how can you ensure all divisions are aligned in the story an organization's thought leadership is telling and the brand it is building? To examine how to achieve a harmonious alignment, I've invited Ginger Conlon to join me for a conversation. Ginger is the Thought Leadership Director at Genesys, a software company that specializes in customer experience and call center technology. At Genesys, thought leadership is research-driven and sits at the top of the funnel. The thought leadership team works with content marketing to learn about their priorities and focus on the most important issues - then, the former research reports which form the foundation of content for the months ahead. Through a shared editorial calendar, all parts of the organization tell the same story, and align around key points of the research. Too often, great content sits on a shelf, untouched. To ensure that doesn't happen, Ginger forms relationships with the owners of internal content management hubs and owners of team-specific newsletters. That way, she keeps them informed of new, relevant content, and uses their channels to push content through the organization. In addition, by seeking input from others throughout the organization, Ginger and Claire Beatty, senior director of thought leadership, create a sense of ownership in the content as leaders see their input influence thier content. Ginger shares great advice for anyone working on or alongside a thought leadership role on how to create a great end user experience for content. Three Key Takeaways: * Thought Leadership is about engaging your audience and sharing insights with them on a broader level. * A shared editorial calendar is the key to ensuring thought leadership and content marketing work hand in hand. * In order to get your message across an organization you not only have to build relationships but you have to understand how information is disseminated across it.

Did you know that more than 50% of executives struggle to feel satisfied with their work? It's important to have a sense of purpose around your job; the feeling that you've contributed, that you're respected, and that your work matters. Today, I'm speaking with Gene Rice, the Founder and CEO of Rice Cohen International, which provides executive search and consulting services to a premier list of global clients across the Learning & Development, Ed Tech, and Management Consulting fields. Gene has personally helped place more than 1000 executives, and has a deep understanding of what companies are looking for in senior management. Over his thirty years of experience in the search industry, Gene discovered several important trends. While corporations are seeking people that meet "standard metrics," those that excel have a proven track record of building growth. Gene explains that the most valuable executives are those who found a sense of purpose that drives their success - and their job satisfaction. For years, Gene had been recording life lessons that he would share with interns at his firm. These lessons led to questions which showed how ill equipped many young adults are to start their personal and professional lives. This realization was the driving reason for Gene to collaborate with his daughter, Courtney Bejgrowicz, and write 68 Tips to Excel in Your Personal and Professional Life. This book gives Gene's experienced tips for life, job search, career, and personal finances, while adding Courtney's comments to give her perspective as a teacher and mother, and the understanding of the younger generation. The passion to help others with the book extends beyond the hope that people can learn a thing or two from it. Gene and his wife created The Plant a Seed Inspire a Dream Foundation which provides annual scholarships for children ages 10 to 18, to pursue passions and interests outside of school. With this foundation, they work to inspire young people from low-income households with life-altering athletic, artistic, musical and creative activities led by positive role models. Three Key Takeaways: * Those seeking a role as a senior executive will need a proven track record of building growth, to get ahead of their competition. * It's important for an executive to have a sense of personal purpose, and to share that passion and drive with others. * A good match between an executive and company means feeling like you can make a real contribution, and drive your personal as well as professional goals.

How does a public speaker deliver a message without a stage? Speaking events screeched to a halt when the pandemic put an indefinite stop to in person events. To find out how speakers moved forward, we've invited Mitch Joel , the Co-Founder of ThinkersOne to chat with us about the future of the speaking industry. Mitch is a visionary, digital expert, community leader, and author of Six Pixels of Separation. Mitch shares how a speaker must split their attention when doing a virtual event, and how they must control music, slides, and other technological aspects as opposed to having a crew to handle those needs. That can put a distance between speaker and audience, making presentations feel slapdash or hesitant. It's hard to do all that, and still be "in the moment" with the content and audience. While the pandemic has had many effects on our global culture, Mitch adds another term to the discussion: The Great Compression, which happened among many trade associations and even organizations. He explains that an amplification happened where many began to realize the need to be more diverse becoming a content provider and not just a conference. Second, everyone learned to become more digital. Mitch explains how this was not a revelation — we already had the technology in place, we just hadn't been forced to adapt to use it. Another consequence of the pandemic was forced innovation. That pushed many to discover new business models in order to stay relevant, and connect with their clients. Now that the world is slowly returning to normal, many are forgoing those new ventures. We discuss finding the will to scale business to include both the old ways that worked for years, and the new methods that were developed for the pandemic and continue to be relevant today. Finally, we discuss the hard task of developing community and relationship online. While in-person conferences have started to return they are not back to normal and might never be. Mitch shares his thoughts on the fundamental need to gather in person and how that need is forcing speakers to elevate the quality, relevance, and actionability of the content or they might find the audience wishing they were elsewhere. Three Key Takeaways: Speaking in person allows you to "feel the room." Speaking into a webcam gives nothing back, so you have to ensure your content and stories resonate in a virtual format. If you developed new business models due to the pandemic, don't discard them now! Discover ways to scale your business to incorporate both the old and the new. As in-person events return, speakers have to deliver high-quality content to justify the expense and travel time of on-location keynotes.

Is happiness something that comes naturally to some people? Can it be measured and taught? In order to answer these questions I've invited the Happiness Strategies Monique Rhodes to join me. Monique is the CEO of One People Productions and her mission in life is to lead you toward a lifetime of happiness. To accomplish that, she combines teachings with powerful, habit-changing exercises. Monique wasn't always a happiness expert. Growing up in New Zealand, she was the victim of abuse as a child. That lead to depression in her teens and ultimately a suicide attempt. While in the hospital recovering, she chose to make it her mission to find happiness - and to understand why some people seem naturally happy, while others struggle. This mission took her all over the world. In India, she began teaching mediation to a group of young girls who persistently asked for lessons. While Monique was not a natural teacher, she learned her passion about meditation - and her search for happiness - could be a driving force for others. Before long she was teaching 50 people a day. These early teaching sessions evolved into a program. Monique trialed her thought leadership to a class of 20 people at University College in London, and watched as that class swelled to more than 100. By the end of the trial, more than 2500 people were involved! Monique began marketing the program to various universities and colleges, along with word of mouth, and due to positive feedback she was able to build a business around the program. Monique has created The Happiness Baseline, 8 week program that not only guarantees results for those who finish, but has provable metrics, using Penn State University's Authentic Happiness quiz. This episode shows how thought leaders can tackle a personal problem and take their lessons to market, making the lives of thousands of others better! It's a winner, and we're thrilled to share it with you. Three Key Takeaways: * Many are not natural teachers, but if you have a passion for your thought leadership you can develop the skills needed to help others. * Positive word of mouth about the effectiveness of your thought leadership can be better than a marketing budget. * If you want to prove your thought leadership, ensure there are hard metrics to back it up.

How do you best showcase your organization's depth of expertise? Have you ever thought about the way thought leadership intersects with the executive search? Many organizations encourage broad diversity, and during executive search periods, they want to showcase and bolster that practice. But how do you demonstrate it to your target audience? Today, I've invited Louis Montgomery Jr., Partner, Practice Leader Human Resources and Diversity Officers at JM Search, a firm that (through rigorous assessment) provides the right candidates for open positions to private equity firms, venture capital firms, and select corporate clients. Louis understands what it takes to be successful in demanding fields. He discusses his path as an HR leader and Diversity Officer, and how he assists candidates seeking opportunity and growth. When he changed course during his career, he quickly realized, as many others do, that his reputation as an expert in HR didn't follow him to his new position. He discusses his experiences with networking and creating thought leadership, and explains how he established himself as an expert in the new field — and how others can do the same. Having worked with both large and small firms, Louis understands what it takes to get thought leadership into the world. He's built an established thought leadership engine that carries his name and reputation forward. In our discussion, he shares tips for building your firm's reputation (and your own!) by leveraging established thought leadership or marketing roles. Developing smart thought leadership content is about providing answers to your audience's questions, and as Louis says, a listening ear is the best tool. Learn how to tune into what others are saying, and to notice the questions that come up time and time again. These are prime topics for thought leadership! If you are considering starting a journey into thought leadership, start now! The sooner you delve into the field, the more rapidly you will master it. Three Key Takeaways: * Networking provides an advantage in the job search, when the time comes to seek a new role. * Thought Leadership allows you to share your expertise and establish credibility, and differentiate yourself from others in the market. * Being a thought leader and active practitioner of your field of expertise can give you a greater credibility with clients. That makes you stand out!

How do you help a client integrate research into their thought leadership, and what are the benefits? Enterprise software can be a complicated story to tell. To explore ways to humanize a complex brand or product, I've invited Denise Broady to share her expertise in research, thought leadership, and consulting. Denise is the Chief Marketing Officer at Appian Corporation, helping clients build apps and workflows with a low-code automation platform; combining people, technologies, and data in a single workflow to maximize resources and improve business results. Our conversation begins with an active discussion of thought leadership's ability to help tell a complex, enterprise story in a way that humanizes your brand. Denise shares how the lens of a business user can be used to create greater impact, preferring a personal touch and layman's terms rather than complex, high-level terms that might not be understood by an audience. Often, marketers feel the need to go it alone and control all aspects of their content's delivery, but thought leadership doesn't have to be a solo project. Denise shares how her co-sponsored research with The Economist is helping reach a global market, and how surveys on IT and business issues give her the information she needs to create thought leadership rooted in data - and bring solutions to the problems her audiences face. Toward the end of our conversation, we examine ways to build a thought leadership team. Denise recounts a tale of starting with a task-force that grew as it brought on e dedicated people and found dedicated funding. Nobody approaches accounting as a part-time hobby, and thought leadership is no different. Without a dedicated team and reliable resources, thought leaders can't be expected to develop the reach and cadence needed to effect significant change. Three Key Takeaways: * Choose your words carefully when explaining complex thought leadership; it's critical that your audience understand, so speak in terms they will grasp easily. * Creating co-sponsored thought leadership can create content with wider reach and a deeper, more informed perspective. * Thought leaders coming from a marketing background can be tempted to use a marketing playbook – but think before you jump! Understand where your content fits in the cycle, and how to deploy it.

When it comes to thought leadership, every corporation needs people that are building new ideas, sharing new insights - in essence, creating new maps to move things forward! But it's not just about the "map makers." It's also about the "expedition leaders," people who can share those ideas and insights, and bring others onboard - even if they didn't create the maps themselves. To discuss "map makers" and "expedition leaders," and really delve into the most effective ways to invite your whole organization to do thought leadership, I've invited Steve Watt to join me on the podcast. Steve is the Director of Market Insights at Seismic, the world's largest enablement platform. In both social selling and thought leadership people need to show up, speak up, and publicly demonstrate both subject matter expertise and org-centric passion. Not every sales person can or should be a thought leader, but they can always be a spokesman for the org's thought leadership content. We discuss the need to empower not just sales people, but everyone within a company, by showing them the benefits that being associated with an org's thought leadership can have on their careers and reputation. Steve shares why it is important to start with the right mindset, which may mean tearing down and overcoming staid beliefs and old perceptions about "how sales are done." We discuss the way social media is constantly misused by sales people seeking to use it as a hunting ground full of traps rather than a fertile field for relationship-building. Steve is changing the mindset towards meaningful conversations and interactions, and teaching insights that will magnetically draw clients in. Many sales people agonize over the deals they lost out on, while remaining blind to just how many deals never even gave them consideration. Steve explains the importance of conversation, interactions that build relationships, and how to stay top-of-mind when a client enters a buying cycle. Three Key Takeaways: * Many smart and capable people in your org are sitting by, silently, because they aren't "map makers." Speak up early, and build your reputation as a subject matter expert. * In order to build thought leaders in your organization, you have to empower people and help them see the benefits - not just to your organization, but for their careers and reputations. * If your thought leadership boils down to "and that is why you need me," that's not thought leadership. That is just selling - and in today's market, you need more than a pitch to make your organization stand out.

How many new skills did you learn during the pandemic? The lack of face-to-face meetings required everyone to adapt, and for many, that included the ability to build connections and community online. To discuss the skills and adaptations we all needed to update our lives to fit the new modality, I've invited two good friends to join me in a chat. Nadia Bilchik is the President of Greater Impact Communications. She's a speaker, trainer, and author of Own Your Network: Expert Networking In Person & Online. James Kerr is the founder of Indispensable Consulting. He's also a speaker, as well as a leadership coach and the author of Indispensable: Build and Lead A Company Customers Can't Live Without. First, we look at the way presentations and communication skills training have changed in the wake of the first Covid outbreak. Nadia explains ways that our language has become more intentional due to the lack of ability to read body language in the virtual world. She gives advice on connecting with your audience on camera, and describes changes that will make you stand out and make your message clear. James discusses time constraints, and how we (and our audience) have begun to think about and value time differently. We no longer spend days traveling in order to accomplish a two-hour task. The ability to give a presentation in various time zones within a single day is a dramatic shift in itself, but it has also changed our understanding of real human interaction. We examine how to use online chit-chat and build toward deep "getting to know you moments" that build strong and memorable relationships. We wrap up our conversation by looking at the concept of "Zoom Fatigue." Nadia shares tips for placement of your camera, while James discusses how to interact with clients who prefer to leave their cameras off. The world has changed irrevocably, and the best thought leaders know how to keep up, adapt, and even excel in our new, digital-focused age. Three Key Takeaways: * When delivering thought leadership online ensure your camera is parallel to your eyes and you look directly into it while speaking. This gives the same effect as looking into someone's eyes while speaking in person. * While we have had to reengineer the way we do things - the what is still the same. * It is important to get to know your clients on a deep personal level when you are only able to connect with them online. Ask personal questions about family and hobbies to help develop that relationship.

What is the relationship between thought leadership and entrepreneurship? Both are forward-thinking problem solvers who know that passion and vision can take you far! To dig deeper into the ways these two paths intersect, we sit down with Mary Cronin, a research professor at Boston College. She's also the Founder and President of 4Q Catalyst LLC, a business advisory firm that provides strategy consulting, market analysis, and leadership development services. We start our conversation by discussing the similarities between thought leadership and entrepreneurship. In addition to passion and vision, both roles require a fine understanding of storytelling; a key component to success. Mary describes the impact of storytelling, and why it's often an overlooked function for start-ups as they focus on bootstrapping their business to achieve success. In May of 2021, Mary published Starting Up Smarter: Why Founders Over 50 Build Better Companies, which provides a keen look at entrepreneurs starting companies, and how their success rates were often impacted by the founder's age and experience. The book's research investigates 7 million US start-up companies over the last decade, and provides a keen look into the how's and why's of their success. Mary explains the research showing that most successful founders are in their 50s, which is also the age of many established and successful thought leaders. We further explore the traits of successful founders, and how they cross-over into successful thought leadership. Mary tells us that starting a business in your 50s means having a great sense of purpose, a willingness to partner with the younger generation, and the persistence to keep pushing forward and rethinking problems in order to achieve success. While the most successful founders are in their 50s this conversation will give you great advice to find success as a thought leader or entrepreneur at any age. Three Key Takeaways: * Good storytelling is a useful tool to ensure clients, employees, and investors fully understand your vision - whether you're building a company or creating thought leadership. * Partnering with team members or co-founders of different generations will give your work a broader reach and greater perspective. * Having an overwhelming passion for your mission, whether thought leadership or business, will go a long way to overcoming difficult challenges in your path.

What does it take to become a game-changer in your industry? We are constantly bombarded with products and brands seeking our attention and money. How can thought leadership help your brand stand out? Today, we are joined by Karen Hold, the founder of Experience Labs and co-author of Experiencing Design: The Innovator's Journey. Karen's mission is to build creative capacity in individuals, organizations, and cities, using the language of design thinking. The trick is to turn abstract thought into concrete ideas, and to visualize those ideas in a way that captures your audience's attention. Karen takes us back to the early days of her career, at Procter & Gamble, where her focus was on the Folgers Coffee brand. At the time, as Starbucks was starting to emerge, and Folgers needed a way to stand out in order to keep its share of the market. Karen shares how Folgers studied the Starbucks experience, and - due to flawed assessment - decided that the newcomer wasn't a threat to Folgers' market dominance. Fast-forward to 2022, and Starbucks has a major market share - a share that could have belonged to Folgers', if they'd determined the market need and used it to their own advantage. Determined not to miss the next big opportunity, Karen explains how she changed her thinking. As media changed and people's needs evolved, Karen realized that brands needed better tools to assess market needs - and step forward, staying ahead of the curve by visualizing the future and being ready for the next change. By preparing content with the right approach, you make sure that your thought leadership is there when the audience is ready to receive it. Karen shares even more insights in her book, and discusses the amazing experience she had working with Jeanne Liedtka and Jessica Eldridge to complete and publish her thought leadership. In addition, we learn about the digital tool for creating personal development plans that was recently launched as an add-on, giving even more value to the text and its content. Three Key Takeaways: * Don't blindly follow data. Use your instinct, experiment, and create thought leadership that sees around corners and tries new things. * Ensure that your thought leadership is available in a variety of modalities. This allows you to connect with an audience, regardless of their preferred method of communication. * Adding development tools to a thought leadership book is a method to continue the research you've begun, and expand your insights.