Leveraging Thought Leadership (Peter Winick and Bill Sherman)

The internet has changed a lot in the Thought Leader world.  The content creation cycle is a lot faster than it used to be and you can no longer just be a speaker or an author.  Something that has not changed is you have to know what you stand for.

Cathy Paper, Founder of RockPaperStar and expert in strategic assessment and coaching, joins us to share her experience in helping people develop their content and packaging themselves.

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.

2024 was an incredible year for Leveraging Thought Leadership, bringing insights from some of the brightest minds in business and thought leadership. This "Best of 2024" episode features five remarkable conversations, each offering unique strategies and perspectives on building influence and scaling ideas. If you're looking to lead with impact, this episode is packed with actionable takeaways.

Kim Scott, author of Radical Candor, reflects on the importance of managing people with authenticity and respect. She shares how frameworks like hers help leaders balance care with accountability, dismantling myths about "nice" managers finishing last.

Marcus Collins takes the mic to reveal how marketers can build deep emotional connections by starting with shared values and targeting niche communities, a strategy he applied to launch his book successfully.

Kate Bravery dives into the future of work with insights from her book Work Different. She confronts outdated HR practices and calls for agility and transparency in job architectures.

Liz Wiseman rounds out the lineup, sharing her secret to transforming keynote speeches into lasting, impactful organizational change. By creating ecosystems around her books, Liz ensures her ideas deeply embed in corporate cultures.

We finish off the episode with Peter and Bill Sherman looking at the highlights of the Book ROI project that has offered never before analyzed insights into publishing a business book.

This episode distills wisdom from top thought leaders into a concise, and powerful hour. Whether you're a seasoned author, a keynote speaker, or an aspiring influencer, you'll find inspiration and practical advice for amplifying your voice.

In this engaging episode of Thought Leadership Leverage, host Peter Winick interviews Renee Moorefield, a pioneering leader in human-centered leadership for over 25 years. Renee, the CEO and co-founder of Wisdom Works Group, has been instrumental in transforming how leaders build thriving organizations. Wisdom Works offers innovative resources and guidance to create workplaces and leadership practices that foster well-being and success.

Renee discusses the development of her intellectual property (IP). Her extensive experience in global companies highlighted a critical need: leaders often overlook human factors while focusing on financial and technical performance. Observing this trend, she brought her insights to the University of Colorado’s business school, aiming to scientifically explore the factors that contribute to thriving and stress resilience in leadership. This led to the creation of the "Framework of Thriving" under the "Be Well, Lead Well Pulse Assessment" platform. This framework redefines what it means to thrive, helping leaders understand the essential elements for success in complex environments.

Wisdom Works is now scaling its impact by working with global organizations, especially in the food and consumer goods industries. They conduct one-on-one sessions, team workshops, and organization-wide assessments to identify areas of high and low thriving. This holistic approach introduces new metrics for measuring organizational success and fosters meaningful conversations about well-being.

Additionally, Renee’s team certifies individuals in various industries to implement their tools, creating a network of approximately 225 certified Guides. Peter and Renee discuss the differences between internal and external certified guides, highlighting the unique challenges and benefits of each approach. The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the value of their tools, increasing demand for internal coaches equipped to navigate stressful times.

Ensuring the quality and consistency of their certified guides is paramount for Renee. The program sets clear expectations for knowledge, skills, and abilities, relying on an honor system for self-assessment and continuous feedback. With a 94% return on investment rate, the program’s effectiveness is evident, consistently meeting participants' needs and enhancing their capabilities.


Three Key Takeaways:

• Human-Centered Leadership is Essential: Renee Moorefield emphasizes the importance of focusing on human factors in leadership, highlighting how financial and technical performance often overshadow the well-being of people and organizational culture. Leaders need to prioritize creating thriving, sustainable environments.

• Scalable, Science-Based Frameworks: The "Framework of Thriving" and the "Be Well, Lead Well Pulse Assessment" offer a scientifically grounded approach to understanding and fostering leadership that promotes resilience and thriving. This framework helps organizations identify areas of high and low thriving, driving better performance and well-being.

• Certified Guides Enhance Impact: Certifying individuals in various industries to use Wisdom Works' tools has expanded their reach and effectiveness. With approximately 225 certified guides, the program ensures consistent quality and effectiveness, as demonstrated by a 94% return on investment rate, meeting the evolving needs of leaders and organizations.

Want to learn more about customized training?  Be sure to watch this short video where Peter Winick discusses  How much customization is needed while developing training.

Most authors spend, on average, three and a half years from the time they decide they want to write a book until the time the book hits store shelves. That is a massive investment of time that thought leaders and executives could be using to increase other revenue streams. What if you could speed the process up, without sacrificing quality?

Today’s guest, Aurora Winter, has a method for doing exactly that. Aurora is the Founder of Same Page Publishing and creator of the Spoke Author Method. Both help authors get their ideas on the page faster and on track to having a final product they can be proud of that will impact the lives of others and the author's business. Aurora is also the best-selling author of Turn Words Into Wealth: Blueprint for Your Business, Brand, and Book to Create Multiple Streams of Income & Impact (Turn Your Words Into Wealth).

Having started as a television writer and producer, she grew frustrated with the financial restraints and turned to books. As a first-time author, Aurora faced many problems. However, in solving those problems, she found a passion for helping other authors, too. Today, Aurora shares some of the common hardships authors face, and gives suggestions to help those problems be overcome.

Many authors forget they will have to promote the book themselves. While the publisher is a partner, they will publish the book and then quickly move on to the next book in their lineup. We discuss with Aurora the pros and cons of traditional vs self-publishing, why you need a clear business goal for your book, and how you should be looking at your book as a long term legacy piece.

As we wrap up, Aurora gives us the perfect example of how a solid business plan can create more revenue than book sales. She gave her book Marketing Fastrack: The Little Book That Launched A New Business: $250,000 in 90 Days (which you can download for free) away to interested readers for just the price of shipping. She followed that book with a video series, and offered "business breakthrough" sessions. After 90 days, Aurora had generated $250,000 in sales from a book she was literally giving away.

If you want to better understand how your book can amortize over the years and gain a huge ROI, you’ll want to listen to this episode!

Three Key Takeaways:

• Thought Leaders don’t have to be constantly at the keyboard. Many successful books are dictated to a team who can shape those ideas into magic.
• Once your thought leadership book is done, the real work starts. You have to put in a lot of effort to promote your book, as the publisher will only do so for a relatively short period of time.
• A book is a mass-market product, but you must have a solid strategy if you want to use that book to increase your thought leadership business.

Business can change at a breakneck pace.  How can you transform your leadership and organization to create breakthrough results at a speed that will allow your business to keep up?

Our guest Mark Samuel is the CEO of IMPAQ, an award winning speaker, and author of B State and Creating the Accountable Organization.

Mark discusses how we can use cross functional accountability to break down barriers and solve problems across the entire organization, how we can create an environment where we can count on each other and still be humans who make mistakes.

When we talk about accountability, at its core, we're talking about focused behavior change.  Peter has some advice on Behavioral Accountability

When starting out as a Thought Leader you have to find out what your values are, what your purpose is, and what you stand for?

The problems that blue-collar business face isn't all that different than those fortune 500s have to deal with.  High turnover rates, stagnating growth, and untapped potential of employees.  Are the solutions to these problems the same regardless of the business model?

Jamie Gerdsen is the President and CEO of Apollo Home a home heating & cooling and electrical company, author of Squirrels, Boats, and Thoroughbreds and Zombies Ate my Business and is connecting with traditional businesses to help them grow and renew via Main Street Leadership.

Jamie talks about how he wrote his first book from the personal lessons he had learned at Apollo Home and how with Peter's help they turned that book into an assessment that traditional businesses can use to understand where they are and ultimately how to get everyone focused in the same direction.  Jamie and Peter discuss the need to ensure that if you write a book it is filled with content people will want to read and that you are not writing it to fulfill your own ego.

Jamie has proven assessments can be a valuable asset.  If you are thinking about making your own check out our 3 Tips and Tricks for Building an Awesome Assessment.

What happens when you mix radical candor with thought leadership?

In this episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership, Peter Winick sits down with Kim Scott, author of "Radical Candor" and "Radical Respect" to explore how leaders can communicate effectively, especially when giving tough feedback. They discuss the importance of honesty, compassion, and clarity in leadership communication, showing how these principles can strengthen relationships and drive results.

Kim shares her insights on creating a culture of trust and transparency within organizations. She emphasizes that when leaders genuinely care about their team members, their feedback becomes a tool for growth, not criticism. Through real-world examples, Peter and Kim illustrate how radical candor isn’t just about being direct—it’s about balancing empathy with honesty to unlock true potential.

The conversation dives deep into the challenges leaders face when giving feedback, especially in high-pressure situations. Kim highlights the power of giving both praise and constructive criticism in a way that motivates and encourages continuous improvement. Peter and Kim also explore the nuances of how feedback can be tailored to different personalities, making it more effective and impactful.

If you're looking to elevate your leadership communication and build stronger teams, this episode offers actionable insights. Kim’s advice is clear: to lead effectively, you must care deeply, speak honestly, and encourage your people to grow without fear of failure. A must-listen for anyone looking to strengthen their leadership style.

Three Key Takeaways:

• Balancing Care with Candor: Leaders achieve greater impact when they provide honest feedback with empathy. This mix of care and candor builds trust and encourages open communication within teams.

• Authentic Relationships Drive Success: Authenticity isn’t optional. Leaders who connect genuinely with their teams—seeing them as people, not just employees—create an environment where trust and motivation thrive.

• Results and Relationships Are Partners: Effective leaders focus on both outcomes and relationships. By fostering a culture of accountability and respect, leaders help their teams excel and feel valued.

Entering the world of thought leadership without a strategy and finding success like Kim did isn't common.  Check out this article by Leveraging Thought Leadership CEO Peter Winick for tips on getting your strategy, tactics, and goals aligned early!

Today’s guest on our podcast is Jayshree Seth, Chief Science Advocate at 3M. Jayshree works to raise awareness and appreciation of science and how it aids us in our everyday life. Her first book, The Heart of Science: Engineering Footprints, Fingerprints, & Imprints furthers conversation around science advocacy, thought leadership, and inclusive progress.

In one of our most fascinating conversations to date, Jayshree shares the process she uses in the lab, and talks about the similarities between that process and the ones great thought leaders use. Through analytical thinking and empathy, she determines what people think about science, where the gaps and barriers are, and ultimately, how to overcome them.

One challenge of working in a scientific field is overcoming the stereotype that scientists are elitists; unrelatable and hard to understand. Changing people's perspectives on science is a huge task, and one that Jayshree is tackling on multiple fronts. Today, she talks about how her podcast series, Science Champions, speaks to educators and young students about science - in terms everyone can understand. She was also featured with other scientists in the documentary Not the Science Type, shattering stereotypes and inspiring young women and minorities to get involved in STEM.

Jayshree fights "science apathy" by focusing on science's relevance to everyday life. By giving her work a human context, she is able to inspire, inform, and influence those around her to action. Today's chat is a great one, and we hope all of you are inspired to listen in!

Three Key Takeaways:

• Thought Leadership needs to identify people's problems, find the gaps, and develop methods to solve those issues.
• If you are going to advocate with thought leadership, you need to be passionate as well as informed.
• Mentoring is an important part of thought leadership. Our experience and hindsight can help others avoid or overcome essential challenges.

How do you take a personality trait that many might consider a setback, and turn it into a multi-faceted business?

My guest today is Marcel Wijermars, the founder of Introverted Leadership and keynote speaker for the well-known speech, "The Introvert Way to Create a Life of Abundance."

Years ago, Marcel realized his introverted nature was having a negative impact on his professional life. He had difficulties meeting people and networking, and those challenges were holding him back in business. Through self-experimentation, Marcel created models and frameworks to help himself overcome these challenges, and now shares those insights, helping thousands of others understand and appreciate their introverted nature.

Being an introvert doesn’t mean you are shy or have poor social skills. Introversion means that you don't get energy from social interaction. Marcel shares why fellow introverts need to be more strategic around which connections give them inspiration and are most beneficial to their business. Marcel gives some valuable tips for introverts traveling and attending events to help manage the energy drain.

If you self-identify as an introvert or have associates who do this episode can help you better understand the difficulties and how to overcome them.

Three Key Takeaways:

*  Finding your audience can be as easy as looking for the symptoms of the problem you are looking to solve.

*  Don’t let what others consider a negative trait hold you back. It could in fact be the key to an entire business model.

*  Introverts need to focus their time on the connections that are most impactful to their business.

Today’s guest is Thom Singer, a renowned speaker on growth leadership, author of a dozen books including Batteries Not Included, and host of the podcast Cool Things Entrepreneurs Do.

Thom shares his journey from sales and marketing to Thought Leader and how he realized he wanted to be a keynote speaker. Thom details how he gets bookings and the various touchpoints he uses to stay on the radar of potential meeting planners. Peter and Thom discuss the sometimes difficult task of making both audiences and the planner who hired you happy.

Three Key Takeaways:

• How a Thought Leader can follow up with potential clients.
• The ways Thought Leaders can make the life of a meeting planner easier.
• Why Thought Leaders doing speaking engagements should involve themselves in the conference beyond their stage time.

In this enlightening podcast episode, Shanil Ebrahim, Partner and
National Life Sciences & Healthcare Consulting Leader at Deloitte
takes us on a journey through his professional evolution from
bioethics to consulting, shedding light on how he has become a key player in shaping the discourse around the future of healthcare.

Ebrahim begins by recounting his early career as a bioethicist, where he grappled with profound issues ranging from pediatric intensive care to end-of-life care, advocating for patients and their families during difficult times. This experience spurred him to pursue further education, obtaining a Master's in Bioethics alongside medical science and later a Ph.D. in clinical epidemiology, all while maintaining a steadfast commitment to serving underserved and vulnerable groups.

At Deloitte, Ebrahim has found a platform to amplify his impact, using his insights to identify healthcare challenges before they became apparent to others and advocating for patient-centered care. Over time, his role at Deloitte evolved from transactional problem-solving with clients to becoming a voice within the broader healthcare ecosystem. This evolution was further accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which provided an opportunity for Ebrahim to foster critical dialogue between private and public sector organizations on a national and global scale.

One of Ebrahim's key strengths lies in his ability to convene diverse stakeholders to tackle complex healthcare issues. Whether through formal national roundtables or more informal collaborative think tanks, he brings together a multidisciplinary mix of healthcare leaders, policymakers, and technologists to explore innovative solutions. By leveraging his extensive network and personal relationships, both within Deloitte and externally, Ebrahim ensures that the right voices are at the table to drive meaningful change.

However, building trust and fostering open dialogue among participants is no small feat. Ebrahim emphasizes the importance of establishing trust through long-lasting one-on-one relationships, creating an environment where individuals feel comfortable challenging each other's perspectives. This foundation of trust enables Ebrahim to facilitate conversations where participants can explore nuanced viewpoints and strategies, ultimately leading to collective action.

Three Key Takeaways:

* Complex problems require a diverse range of stakeholders from
various backgrounds and fields to come together in an open and
trusting manner to seek collaborative solutions.

* Trust is a critical part of collaboration. Through long-lasting
one-on-one relationships and transparent communication, you can create an environment where participants feel comfortable challenging each other's perspectives and exploring innovative strategies grounded in reality.

* Thought Leadership is about being agile and being able to have
insights into the changing landscape of your domain of expertise.

Is the influencer model broken? Consumers are drowning in five-star reviews and paid endorsements. But what if credibility, not clout, was the real driver of influence?

In this episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership, Peter Winick sits down with Eric Shienkop, entrepreneur, author, and tech innovator. Eric built the world’s largest community of unsigned musicians, helping them monetize their work through brand partnerships. Now, he’s taking on another industry ripe for disruption—online reviews and influencer marketing.

Eric’s company, The Desire Company, is flipping the script. Instead of influencers with massive followings but little expertise, they partner with professionals—athletes, doctors, and industry specialists—who actually know their stuff. The result? Trustworthy product recommendations that resonate with consumers in a way traditional influencer marketing no longer does.

Eric shares the evolution of his thought leadership journey, from struggling to get into boardrooms to becoming a bestselling author and sought-after speaker. He breaks down the steps that took him from white papers to keynotes to writing the book "Return of the Hustle: The Art of Marketing With Music" that made Microsoft come calling.

If you’re trying to cut through the noise, establish credibility, and build a business that thrives on trust, this conversation is packed with insights you won’t want to miss.

Three Key Takeaways:

• Credibility Beats Popularity – Consumers are growing skeptical of traditional influencer marketing, making expert-driven recommendations more valuable than ever.

• Thought Leadership Opens Doors – Writing books, publishing white papers, and speaking at events can transform expertise into opportunities and business growth.

• Industries Ripe for Disruption – Outdated systems, like the current review and influencer models, create opportunities for innovation and trust-based marketing.

Eric shows why getting the right influencer is more important than the one with the most followers.  If you want to follow in his footsteps you'll have to know your audience, and not just in general terms.  Check out this article by Peter Winick on how to clearly describe your ideal client and why being able to do so is critical.

In this episode, we dive into the often-discussed but seldom addressed divide between academics and practitioners in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) field. We welcome two esteemed guests: Dr. Amanda Diekman, Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Associate Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs at Indiana University, and Jayshree Seth, Chief Science Advocate and Corporate Scientist at 3M.

Dr. Diekman acknowledges the existence of a gap between academia and industry, suggesting that it persists partly because people believe it does. However, she emphasizes that the divide can be bridged through effort, communication, and setting clear expectations. The most immediate impact of academic work is when students apply it in their careers, indicating a strong need for better alignment between academic research and industry practice.

Jayshree Seth uses the metaphor of "paths not taken" to explain the academic-practitioner divide. She points out that when people stick to the familiar, the less-traveled routes become increasingly invisible. To bridge the gap, individuals must step out of their comfort zones and embrace new approaches, even if it means learning new rules and navigating uncharted territory.

Jayshree and Amanda share a common interest in understanding why women, who earn STEM degrees, often do not pursue careers in STEM. Jayshree approached this issue from a social science perspective, seeking ways to ensure persistence among women in STEM fields. Amanda, with a background in gender roles and representation, found stability in the gender distribution within STEM unexplained by conventional narratives. Their collaboration aimed to identify and address the signals that deter women and minorities from engaging with STEM.

Jayshree's role as Chief Science Advocate at 3M emerged from the company's efforts to understand public perception of science, which revealed that many people believed science had little impact on their lives. This realization motivated her to advocate for science and connect with like-minded researchers like Amanda. Amanda's research on gender roles and communal goals resonated with Jayshree's experience, leading to their collaboration.

Amanda and Jayshree conducted a study to examine how goal congruity, the alignment between personal goals and workplace or academic values, affects students' engagement in STEM. They focused on communal goals, recognizing that a lack of context, collaboration, and empowerment might deter underrepresented groups. The study sought to document the psychological benefits of nudging students toward a purpose-driven approach in STEM, highlighting the need to shift the culture to foster inclusion and belonging.

Jayshree identifies three critical areas where communal goals play a role in STEM: contextualization, collaboration, and empowerment. She shares her journey of feeling out of place in a male-dominated lab, only to discover the importance of her work later. At 3M, she found these communal goals embraced, contributing to a more inclusive environment.

The PRISM (Purpose Reflection in STEM Modalities) project is an effort to provide practical tools for STEM faculty to create assignments that encourage students to reflect on their purpose and engage in meaningful conversations. This initiative, funded by 3M, aims to bridge the gap between academia and industry, promoting STEM equity and supporting minoritized talent pipelines.

Both Amanda and Jayshree share their visions for the future. Jayshree hopes to see the PRISM curriculum become mandatory in STEM classes, fostering a sense of belonging and encouraging students to align their goals with communal values. Amanda envisions a broader cultural shift that creates more space for diverse values and perspectives in STEM, ultimately leading to increased retention and success among faculty and students alike.

Join us as we explore these critical topics and uncover actionable steps to bridge the gap between academia and industry in STEM, ultimately creating a more inclusive and supportive environment for all.

Three Key Takeaways:

• Bridging the Academic-Practitioner Divide: The divide between academia and industry in STEM is real but can be overcome with better communication, clearer expectations, and a focus on shared goals. Both academic researchers and industry practitioners need to explore untaken paths and learn from each other to close this gap.

Want to know if your content will get you in the door with enterprise clients? Peter is joined by Thought Leadership Leverage's COO, Bill Sherman, for a conversation about the strategy of scaling your content for major enterprise clients. Bill's expertise on the training industry shines as the conversation covers the importance of digital and accessible training programs in a landscape of reduced training budgets and higher than ever expectations. 

Step into the world of thought leadership with host Bill Sherman on the latest episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership. Joining him is Anton Skornyakov, the Managing Director and co-founder of Agile.Coach, who brings a wealth of knowledge from his diverse background in mathematics, physics, and teaching Scrum methodologies. Anton's journey into the realms of leadership and coaching offers a fascinating exploration of how technical expertise can be translated into accessible language for beginners.

Anton's multilingual proficiency – with Russian as his first language, followed by German, and English as his third – adds an interesting layer to his ability to communicate complex ideas in a clear and relatable manner. As he delves into the intricacies of teaching Scrum and workplace transformation, he shares valuable insights on the art of moving from highly technical jargon to language that resonates with beginners. His approach is rooted in active listening and attentiveness to the audience, ensuring that concepts are conveyed effectively and comprehensively.

A key aspect of Anton's teaching methodology lies in the use of metaphors drawn from everyday experiences. One of his favorite metaphors involves assembling Ikea shelves, which serves as an analogy for understanding knowledge work. By comparing the process of assembling furniture to the nature of knowledge work – where the majority of time is spent on cognitive tasks rather than physical labor – Anton provides a tangible framework for grasping complex concepts. Through such relatable examples, he emphasizes the importance of managing knowledge work effectively to drive success in various industries.

When it comes to identifying his target audience, Anton emphasizes the value of specificity. His insights are tailored for middle management professionals tasked with organizing work for their teams, regardless of the industry they operate in. By distilling his expertise into actionable advice, Anton aims to empower leaders with practical strategies for navigating unpredictable projects and fostering a culture of innovation and collaboration. His goal is to make his insights accessible and applicable to a wide range of professionals, from software developers to non-profit managers.

Anton's journey from training to writing his book reflects his commitment to validating ideas through real-world applications. By testing his material through blog articles and training sessions, he ensures that his insights resonate with his audience and offers tangible value. His upcoming challenge in thought leadership involves generalizing his insights even further, drawing on patterns from physics to provide enlightening "A-ha" moments for managers. As he continues to explore new frontiers in leadership and workplace transformation, Anton Skornyakov's insights promise to inspire and empower leaders across industries. Tune in to this captivating episode for a deep dive into the world of thought leadership and practical strategies for success.

Three Key Takeaways:

 • Effective Communication: Anton Skornyakov's approach to bridging technical language with accessible explanations underscores the importance of active listening and adaptability in communication. By leveraging everyday metaphors, he demonstrates how complex concepts can be made relatable to beginners, fostering understanding and engagement.

 • Embracing Knowledge Work: Anton highlights the significance of understanding knowledge work in modern-day tasks, where cognitive tasks often outweigh physical labor. Through relatable examples like assembling Ikea shelves, he emphasizes the need for effective management of knowledge work to drive success across various industries.

 • Audience-Centric Approach: Anton's focus on targeting middle management professionals underscores the value of specificity in thought leadership. By tailoring his insights to meet the needs of this audience segment, he aims to empower leaders with practical strategies for navigating unpredictable projects and fostering a culture of innovation and collaboration.

How does a thought leader get an audience to take notice, remember, and actively use the content you are putting out?

To get a firm grasp of exactly what engagement means and how to get your audience there, I’ve invited Scott Gould to join me. Scott is a consultant, speaker, and author of The Shape of Engagement: The Art of Building Enduring Connections with Your Customers, Employees, and Communities.

Our conversation begins with Scott not only defining what engagement is but how he has broken out into three types. Head, Hands, and Heart engagement – while each is very different, we learn how they act as building blocks on each other to create deeper connections between you, your idea, and your audience.

A big part of having an audience become engaged is presenting an idea that is easy to understand and remember. Scott shares his process for distilling an idea down to the essentials, which sometimes means blowing the idea up to something huge first!

In this episode Scott offers great insight for taking ideas from brainstorm to living at the heart of an audience!

Three Key Takeaways:

·         Properly defining the topic you want your thought leadership to center around is one of the biggest jobs that you have.

·         The name of an idea is incredibly important. People engage with ideas when it is easy to remember the essence of that idea.

·         Sharpening ideas to the finest point often involves discarding ideas that you like but don’t connect with your audience.

Today’s guest is the “Dean of Innovation” Jeff DeGraff, is the founder of the Innovatrium an innovation consulting firm focusing on creating innovation culture, capability, and community.  Jeff is also a business professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and bestselling author of The Creative Mindset.

Jeff sits down with Peter to discuss how positive deviance is the driving force behind innovation and why bureaucracy both can stifle progress by attempting to pull everything into a more traditional standard.

Jeff explains his business model, how it evolved, and how finding new applications for established schools of thought has allowed him to create hybrid schools that have become the key to innovation.

Last Jeff tells us the four things you should think about in your life, why they are important, and why for better or worse you need to own them!

If you are the creative type, feeling stifled by red tape this episode will give you the insight you need to charge forward!

Three Key Takeaways:

• Cutting edge thought leadership will often feel deviant to the norms because it does not fit into the established standards.
• Thought leaders should surround themselves with other talented people that will challenge your thinking and force you to regularly evolve.
• Often there is no career for thought leaders. You’ll need to create your own job and make it up as you go.

Have you ever been presented with a stack of data that makes you feel like your eyes are going to fall out?  Is there a way to receive that data in a meaningful way that you can understand?

Our guest Dr. Stephanie Evergreen is the CEO of "Evergreen Data", author of "Effective Data Visualization", "Presenting Data Effectively" and the expert in data visualization.

Stephanie shares her journey from academic to Thought Leader and the challenges in moving between the two.  She discusses with Peter how she got a book published and the doors having the book opened for her.

This episode is chalked full of great tips for academics, Thought Leaders, authors, and speakers so be sure to listen in.

With so much data out there it can be hard to find the insights into it.  Peter has some thoughts on how to find the right insight.

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.

Today we have two guests from FLSmidth, a company that provides global cement and mining industries with factories, machinery, and knowhow.  William Leahy is a Senior Marketing/Communications Manager & Strategist for the mining industry. Morten Fløe Knudsen leads Thought Leadership Communication for the cement industry.

Together William and Morten explain how they use thought leadership to carry on conversations with customers and make their brand known as the go-to people for an industry with a long buying cycle. They share how FLSmidth is focused on sustainability and how digitization plays a big role in making scarce resources go further than ever before.

In this episode, William and Morten give invaluable advice for any thought leader who works in an industry with a sales cycle that measures in years, not months or weeks.

Three Key Takeaways:

·         How thought leadership can be used to influence long sales cycles and keep you relevant.

·         Why digitization is playing a big part of their thought leadership.

·         What audience and issues thought leaders need to keep in mind when dealing with long sales cycles.

How do you get booked as a speaker when no one knows you? And how do you stand out in a crowded market?

Cam Beaudoin has cracked the code. A former speaker on disability inclusion and accessibility, Cam now helps speakers create powerful demo reels that get them noticed—and hired. He joins me on Leveraging Thought Leadership to share why most speaker reels miss the mark and what you need to do instead.

We break down the myths about demo reels, why a flashy highlight reel won’t get you booked, and how to craft a video that makes event planners say, “This is the speaker we need.” Cam also reveals a simple yet overlooked strategy to build credibility—even if you don’t have a big-stage clip yet.

If you’re a speaker (or want to be), this episode is a masterclass in making yourself irresistible to event organizers.


Three Key Takeaways:

• Your speaker reel is a sales tool, not just a highlight reel. It should clearly show how you solve a problem for event planners and their audiences.

• You don’t need a big-stage clip to create a compelling reel. Interviews, media appearances, and even small-stage footage can establish credibility and showcase your expertise.

• Getting booked isn’t just about great content—it’s about marketing. A strong demo reel gets you the call; your job is to convert that into a paid speaking gig.

If you want some additional tips to make your demo reel sizzle, check out this article by Leveraging Thought Leadership COO Bill Sherman.

Every day, we are berated with advertising for products and services trying to convince us to switch to their brand. What makes us take pause and pay attention is no longer the fear of missing out. Audiences want to find meaning in the products they buy and activities they take part in. So, how can you convey to your customer that your brand has meaning?

Our guest today is Emmanuel Probst, Global Lead of Brand Thought Leadership at Ipsos, where they are passionately curious about society, markets, and providing a game changing understanding of the world to help clients make faster, smarter and bolder decisions. He is also the author of Brand Hacks: How to Build Brands by Fulfilling the Consumer Quest for Meaning. In this book, Emmanuel shows us how to use simple hacks to create and grow brands that deliver meaning — even with a limited budget.

We ask Emmanuel, “What is the quest for meaning in branding? Why do people care about some brands and almost instantly forget others?" and his answers deliver! Emmanuel helps us understand why customers are seeking meaning and why companies need to focus on creating long term strategies that incorporate feelings of nostalgia, joy, and empathy. That's what makes people want to come back year after year.

Next, we move to discuss how thought leadership connects to branding and how the thought leader needs to inject a level of self into their work regardless of where it can be found. We study how academics and practitioners often have a large gap between each other, when in fact they can learn a lot from each other.  Emmanuel teaches us to bridge that gap and bring complex ideas to customers in simple, intuitive, and relevant ways.

We round out the conversation with Emmanuel's thoughts on why thought leadership works at Ipsos, and how true  leadership involves listening to what the market wants to learn, hear, and monetize. From there, they help the customer answer the questions of “So What?" and "What Now?” by giving them ideas that are relevant and actionable to the market.

This is a great episode for everyone interested in brand-building. Listen in!

Three Key Takeaways:

• Thought Leaders need to help clients create a brand that has meaning, in order to create customer loyalty.
• The fear of missing out brings short term results, but creating a positive emotional connection with a brand will make consumers invest for the long term.
•      Great thought leadership ideas shouldn't be complex! Find ways to make your concepts quick and easy to understand.

It is almost unavoidable that technology is going to be part of our daily lives. What is the impact and potential of technology in our lives? How can we rewire our brain to mange it all in a healthy and productive way?

Our guest Brian Solis is the Principle analyst at Altimeter Group, a keynote speaker, and author of Lifescale and X: The Experience When Business Meets Design.

Brian shares his journey through the years of technological advances and his role in the silicone valley.  We dive into how companies use persuasive design, the long term effects of it, and how we can use content in Lifescale to better manage our digital time to live a more creative, productive, and happy life.

Brain has spent years researching the facts behind his newest book Lifescale  If you have content you need assistance researching consider making Thought Leadership Leverage part of your team.

Today’s guest is Christopher Brace, a global executive successful at building highly effective integrated marketing teams across complex organizations to drive awareness and product sales.

We start our conversation off by discussing how you can emotionally bond customers to a brand of consumer product and how these same techniques can be used to create an emotional connection to an idea.

Christopher shares how he gets his customers to tell the stories that connect them to a brand, how he is able to fast track focus groups to get to the emotional core, and how that information can be used to tell a story that can inspire and ultimately alter behavior.

It takes more than simply getting people emotional to create loyalty, you first have to dislodge customers from old ideas before they’ll accept the new ones.  Christopher walks us through that process and why you have to be careful to not attempt to change too many behaviors at one time or you risk people digging in and not budging at all.

This episode is a fascinating look at how emotion can rule our choices over rational thinking and how thought leaders can use that for a positive change!

Three Key Takeaways:

• Thought leadership that connects on an emotional level allows you to engage people in your brand's story and inspire them to action.
• Research into what clients like or dislike about your thought leadership content has to move beyond rational thinking and into the emotional realm in which we often make choices.
• The average person is only capable of changing three behaviors at a time.  To avoid clients resisting change ensure your thought leadership does not attempt to change many habits too quickly.

Welcome to Leveraging Thought Leadership! Today’s guest is Stu Manewith, Director of Advocacy and Thought Leadership at Omatic Software. Omatic Software deals in data integration for non-profits, helping them maintain and grow donors and donations. His thought leadership changes lives!

Before joining the team at Omatic Software, Stu worked as a fundraising director for non-profits for 16 years. His deep experience gives him an exceptional view of the sector, and taught him to understand the needs of both software vendors and fundraisers. By marrying those two interests, Stu was able to create incredible insights. His work became a turning point, helping non-profits achieve even greater mission impact though using cleaner, more integrated data and finding effective pressure points.

Stu talks about the epiphany that made him realize that non-profits could better serve their customers by studying past stories, tracking data points, and comparing the outcomes. Utilizing this process, he's been able to better deploy software into non-profits, helping them create case-studies, assess previous assumptions, and create new, stronger methods of fundraising. In turn, those case studies have shaped informational blogs, webinars, and internal training documents to raise awareness both inside and outside non-profit fields.

Thought leadership practitioners often debate the advantages and challenges of top-down versus bottom-up approaches to organizational education. Stu chimes in with his thoughts on why bottom-up has worked better for him and his clients. He uses that approach to learn about customers and their problems, taking those issues to heart. In this manner, he helps non-profits place the customer's needs first, allowing the organization's success to grow naturally from that good work.

If you deal often with non-profits, or if you seek to understand the importance of data integration to thought leadership, this conversation offers clarity and inspiration. Stu offers a ton of valuable insights, so you might want to listen to this one twice!

Three Key Takeaways:

• If you want people to listen to your thought leadership insights, be sure to present yourself as a trusted subject matter and domain expert.
• Never undervalue the importance of listening! Through understanding a client or customer's needs, you gain an intimate knowledge of their problems, making it easier to create custom solutions.
•        Get out those case studies! Study them, challenge the outcomes, and turn that content into blogs, webinars, and other great learning tools.

Once you realize that your company needs a full-fledged thought leadership role, how do you make that vision a reality? What information should be included in your proposal? Who do you need to buy-in, and what would the role entail?

These are some of the questions we explore in this episode. Our guest is Erica James, Director of Customer Marketing and Thought Leadership at Medallia. Medallia's award-winning SaaS platform, the Medallia Experience Cloud, leads the market in the understanding and management of experience for customers, employees, and citizens by utilizing a proprietary AI technology to turn personalized and predictive insights into tremendous business results.

We explore the journey Erica has taken; from her instinctive talent for thought leadership, to pitching and developing her formal position as thought leader at Medallia. Erica describes how she knew the position would benefit the company, the way her personal love of thought leadership played a part in getting executive buy-in, and the way her new role increases employee satisfaction throughout the entire organization.

Erica shares with us the way feedback from current clients is a source of inspiration, as she takes their requests for information and turns that into a drive that shapes content. She discusses the many people who have come out of the woodwork to work with her now that her position is formalized, and how she shines the spotlight on them (both internally and externally) to develop their brand.

Finally, we discuss the methods of coaching Erica employs to move others along the thought leader road. By using an apprenticeship model she is able to make meaningful relationships and then by breaking down thought leadership into bite-sized chunks, she makes the task manageable and more comfortable for new practitioners to accomplish.

This episode gives amazing insights and pathways toward standing up a new thought leadership role inside an organization, and will be useful to those looking to become thought leaders as well as to executives wanting to create a thought leadership function inside their organization. Be sure to listen in!

Three Key Takeaways:

• Thought Leadership is like a marching band. Everyone on the team has a unique role that adds to the harmony of the music.
• When adding a thought leadership function to an organization, start with the question, “What outcome are we trying to reach?”
• People are seeking thought leadership content that is authentic and approachable. The personal touch can carry you far! 

Peter is joined by The Trusted Advisor Charles H. Green to discuss the power of trust and how to create it in business and how building trust translates to more sales, improved relationships, and better clients.

Charles explains why he shares so much of his content for free and how it pays dividends to his business as a thought leader. He also explores how to successfully license content for long term success and what he has learned licensing his own content.

There are tons of great tips on building a brand, producing great thought leadership products, and qualifying your customers. 

Whether you are just starting your Thought Leadership practice or looking to expand you are going to need cash flow.  Creating multiple revenue streams and being smart about where you spend your hard-earned income can be a challenge even for veterans in the field.

Our guest Ken "Mr. Biz" Wentworth is the author of the best-selling books Pathway to Profits and How to be a Cash Flow Pro.  He is also the host of the Mr. Biz radio show where he shares more than 20 years of experience with his listeners.

Mr. Biz explains how someone who doesn't enjoy writing ended up with on the best-sellers list, plus he describes how you can extract value from your book by giving it away!  Plus we talk about creating multiple price points for content to serve a wider clientele that you might not be able to reach otherwise.

Right now Mr. Biz has an incredible offer for his Profit Program.  If you are looking for a financial tune-up of your business this might be the solution you've been looking for.

Getting your book on the best-seller list isn't an easy task, but we've got some great tips to help you get there.

Ready, Aim, Fire! It is time to get crystal clear about what you are selling and what the promise the solution you are selling is.

Jane Atkinson, is the author of "The wealthy speaker 2.0" and "The Epic Keynote" and host of “Wealthy Speaker Podcast”. Jane has worked her entire life to help people answer the question “To whom or what are you devoted?”

As one of the top business managers for speakers Jane helps busts some common myths around speaking, asks the what you sales superpower is, and helps tackle the hard conversation of fees and selling when you are both seller and product.

Many speakers want to pack all their content into a forty minute keynote. Peter gives some advice on why that might not be a good idea.

Are you truly connected—to yourself, to others, to your purpose?

Dr. Adam Dorsay, psychologist, TEDx speaker, and author, joins me for a deep conversation on how connection shapes our lives. From working with Silicon Valley execs to writing his new book Super Psyched, Adam explores the ways we build (or neglect) meaningful connections.

We dive into the challenges of self-awareness, the dangers of distraction, and why so many high-achievers struggle with emotional depth. Adam shares powerful insights on how small, intentional shifts can lead to richer relationships, greater resilience, and a more fulfilling life.

He also opens up about his own journey—overcoming dyslexia and ADHD, reinventing himself in midlife, and learning to communicate his ideas in a way that truly resonates. Whether you’re a leader, creator, or someone seeking more meaning, this episode will inspire you to rethink how you engage with the world around you.

And if you’ve ever struggled to finish a book, Adam has some surprising lessons on what it really takes to turn big ideas into something lasting.

Tune in to rethink connection, intention, and what it means to be truly alive.

• Connection Starts with You – Many people look outward when they feel disconnected, blaming relationships, work, or circumstances. But real, lasting connection begins with self-awareness and intentionality. If you don’t connect with yourself first, every other connection will suffer.

• Distraction is the Enemy of Meaningful Relationships – Social media, endless to-do lists, and digital distractions are stealing our ability to be present. Small, intentional actions—like sending a thoughtful voice message or truly listening in a conversation—can transform our personal and professional relationships.

• Intentional Living Requires Effort – Most people let life happen to them rather than actively shaping their experiences. Taking time to reflect on what truly brings joy and fulfillment can help avoid the regret of “love left on the table.” Thought leaders must apply the same strategic thinking to their personal lives as they do to their work.

Adam explores the critical role of self-awareness and intentionality in building meaningful connections. In this short video, Peter highlights how a lack of self-awareness can unknowingly lead to self-sabotage.

Welcome to another insightful episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership with your host, Peter Winick. Today, we are honored to have Dr. Pradeepkumar Sacitharan, the CEO of Donsfield, a distinguished global business and trade development firm dedicated to empowering individuals and organizations to expand and reach their full potential. Dr. Sacitharan is also the author of "99 Trillion Helpers To Improve Your Gut Health: How To Boost Your Metabolism, Productivity, And General Wellbeing In As Little As A Month Without Popping Any Pills," a groundbreaking book that explores the transformative power of gut health on overall wellness.

Join us as Pradeep shares his remarkable journey of resilience and
triumph, from being a war refugee smuggled into London by his brave mother to navigating the challenges of growing up in social housing surrounded by gangs. Despite facing adversity, including a serious gang fight that left him in a coma, Dr. Sacitharan remained determined to change his life trajectory. Through sheer perseverance and an unwavering commitment to self-improvement, he embarked on a path of education and discovery that ultimately led him to Oxford and Harvard, catalyzing his thinking on the world and what is possible.

Dr. Sacitharan's journey is a testament to the power of resilience,
determination, and the transformative potential of education. From dropping out of high school at 16 to becoming an associate professor and VP of Development in Biotech, he defied the odds and carved out a path to success that few could have imagined. His story serves as an inspiration to individuals from all walks of life, demonstrating that with passion, perseverance, and grit, anything is possible.

As a thought leader and visionary entrepreneur, Dr. Sacitharan is
driven by a singular mission: to be of service to his species and
inspire the next generation to reach new heights. Pradeep shares
invaluable insights on the importance of emotional drive, setting bold goals, and the fundamental role of sales in every aspect of life. From overcoming personal and professional hardships to navigating the complexities of the business world, his wisdom and experience offer invaluable lessons for aspiring thought leaders and entrepreneurs alike.

Join us as we delve into the mind of Dr. Pradeepkumar Sacitharan and discover the secrets to unlocking your full potential and making a lasting impact in the world.

If you want to set bold goals for your own career or business but are not sure where to start reach out to Peter Winick, CEO of Thought Leadership Leverage to discuss what strategies we can provide to propel you forward.

Three Key Takeaways:

• Resilience and Determination: Dr. Pradeepkumar Sacitharan's journey from being a war refugee to a successful entrepreneur underscores the importance of resilience and determination in overcoming adversity and achieving one's goals.

• Emotional Drive and Purpose: The episode highlights the significance of emotional drive and purpose in fueling personal and professional success. Dr. Sacitharan emphasizes the importance of identifying what emotionally drives you and using that passion to fuel your journey toward your goals.

• Sales as a Fundamental Skill: Dr. Sacitharan discusses the role of
  sales in every aspect of life, from personal relationships to
  professional endeavors. He stresses the importance of developing
  strong sales skills and emphasizes that salesmanship is essential for building meaningful connections and achieving success in today's world.

If you're looking to position yourself as an authority, grow your audience, and market yourself as a thought leader, do not miss this episode. 

From the hosting chair on ForbesBooks Radio, we're joined by Gregg Stebben for this week's episode to share his insights on the world of podcasting, publishing, and interviewing. Gregg's experience as a successful author has led him to join the Forbes publishing group and help other thought leaders achieve success in publishing and marketing their next book. His experience is invaluable for a thought leader looking to market their next book project and the episode is full of great tips. 

Today’s guest is Adam Bryant, Managing Director at The ExCo Group (formerly Merryck & Co. Americas). The Exco Group specializes in helping boards, executives, and teams unlock their full leadership potential and deliver high-impact performance for their enterprises. Adam is also the author of The CEO Test: Master the Challenges That Make or Break All Leaders; a book that focuses on the seven most critical reasons leaders succeed or fail.

Adam hasn’t always been a Thought Leader. For 30 years, he had a successful career as a journalist, editor, and columnist, primarily at The New York Times. As he honed his communication skills and learned the ins-and-outs of complex teams, Adam focused on the question: “What if we interviewed a CEO for an article and didn't discuss their business background?” Instead, he focused the conversation around the lessons of leadership, culture, hiring, and talent, to see what made high-powered leaders flourish and grow. 

Over 10 years, Adam interviewed 525 CEOs. Those lessons eventually became a book: The Corner Office: Indispensable and Unexpected Lessons from CEOs on How to Lead and Succeed. In it, he presented the insights and advice he gleaned through those interviews in order to to help others master the steep learning curve of leadership.

In today's episode, Adam discusses his skills as a journalist, and how they positioned him to elevate others through the practice of thought leadership. He credits that background with his impressive ability to see patterns, focus on the essence of an issue, and find insights in both challenges and success - and share those gifts with others. If you're feeling blocked, this is the episode that can show you how to find your strengths and bring them into the game!

Three Key Takeaways:

• Non-traditional questions can be a great way for Thought Leaders to gain new insight. 
• Thought Leaders can find strong, accessible examples of leadership lessons in TV and movies.
• Thought Leadership might start out as a "side-hustle," but if nurtured properly, can take on a life of its own!

The art of customer experience can be a difficult thing to master. Determining the content you audience wants, in what format, and even if you should co-create can lead to different end results and different experience journeys for the client.

Our guest Claus Raasted is the co-founder and director of the College of Extraordinary Experiences, Senior adviser to McKinsey, author, coach, and host of The Business of Extraordinary Experiences podcast.

Claus has a long history of experience design that started in his teens doing Live Action Role Playing. Claus shares with Peter how NOT being a perfectionist allows him to get things done and produce content at an alarming rate. We debate the time and place to bring your A-game and when it's okay to simply get the content out to the world. Plus we explore how to deal with the gap that might exist between your level of content creation and the level at which your audience can consume and comprehend it.

Claus has no problem finding his productivity but often it can be a hurdle to get over. TLL has a perspective on how tension can Improve Productivity.  

Today’s guest is Brandon Steiner, the founder of the Steiner Agency and Collectible Exchange, host of Unplugged Podcast, and author of You Gotta Have Balls and The Business Playbook.  Brandon is a sports marketer, renowned motivational speaker, and creator of the Everything Bagel!

Brandon shares how he actually created the Everything Bagel in 1973 before starting Steiner Sports where he represented athletes for speaking engagements and corporate appearances.  Brandon talks about how the blog he started opened the door to become a speaker and author. He explains how he is open and honest, which might not always be pretty but creates a close connection with the audience.

We also discuss how Brandon branched out from his sports crowd to join the McKay Group to grow as a speaker and author.

Three Key Takeaways:

• Thought leaders need to create content for their audience to get to know them and trust their voice.
• Thought Leadership should be truthful and transparent, even when it shows the hardships of your journey.
• If you thought leadership encourages others to grow and change, you need to be able to grow and change as well.

Today’s guest is Steve Markman, who has headed the conference divisions for Comdex and The Conference Board before launching his own firm Markman Speaker Management in 1994 where he provides executive visibility and speaker bureau services.

Steve gives us some insight into the free-speaking circuit and how executives and organizations can get raise visibility, gain credibility, and get their thought leadership message out to large audiences. We discuss what conference organizers look for when speakers submit proposals, who you want your audience to be, and why COVID-19 isn’t the end of the speaking industry.

If you are a speaker waiting for COVID-19 to pass, you need to hear this episode and learn how you can get speaking from the comfort of your home.

Three Key Takeaways:

• Why thought leaders should consider speaking for free.
• What thought leaders should absolutely avoid doing when pitching to conferences for speaking gigs.
• What thought leader speaks should be doing to be prosperous in a COVID-19 workplace.

The most important thing as a Thought Leaders is to be generous with your thoughts and to be generous with your help.

Lee Caraher, President of Double Forte and author of "Millennials & Management"  is generous with her help today sharing her experience dealing with Millennials in the work place, having a book deal dropped into her lap, and why you need to own your own content space.

Working 40 hours has been accepted as the "standard work week" since Henry Ford implemented it almost 100 years ago. What would happen if we focused more on the outcomes that we wanted from our labor, instead of focusing on the time it takes to accomplish them? Could we learn to work less and do more?

Our guest today is Joe Sanok, host of the popular The Practice of the Practice, the #1 Podcast for counselors in private practice and one of the top 50 podcasts worldwide! Joe has gone from working as a full time physiologist to teaching others how to structure their practice in a way that will increase ROI and reduce time spent working. Joe's also is the author of Thursday Is the New Friday: How to Work Fewer Hours, Make More Money, and Spend Time Doing What You Want.

Today, Joe shares his story; from working at a Community College, to building a strong and profitable side practice that made more than his full time job. Learning how to leverage his gifts helped Joe make the journey to becoming a thought leader, starting a podcast, and helping others think differently about mental health in the workplace.

In addition, Joe is helping counselors in private practice build their business and their brands. We discuss how to effectively use your time, why you should find clients that are the right fit for you, and ways to outsource the things you are not good at. It's possible to build healthy teams by asking the right questions!

Finally, we wrap up by discussing Joe’s book Thursday Is the New Friday, which offers exercise, tools, and training to help people create the work schedule they want — and the results they need: less work and greater income!

Three Key Takeaways:

• Thought Leaders can accomplish more by outsourcing less important tasks, or things they are not good at, in order to focus on important matters.
• By specializing your thought leadership, you can be a more effective help to your clients and outpace your competition.
•  It's easier to convince clients to buy into your Thought Leadership when you can clearly explain the way your fee will save the client time and increase their ROI.

Advertising and innovation are perhaps the two most important components of a company, and both are changing faster than ever before. So, how can advertisers better understand and harness the influence of social media content creators?

Our guest on this episode is Geoffrey Colon, Head of Brand Studio at Microsoft Advertising and the author of Marketing: What Growth Hackers, Data Punks, and Other Hybrid Thinkers Can Teach Us About Navigating the New Normal. Geoffrey is well qualified to discuss how individual creators and organizations are being challenged to think about accountability, and how their message and actions affect their reputation.

We start off the conversation by discussing how every action taken by your company and its employees is a marketing action, even if you don’t intend it to be. Geoffrey explains why companies need to consider how they are seen - from interactions with customer service, to social media, to advertising campaigns and thought leadership. Are you presenting a clear and consistent message?

Content creators on TikTok and Instagram are capable of massive reach and influence. With that in mind, what can be learned from their methods? Geoffrey talks to us about the changing world of public relations, and how companies can team up with like-minded influencers to create unique campaigns that are mutually beneficial.

We round out the conversation by discussing how thought leadership can help build a brand's reputation. Geoffrey goes on to explain how this can only be done when an organization's thought leadership matches the actions being taken by the company. Trust is immediately lost when the audience sees a company speak about something they clearly don't understand, or worse, when the organization's actions are contrary to their thought leadership message.

If you want a better picture of how to bet on the future of your company's public relations and reputation you’ll want to listen to this episode!

Three Key Takeaways:

• Thought Leadership should stay true to the actions of the company. Don’t tell others about customer service practices if your company is known for having bad customer service.
• Brands can reach new audiences by teaming up with content creators to spread the thought leadership message of their company.
• It is important for thought leaders to understand not only the financial standing of the company they are working for but the ethical standing as well.

As a Thought Leader you might be tempted to hold back from putting all of your content into a book.  Stephen M. R. Covey author of “The Speed of Trust”, co-founder and CEO of CoveyLink sits down with Peter to talk about why it is okay to put your content out there, how to find the right modality for your client, and how you can make your margin by serving your mission. 

Today’s guest is Jim Kouzes the coauthor with Barry Posner of the award-winning and best-selling book, The Leadership Challenge. He's also the Dean’s Executive Fellow of Leadership, Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University.

Jim tells us about his first meeting with Barry and how they quickly became best friends.  That friendship and their complementary skills and interests led to writing The Leadership Challenge which has sold more than two million copies worldwide!

Jim’s focus on the applied and Barry’s emphasis on research has allowed them to develop the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) a standard 360 leadership assessment.  Jim explains the process of creating LPI and how real-life examples play heavily into the ability of clients to grasp the concepts.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way many people work and think.  Jim discusses the changes in leaders and what employees look for in leadership due to the pandemic and whether we can expect these changes to subside as we move forward or if some of them will become the new norm.

If you want a deep understanding of how evidence-based research can become applied skills you can use in daily life this is a great episode for you!

Three Key Takeaways:

• When collaborating on Thought Leadership try to work with those who have complementary skills and not competing interests. 
• Your Thought Leadership should not include anything you cannot factually demonstrate.
• Real-life stories of how your Thought Leadership has worked can help others understand the principles of your content.

For any thought leader looking to use podcasting as part of their business development and branding, listen in to this week's episode. Peter is joined by author, speaker, and podcaster Andy Paul and their conversation covers the essential skills needed for podcasting as a thought leader. 

Andy's deep understanding of the sales process and brand building provide an excellent template for thought leaders who are looking to make a splash with their content and bring it to market using podcasts as part of their branding. 

Today’s guest is Lindy Greer, an associate professor of management and organization at the University of Michigan and Faculty Director of the Sanger Leadership Center.  She focuses on how to design and lead effective organizational teams, with specific interests in intra-group hierarchy, conflict, diversity, leadership, and emotion.

Lindy introduces us to what is being taught to leaders and how science and data are playing a bigger role in the instruction than ever before. We explore what companies are looking for in leadership both from the perspective of older audiences and in the digital world.

Lindy spends some time sharing her experience publishing her content beyond the world of academia, how to gain credibility and tips for co-authoring!

We wrap the episode up discussing distance working and learning, as well as the best practices being used to create a more efficient and productive workforce for remote working

Three Key Takeaways:

• What traits thought leaders need to consider for good leadership.
• How thought leaders can gain credibility and get published in various mediums.
• What thought leaders can do to create a strong team working remotely.

What you want from your content can often change based on the demands of your audience.  How do you let go of preconceived notions to make way for what people really want?

We are excited to have Linda Fisher Thornton as our guest!  Linda is an innovative leadership consultant with a passion for ethical leadership.  She is the CEO of “Leading in Context”, an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Leadership for The University of Richmond School of Professional and Continuing Studies and the author of  "7 Lenses".

Linda shares how writing her book has meant having to change to meet the demands of her audience and how they want to consume her content.  She shares how easy to get attached to an idea and how great things can be when you let go to explore the way things need to be.

Linda tells us how she overcame all the reasons to not write her book and answered the call to do the work she knew would help people.  Getting started can be the easy part, Peter offers advice on how to not just start, but reach the finish line.

Part of thought leadership is making the invisible, visible.
When that happens, it can challenge beliefs and make people uncomfortable and defensive.

So, how can you break through feelings, and make change deeply significant to that future?

Our guest today is Dr. Suzanne Wertheim, the Founder, and CEO of Worthwhile Research & Consulting, where she uses her expertise to improve hiring, organizational culture, engagement and retention. She is also the author of The Inclusive Language Field Guide: 6 Simple Principles for Avoiding Painful Mistakes and Communicating Respectfully, which is filled with real-world examples and exercise that can help boost your inclusive language skills.

As a linguistic anthropologist, Dr. Wertheim has been researching and studying the intersection of language, power and culture for decades.  She shares how linguistics, like thought leadership, is about recognizing patterns. Accomplishing this can be a difficult task, as people realize they might not be as inclusive as they had believed.

Suzanne explains what inclusive language is and why it matters.  We learn how language is social action and the building blocks of how we create, maintain, and end relationships. She shares the six principles found in her book that can be worked on in order to better our own use of inclusive language.  In addition she gives real life examples of how the wrong wording can cause a deal to go south, as well as how inclusive language can repair that damage.

If you want a better understanding of inclusive language as well as how you can move from being able to identify those problems to acting differently this is a must listen episode.

Three Key Takeaways:

·         Just because something is simple to describe does not mean it is easy or effortless to implement.

·         Inclusive language is like learning any new language.  It takes time and practice to become good at seeing it and changing behavior.

·         A lack of inclusive language can force great employees to leave for greener pastures. This is one of the many reasons leaders need a better understanding of what is acceptable language.

If Generative AI is fed all writing on the internet, then when you ask it a question, it can give you a good answer.  Or at least an answer that is good enough.

For this reason, good enough is no longer good enough.

To discern the role Generative AI can play on the future of thought leadership I’ve invited Mahan Tavakoli to join me.  Mahan is the CEO of Strategic Leadership Ventures which helps people become the sort of leader people want to follow.  He is also the host of the Partnering Leadership where you can learn the leadership journeys of successful CEOs and the top global thought leaders.

Our conversation with Mahan starts with getting an understanding of both generative AI and what we would call good ideas. From there we explore how asking the right questions is the secret to getting useful knowledge out of either.

While asking the right questions of AI can allows us a great understanding of the vast amount of data in our organizations, the right questions of an idea can discover the power of differentiation and niches.

If you’re looking to expand your use or understanding of AI and how we can unlock the power of our ideas this is a great episode for you.

Three Key Takeaways:

·         Part of thought leadership is marrying the ideas of others to see new patterns.

 ·         When we think we know the answer, we don't ask the simple fundamental questions that can unveil new insights.

 ·         The power comes from the differentiation and the niches.  Rather than the belief that you need to go wide.

In this episode of the podcast series on bridging the researcher/practitioner public divide, Dr. Priya Nalkur, president of
the Round Table Institute and author of "Stumbling Towards Inclusion: Finding Grace in Imperfect," shares insights on bridging theory and practice. Dr. Nalkur emphasizes the importance of language in communication, advocating for accessibility and authenticity by embracing diverse vocabulary and genres. She encourages individuals to find their unique voice, navigating the discomfort of being different and the fear of not being accepted. Moreover, she discusses the significance of audience engagement and dialogue, highlighting the value of listening to diverse perspectives even amidst resistance.

The conversation delves into Dr. Nalkur's upcoming book, which
champions the idea that imperfection is inherent to humanity. She
likens relationships to icebergs, with much depth hidden beneath the surface, and advocates for vulnerability and courage in acknowledging mistakes and repairing relationships. Furthermore, the framework of adaptive challenge in coaching and organizational work is explored, distinguishing between technical and adaptive challenges. Dr. Nalkur emphasizes the necessity of adapting to change, learning from experiments, and embracing life's lessons to navigate complex challenges effectively.

Originally conceived as a companion to workshops, the book expanded in scope due to her publisher's interest in personal details like the origin of her workshop. Dr. Nalkur shares the excitement surrounding ongoing dialogues sparked by the book, even in the pre-order phase. Continuing research has led to the identification of eight common stumbling blocks for leaders, with an accompanying assessment on her website to aid readers in overcoming these obstacles. Through the podcast, Dr. Nalkur provides valuable insights into fostering inclusive communication, embracing imperfection, and navigating adaptive challenges in both personal and professional contexts.

Three Key Takeaways:

* To bridge the gap between researchers and practitioners we need to be aware of the language we use and how to use inclusive language.

* Vulnerability and courage are the keys to owning mistakes, learning from them, and allowing others to do the same.

* By listening and understanding diverse perspectives even in the face of resistance you can gain a powerful and new understanding of a situation or problem.

Today’s guest is Nora Super, the Executive Director at Milken Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that helps people build meaningful lives. She is also the Executive Director of the Alliance to Improve Dementia Care at the Milken Institute.

Nora explains the power of Convening Authority and how it helps in thought leadership to make high-level changes to global problems. We chat about the need to get the right people in the room and how to get others to understand the importance of your issue.

We also discuss the creation of the Alliance to Improve Dementia Care, the white paper that started it, and the types of members that are included to create a community through a shared passion to find clarity around the mission and purpose.

Three Key Takeaways:

• Thought leaders need to get the right people in the room to find the right solutions.
• A topic might be important to you, but unless your thought leadership makes it important to others it will fall on deaf ears.
• If your thought leadership duplicates work that is already being done it might be best to join forces with them to elevate the conversation.

Today’s guest is Scott Ambler, Project Management Institute Vice President and Chief Scientist of Disciplined Agile.  Scott is the co-creator of the Disciplined Agile Toolkit, author of Introduction to Disciplined Agile Delivery, and Choose Your WoW.

Scott talks with us about the creation and evolution of the Disciplined Agile Toolkit and how businesses can use it to create agile teams capable of responding to various situations properly regardless of their skillset, then adjust in the future as they learn and grow.

We discuss the position of Disciplined Agile at PMI and how the two work and learn together to be a stronger single organization and how PMI has allowed stronger creation of communities that include chapters all over the world helping people learn and expand their knowledge.

Three Key Takeaways:

·         How thought leaders can use Agile Discipline to better adjust to any situation.

·         Why thought leaders should not get stuck in a “best practice” might not be for the best.

·         Why thought leaders need to focus on creating communities and what can be gained from them.

Taking your content from a book or video to a speech can be more difficult than it sounds.  Finding the right flow and information to include can get overwhelming  Even if you are a gifted speaker there is a lot of benefit you can get from a speech writer.

Our guest J.T. Compeau is the Founder "Content Interpreter" and a consultant who helps Thought Leaderships get their public speaking to a higher level.

J.T. lays out his frame work when working with a client and tells us what to look for when seeking a speech consultant.  J.T. also shares what should be in a great speech, what to avoid, and some of his philosophies around speech writing.

In addition to J.T.'s great advice we have some tips to ensure audience engagement at your next keynote.

Today’s guest is Stan Lepeak. he is the founder and Chief Research Officer at Lepeak LLC. Previously he served as head of marketing research and thought leadership for KPMG consulting and global head of marketing research and thought leadership at EquaTerra.  Stan has more than 20 years of experience in developing and researching thought leadership.  Stan shares with us the difference between working at the back of the house vs client-facing, as well as what can slow down or speed up the process of moving thought leadership between the two.

Stan guides us through what content developers should be thinking about to grab the attention of busy executives and why you are wasting your time if you don’t have a next-step build into your conversation.

We end the conversation with Stan giving three great pieces of advice for anyone developing thought leadership for their organization.

If you are looking to join your organization's thought leadership team this episode is for you!

Three Key Takeaways:

• The key differences between qualitative and quantitative thought leadership.
• Where to find new voices for your organization's thought leadership team.
• Why thinking about thought leadership from the view of the consumer is important.

If you are seeking to take your assessment product to the market place you are going to need to know where the opportunity for growth is!  Are you aware of why videos need to be shorter than 8 minutes followed by a questionnaire?   Do you want to use an off the shelf tested assessment that thousands of companies use.  Or do you want to create your own based on your own content?   What competencies do you want to measure?  If you are already feeling overwhelmed then stay tuned!

This week Dr. Tony Alessandra, CEO of Assessments 24x7 LLC and a prolific author of best-selling books including The NEW Art of Managing People, Charisma; the Platinum Rule, and Communicating at Work joins Peter to shed light on the importance of instructional design to break down your material into specific learning points.  Why selling your assessment product on a small scale first can make it easier to get a customer to invest company wide and the importance of keeping in constant contact with your colleagues to get a picture of where the industry is going.

In this episode of the Thought Leadership Leverage podcast, host Bill Sherman sits down with Judy Wilkins Smith, an executive coach and trainer specializing in Systemic Constellation Work. Judy has recently released her second book, "The Hidden Power in Your DNA: How to Use Genealogy to Explore Ancestral Patterns & Transform Your Life." Dive in as she shares insights from her transformative journey and groundbreaking work.

"Decoding Your Emotional Blueprint," emerged from personal tragedy. After losing her father, she turned to writing to channel her emotions. Her background in award-winning poetry helped her craft a powerful narrative that connects deeply with readers.  That ability to connect and evoke emotion can be seen in Judy's Systemic Constellation Work. Bringing hidden patterns to light by Using 3D tools like paper and props, she helps clients visualize and understand their obstacles. This method allows for a tangible shift in perception and strategy.

Judy talks about the humble journey of becoming the biggest version of oneself. It's about taking full responsibility for personal growth and inviting others to join the adventure. She emphasizes the importance of growth feeling like play rather than a burden. She uses these same ideals when helping clients see the biggest versions of themselves. In her coaching Judy prefers inviting clients to explore their potential rather than pushing them. She’s keenly aware of hesitation, understanding it as a form of self-protection that can be transformed into a strength.

Judy reflects on her own journey with undervaluing her work. Coming from a culture that shies away from ambition, she  struggled with Imposter Syndrome. Her growth involved recognizing her worth and pushing past those limiting beliefs.

Judy discusses her "Head, Heart, and Gut" framework, which combats negative self-talk and aligns these three powerful centers to manifest success. When your heart, head, and gut are in sync, you unlock your full potential.

Looking ahead, Judy sees the need for leaders who inspire rather than push. She emphasizes moving beyond victimhood, using personal challenges as a catalyst for remarkable achievements.

Three Key Takeaways:

• Transformative Power of Ancestral Patterns: Judy Wilkins Smith's
work with Systemic Constellation reveals how understanding and
addressing ancestral patterns can transform lives. Her books,
"Decoding Your Emotional Blueprint" and "The Hidden Power in Your DNA," explore how genealogy and systemic work can uncover hidden influences and provide pathways to personal growth.

• Aligning Head, Heart, and Gut: Judy emphasizes the importance of aligning one's head, heart, and gut. By overcoming negative self-talk and ensuring these three elements work together, individuals can achieve conscious manifestation and unlock their full potential. This alignment is crucial for personal and professional success.

• Inspiring Rather Than Pushing: Judy advocates for leadership that inspires rather than pushes. She highlights the significance of
inviting others to explore their potential and grow in a supportive
environment. Her approach focuses on turning challenges into strengths and moving beyond a victim mindset to achieve remarkable outcomes.

As 2019 comes to a close we look back at some of the best guests we've had on Leveraging Thought Leadership and the incredible advice they've shared with us.

Marshall Goldsmith shares with us his incredible story of how he became the World's #1 Thought Leader.  From his story, he talks about the things you can do to find your own success.  Volunteering, being clear on your mission, and building a strong brand are just some of the topics we discuss.

Ken Blanchard is the best-selling author of more than 60 books and one of the most influential leadership experts in the world.  Ken tells us why books need to be easy to read and simple to use.  Plus we discuss taking your book to various modalities to reach a larger audience.

Stephen M.R. Covey is the co-founder of CoveyLink and a sought-after and compelling keynote speaker and advisor on trust, leadership, ethics, and high performance.  Stephen helps us figure out what market and modalities to take our content to and how you can meet your margin by finding your mission.

Brian Solis is the award-winning author of Lifescale, a groundbreaking book that examines the effects of technology on our everyday life.  Brian discusses how his research into why he was losing focus and creativity led him in an entirely new direction.

If you are an established academic writer looking to make the jump to a more general audience with your material you could end up facing a lot of hardships you did not expect.  Today on Leveraging Thought Leadership Jackie Stavros, co-author of the new book “Conversations Worth Having” from Berrett-Koehler Publishers talks about her experience going from a well-respected academic writer to meeting the demands of publishing a book in the life-style genre.

How do you go about finding the right publisher?  What should you know before you approach a publisher?  How do you manage having to change the voice you speak in, the constraints of page counts, and the often under estimated task of actually launching the book are just a few of the stumbling blocks you might encounter.  Be sure to listen in as Jackie shares her story and Peter shares his expertise on the publishing world.

When you are developing your platform it isn't temporary.  It's got to feel good, you have to be proud of it and it has to be part of you.  Dana Shaw Arimoto, founder of Phoenix5 and author of the “Stop Settling” movement talks with Peter about her journey.

Together they share advise and experience working together validating a platform born out of personal necessity.  Turning that platform into a book and navigating the road of publishing.  And finally taking that book and turning it into a valid assessment tool that can reach anyone regardless of age, gender, or occupation. 

If you are struggling with work / life balance, trying to understand the publishing world, or trying to make your assessment tool valid this is the show you must listen to.

A single keynote won't incite change, but it can start the ball rolling. Companies are starting to demand programs that take a keynote's lessons deeper, investing resources in building long term relationships with thought leadership.

To discuss the way keynote speaking has changed since the onset of COVID-19, I’ve invited two of the best speakers in the business to share their insights and talk about how they've navigated this new era of thought leadership speaking. 

David Burkus is a best-selling author of Lead From Anywhere: The Essential Guide to Managing Remote Teams and internationally renowned keynote speaker, using forward thinking ideas to help leaders and teams do their best work.

Stephen Shapiro is the author of Invisible Solutions: 25 Lenses that Reframe and Help Solve Difficult Business Problems, and a Hall of Fame Speaker helping organizations keep up with the increasing pace of change.

David and Stephen share how they’ve changed their keynote services to meet the needs of a remote clientele, and what it's like to have their business moving to more than 50% non-speaking generated revenue. They share how they are creating webinars, master classes, and certification programs, that take the ideas in their keynote and make them have a longer lasting effect.

We discuss the benefits of virtual speaking, such as no longer being restricted by travel and time zones, as well as being able to offer bookended solutions that make a good keynote serve as an introduction to an ongoing engagement - instead of the end of one. In addition, we look at the drawbacks of being remote, such as difficulties networking and building community. Our guests offer great insight into how to create long lasting relationships through gamification, competition, and other online tools.

This conversation offers incredible information on pushing your keynote beyond a single transaction, and into a long-lasting relationship!

Three Key Takeaways:

* Build your keynote as a bookended experience, using speaking as a lead-in to a multiple-week challenge, and adding a debrief at the end in order to create greater engagement.

* Companies want more than an inspiring keynote. They want thought leadership that will take your insights and ideas and make them actionable for every employee.

* You can create networking and community in virtual thought leadership events by providing tools that allow the audience to engage with the content, and each other both during and after the event.

Today’s guest is Cynthia O’Neal, the thought Leadership and content strategist for the intelligent networking division at Verizon professional services with 20 years’ experience leading change across marketing, sales, and technology in both the corporate and government sectors.

Cynthia walks us through what Intelligent Networking is and how Version is using it to maintain a cutting edge in their industry.  Cynthia discussed how she is helping subject matter experts develop and implement thought leadership for use on the marketing side. She shares how they are creating their methodology for use internally before taking it externally, the challenges they’ve faced and the incredible success they’ve achieved.

Three Key Takeaways:

• How thought leadership connects to intelligent networking.
• How to develop organizational thought leadership methodologies and strategies.
• Why you need to equip people with the right thought leadership tools to ensure they are comfortable talking about the subject.

When starting a new relationship with a client do you tell them what you have to offer?  Or let them tell you what they need?  Rose Fass, founder and CEO of fassforward and author of “The Chocolate Conversation” talks with Peter about starting out in the Thought Leader world, how to approach the initial meeting with a new client, and how to make your overwhelmed employees more focused and engaged.

It has become a tradition to start the new year off with a look back at a few of the great episodes and most inspiring guests of our previous year's podcast. For 2021, we hope you’ll enjoy great advice from:

Doug Conant, best-selling author of The Blueprint and CEO of Conant Leadership. Doug shares insights about balancing his time as a thought leader and a CEO, and ways to make time for self-reflection. It's important to ensure that the things which matter most are never forgotten in the press of less-important burdens.

John Warrillow is the Founder of the Value Builder System and Best-selling author of Built to Sell. John talks about the best parts of coaching, and opens up about the psychology of selling to entrepreneurs vs. enterprise, and the need to find the niche that works best for you.

Lisa Bodell is the CEO of FutureThink and author of the best-selling book Kill the Company. In our conversation, we explore the meaning of her term "futurist," and how Lisa found a way to guide people to their potential and teach change through a structured format.

Tom Schwab is the founder of Interview Valet and the author of PODCAST GUEST PROFITS. Tom sheds light on proper etiquette as a podcast guest, and talks about ways to turn guest speaking on an episode into a relationship that can help you attract and keep engaged customers.

Today, we sit down with the incredibly insightful Jon Levy! Jon is a behavioral scientist and social engineer best known for his work on human connection and decision making. Jon is the founder of the Influencers Dinner, a secret dining experience started in New York in 2009. Twelve thought leaders, tastemakers, and influencers from various industries attend, but do not discuss their professional career, or share their last name - in order to guess, at the end of the dinner, what the other attendees do professionally. What started as an experiment has turned into a world class experience that brings guests from a broad spectrum of fields together to share insights, camaraderie, and a great meal. In addition to being a TED speaker, Jon also has a new book: You’re Invited: The Art and Science of Cultivating Influence.

We start today's conversation with a discussion about the way humans, as a whole, possess a desire to experience something different and unique. Jon explains a bit about the SN/VTA part of the brain, which governs reward cognition, associative learning, and positively-valenced emotions. The SN/VTA engages during unusual experiences, and that response can be used to inspire curiosity and get an audience to authentically engage with your ideas. Behavioral science for the win!

The traditional methods for networking have become stagnant and overblown. People "turn off" when they're bored, so how can we create a stronger connection? Jon shares tips about bringing people together for a mutual, unique experience, and how that can create relationships that are stronger than plain ol' humdrum networking.

John talks about the enigmas of connection, and helps thought leaders understand why people do the things we do. This is a great lesson on how to tap into those responses by using a little bit of social engineering! Don't miss it!

Three Key Takeaways:

• Thought Leaders can create more interest in their products and ideas by adding a little uniqueness and novelty; raising people’s curiosity makes them engage more fully.
• When designing Thought Leadership courses, think about the frequency of communication, not just the depth of ideas.
• Trust is a must-have in Thought Leadership, but to gain trust you must be willing to show a level of vulnerability.

Can thought leadership help organize people towards a common goal? The answer is yes!

Our guest in this episode is Royal O’Brien, General Manager of Digital Media and Games at Open 3D Engine, an important facet of the Linux Foundation. 

Open 3D Engine (O3DE) is an Apache 2.0-licensed multi-platform 3D engine. This engine enables developers and content creators to build AAA games, cinema-quality 3D worlds, and high-fidelity simulations. And, because it's "open source," creators can use the engine without fees or commercial obligations. Open source projects create base code and make that code available to everyone. This allows the audience to modify and innovate that code for their own projects, continually updating and adding to the base. 

Motivating, coordinating, and moving people towards a common goal can be a challenge. Yet, organizing large groups of creative people without restricting or stifling them is the key to Royal's success, and he's managed to do it time and time again. Today, Royal shares the thought leadership that guides his path, shaping the questions he asks about his audience: Who will use this product? How will they use it? How will they change it? and, most importantly, What kind of impact will it make?  

From those questions, he creates a "flywheel effect," aligning short- and long-term goals, and focusing his attention on creating products that will move his organization into new financial markets. He even discusses how tools like Discord and Game Jams bring people together and unleash their creativity, allowing him to watch for direction and advancements in real-time as his engine is shaped by the community. 

Royal's advice about community-building can be applied to many communities and industries; anything that encourages creative individuals to work in concert towards a common goal. If that sounds like your org, don’t miss this episode! 

Three Key Takeaways:

• Thought leadership can be the key to ensuring that communication between creative, innovative individuals or teams is clear and productive.
• When building a community, you can use thought leadership to increase inclusivity and make sure everyone’s voice is heard.
• Once you've started a movement, you need to nurture it (both short- and long-term) in order for it to succeed.

Today’s guest is Helio Fred Gracia, the CEO of Logos Institute for Crisis Management and Executive, teacher of crisis communications and crisis management at the Stern School of Business and ethics at Columbia.  In addition, he is the author of Reputation Management and Words on Fire.

We start our conversation by discussing how trust is built, lost, and restored. Then how patterns that arise in these actions can be studied to help give us a predictive power to help anticipate how the outcome can change when we intervene in a minor or major way.

Helio discusses his work in crisis management and why we need to prepare for a disaster before it happens to ensure a proper response.

We wrap up with a deeply philosophical discussion on the works of Aristotle and how his three essentials elements for a speaker to influence an audience remain true more than a thousand years later.  Learn what Ethos, Pathos, and Logos are, and why they are the cornerstone and the origin of the name of his company.

Three Key Takeaways:

·         Thought Leaders can learn from studying the patterns that cause us to gain or lose trust, so we can make adjustments and avoid negative outcomes in the future.

·         The works of thought leaders from more than a thousand years ago are still relevant today.

·         Thought Leaders need to make plans to deal with disaster before they strike to avoid reacting with an emotional response instead of a well thought out one.

What would you do if you were in two consecutive accidents and had to rehabilitate your whole body?  Even learn to walk again?  Would you take that experience as an opportunity to create a blueprint for others to learn from your pain?  That is exactly what our guest did!

Katy Kvalvik is the founder of Southwestern Empowerment, creator of the Harmony Method, host of the Harmony Method podcast and a certified executive coach, board-certified health counselor, certified trainer of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, a certified yoga instructor, and business mentor.

Katy joins us to share her journey to developing a flexible blueprint that can lead to healthier work-life harmony. Katy explains the process she took to make the program, the choices she made in how to present it, and the importance of establishing face to face contact with your clients.  Something that is often forgotten in our online driven world.

If you are looking for empowering tools and strategies to elevate performance in your home and work life this is the episode you are looking for.

Katy spent a lot of time finding the right medium for her message. Peter shares some Market Strategy for helping you find the medium that is right for you.

Today we have a special episode with two guests! Richard Citrin is the president of Citrin Consulting, author of The Resilience Advantage, an international consultant, leadership coach, and organizational psychologist.  Michael Couch is the president of Michael Couch and Associates with 30 years of experience as an internal organization effectiveness consultant combined with Business Unit P&L and Operations Management experience.  Together they co-authored the book Strategy Driven Leadership.

Richard and Michael tell us how they came together to write the book to find matching their background and experience was beneficial to their clients and each other.  We learn how they divided the writing duties, had multiple publishers interested, and why they chose their publisher they did.  During the interview, we explore their goals, expectations, and the effects of getting their book on the market had on their consulting.

Three Key Takeaways:

• How thought leaders can come together to co-author a book.
• What thought leaders should ask their publisher before signing with them.
• What thought leaders can expect from a publisher in terms of marketing and sales support.

Most people don't think strategically. Speakers focus on the fee. Authors on their book. Should Thought Leaders be thinking wider and seeking multiple ways to monetize their content?

Our guest Cameron Herold is the Founder of the COO Alliance, author of Double, Double and Free PR and is world renown as the CEO Whisperer helping entrepreneurs achieve their dreams.

Cameron shares some of his knowledge as a lifelong entrepreneur working in the small to medium size enterprise space. Cameron and Peter how to avoid going broke as a speaker, tips for maximizing your marketing, and why you need to be thinking about multiple modalities.

Cameron has a passion for helping CEO's find success. If you want to make the most out of any meeting with members of the C-suite we have some additional tips for you.

Thought Leadership doesn't have to be about brand new content.  It is about adding a unique and different perspective to the conversation that takes the entire body to the next level.

Our guest Steve Farber is the Founder Extreme Leadership Institute, author of the best-selling book Greater than Yourself and his newest release is Love Is Just Damn Good Business.

Steve has been working with organizations that are devoted to cultivation and development of extreme leaders in the business community.  We discuss how mentors can give us access to a platform, discovering how your viewpoint can elevate the conversation, and how love is a fundamental part of quality leadership.

Thought Leaders often get hung up on getting their content out. They fret over if the tone or message will come across as intended.  Peter has some great advice for getting your content just right!

Is there a difference between activity and productivity? Both make you busy, but only one makes you fulfilled!. 

Our guest on today's episode is Garland Vance, the co-founder of Advance Leadership, a firm that helps leaders accomplish more and stress less. Garland is also the author of Getting’ (un)Busy, a book that takes you through the 5 steps to overcome "busyness" and live with purpose, productivity, and peace.

The conversation is an insightful and active one, with Garland sharing how his own "busyness" caused him significant health problems. This sparked his initial research, hoping to discover ways that he (and others) could accomplish more while doing less. He discovered ways to identify and focus on important tasks, and how a positive "ripple effect" could elevate everything else.

Garland's business mode, delivering content through coaching and keynote speaking, was upended over the last year by COVID-19. Like many others, he needed to retool his content to reach a virtual audience. Always an innovator, Garland doesn’t simply talk for an hour and then disappear; he has found ways to make a 500-person Zoom call feel like a personal learning event, and he knows how to make each guest feel like the center of attention.

Garland also talks about the fact that "busyness" doesn't qualify speed or skill. He assesses the 20 best practices of highly productive people, and why they aren't overwhelmed with "busyness" - because they practice habits that make real differences!  Combined with the 5 steps in his book, Gettin’ (un)Busy, he shares insights and ways you, too, can deconstruct bad habits and design the life you want to live!

Three Key Takeaways:

• Thought Leaders are easily overwhelmed with "busyness," which can affect  personal life and even health. Focus on the tasks that matter, and accept that you can’t do everything all at once.
• Productivity and activity are not the same thing. Garland's thought leadership helps focus on productivity, and ways to fulfill life's greater purposes.
• Taking a Thought Leadership keynote into a virtual presentation requires additional work, and there are simple ways to make the experience personal and create genuine connection with your audience.

There are lots of tools we can use to build up our communities, but once you have them following you how do you engage them?

Our guest Jeffery Hayzeltt, is Chairman of the "C-Suite Network", author of "Hero Factor" and "Mirror Test" as well as Prime Time TV host of "C-Suite with Jeffrey Hayzlett".

Jeffery shares why your engagement needs to come from your content, how you can make yourself more appealing as a speaker, and what marketing techniques you should avoid and some tools you might want to try!

Jeffery has a lot of valuable information on the C-Suite, but if you hope to work with them we have three questions you should answer first.

In our inaugural episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership, Peter Winick and Chester Elton, acclaimed speaker, co-founder of The Culture Works, and New York Times bestselling author of The Carrot Principle and the The Best Team Wins explore the impact of positivity in business. Listen in as they discuss building responsive and engaging thought leadership content to take the business beyond the book or speaking engagement to real growth and sustainability. Learn new strategies for creating adaptable content that is accessible to all audiences and when to transition from speaking to training.

Today our dueling hosts Peter Winick and Bill Sherman sit down together to give an overview of the thought leadership world.

They start with the topic of Organizational Thought Leadership, which TLL has had a heavy focus on.  We examine why more and more companies are investing in dedicated thought leaders, how those companies are struggling to define what it means to them, where it falls in the company, and how to measure its success.

Peter and Bill discuss to find the right audience for both organizational and standalone thought leadership can be a challenge.  The old method of broadcasting to as many people as you can isn’t as effective anymore.  They give us some insights into how narrowcasting small chunks of information can have a greater impact.

We wrap up our one on one discussing the transformations that have happened over the last year due to COVID-19.  With most in-person events canceled people are missing the community aspect of conferences.  How can you build a successful community online and have members become engaged and excited?  The lack of travel to events has given many thought leaders far more free time which has caused creative renaissances, but when the world fully re-opens will that come to an end?  How will thought leaders protect that time they’ve gained for deep thought and development?

Three Key Takeaways:

·         If an organization is going to invest money into thought leadership they need to have a firm grasp on what that means to them and how to scale it through the organization and beyond.

·         Measuring the success of thought leadership isn’t a simple metric.  It has to be measured over a long period of time and the precise ROI often cannot be calculated.

·         The so many events being digital the barrier to entry has dropped.  This allows thought leaders to attend more events and still save time and money.

In today’s episode, we showcase some of the best guests from our Organizational Thought Leadership series.  We think their insights will be as useful this year as it was last!

Lynette Jackson is the Head of Communications at Siemens.  She shares how thought leadership can act as an umbrella for your brand, bringing all the various disciplines of communication together under it, enabling them to move in the same direction with purpose!

Kathy Risch is Senior Vice President, Shopper Insights & Thought Leadership at Acosta.  She takes us inside what it takes to understand how and why people buy.  She shares how it goes beyond the usefulness of a product and dives into the impact the emotion a product or service can tap into while speaking to an underlying need or frustration in the consumer's life.

Kasey Lobaugh is the Chief Futurist for the Consumer Industry and Principal at Deloitte Consulting, LLP.  He shares how the research they did over a year is more than a white paper, it’s a platform!  Kasey explains how they can shape the thinking of the future of not only Deloitte but their entire industry by engaging with hundreds of people inside and outside the company.  He shares how they approached people from diverse backgrounds to get a better picture of the future by seeing it through many unique perspectives.  

Three Key Takeaways:

·         Having the ability to create content that speaks to an audience on their level, be it introductory or expert is the key to reaching a wider audience.

·         Connecting your product or service with the consumer's insights is how you hit the sweet spot.

·         When engaging others on large scale research you need to allow them to engage with and shape the content.