Leveraging Thought Leadership

Peter Winick and Bill Sherman

Episodes

Mentioned books

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Dec 28, 2025 • 21min

The Stakeholder Alignment Advantage | Frankie Russo | 686

What if the real growth problem isn't strategy… but misalignment? In this episode, Frankie Russo, the Founder of The Growth Co and bestselling author of "Breaking Why", breaks down what it takes to create growth that compounds—without relying on charisma, hustle, or a one-time "big moment" on stage. Frankie makes a clean distinction: a book is a platform, not the mission. Thought leadership is the movement behind the platforms—and the work is designing ideas that change behavior and drive measurable outcomes. A core idea he returns to is stakeholder-first growth. Customers, colleagues, and community aren't "nice-to-haves." They're the scoreboard. Frankie argues that great companies rise or fall based on one thing: how radically aligned they are to delivering their "collective genius" to those stakeholders. Then he gets tactical about scale. Keynotes can jolt people awake—an inflection point that "shakes them out of the trance." But the keynote is only the tip of the spear. The real lever is what happens after: systems people can use every day. Frankie walks through his Growth Operating System using a simple visual: an infinity loop built to replace the "stagnation spiral." Denial. Status quo. Silos. Rigid processes. Disengagement. His point is blunt: if growth isn't operationalized, it decays—so the work is building an engine for continuous inflection points, not a single heroic turnaround. And he's candid about the craft of thought leadership delivery. The hardest part of a great keynote isn't what you include. It's what you cut—so you can land the right ideas, in the right dose, and drive adoption after the applause. Three Key Takeaways: • A keynote is the spark, not the solution. The talk can create an inflection point, but the value comes from what you operationalize afterward—tools, habits, and routines people can actually use day-to-day. • Stakeholder-first alignment drives scalable growth. Frankie keeps coming back to aligning the organization's "collective genius" around delivering outcomes for stakeholders (customers, team, community). Misalignment is what creates drag and stalls momentum. • If growth isn't systemized, it decays. His "infinity loop" / Growth Operating System idea is about replacing the stagnation spiral (silos, rigid processes, disengagement) with a repeatable engine for continuous improvement and ongoing inflection points. If Frankie Russo's message hit home—growth needs an operating system, not a motivational moment—your next listen is "Creating Alignment Between Marketing and Sales" with Winston Henderson. It's the same fight against silos, just aimed at the part of the business where misalignment quietly kills revenue: the handoff between marketing and sales. Listen to Winston right after this episode and you'll connect the dots between alignment as a leadership principle and alignment as a revenue discipline. Frankie gives you the "why" and the operating rhythm for sustainable growth. Winston gives you the "how" to make that rhythm real across teams—shared language, shared priorities, and shared measures—so your thought leadership doesn't just inspire… it converts.
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Dec 18, 2025 • 38min

The Performance Paradox: Why High Achievers Stop Growing | Eduardo Briceño | 685

Are your top performers actually holding back your organization's growth? Today on Leveraging Thought Leadership, Peter Winick talks with Eduardo Briceño, global keynote speaker, CEO of Growth.How, and author of "The Performance Paradox". Eduardo is one of the leading voices on growth mindset in organizations, building on 16+ years of work with Carol Dweck as co-founder of Mindset Works and two TEDx talks that have each passed 4 million views. Together, they unpack how leaders and companies can move beyond one-off inspiration and build true learning cultures that deliver sustained performance. Eduardo explains his core framework: the Learning Zone and the Performance Zone. Most organizations live almost entirely in performance mode—chasing metrics, staying "on," and delivering results. He shows why that approach quietly caps growth, and how deliberately creating Learning Zone time is the unlock for innovation, resilience, and long-term excellence. You'll hear how he designs keynotes and workshops like a master teacher, not a showman. Eduardo starts with clear learning objectives, then engineers experiences that shift how leaders think, behave, and make decisions. It's not about delivering a great "show"; it's about making sure people leave seeing their work differently and ready to act. Eduardo and Peter also explore what it really takes to build a growth-mindset culture at scale. They talk about partnering with organizations over time, embedding the ideas from The Performance Paradox into leadership programs, talent systems, and everyday language. Eduardo shares why well-intentioned "growth" initiatives often backfire—and how to avoid the hidden traps that send mixed signals to your people. Finally, they look at impact. Eduardo discusses how he went from frameworks to a major Penguin Random House book, how he gathered more than 100 real-world stories to bring his ideas to life, and why he's now focused on working longitudinally with clients instead of just doing single events. For CEOs and senior leaders, this conversation is a playbook for turning your organization into a place where people are both learning faster and performing better. Three Key Takeaways: • Always-on performance quietly caps growth; organizations need deliberate time and space for the Learning Zone, not just the Performance Zone. • "Growth mindset" only works when it's operationalized—through concrete systems, habits, and experiences that teach people how to learn and improve, not just that they can. • The biggest impact comes from embedding these ideas into leadership programs, talent systems, and culture over time—not from one-off keynotes or events. If this episode reshaped how you think about performance and the Learning Zone, your next stop should be our conversation with Phil Geldart on Unlocking Human Potential. Both episodes tackle the same core challenge—how to move beyond "always on" performance and build a culture where learning, experimentation, and behavior change are baked into the way work gets done. Eduardo gives you the strategic lens and language (Learning vs. Performance Zone, growth mindset in action); Phil dives into how to design experiential learning that actually sticks and changes what people do on Monday morning. Listen to both and you'll walk away with a playbook that connects big ideas about learning culture to concrete tools for driving performance across your organization.
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Dec 14, 2025 • 29min

The Apple Effect: Turning Hard Lessons Into Scalable Systems | Apple Levy | 684

What if every hard-earned lesson in your business came with a simple mandate: how dare you do nothing with what's been given to you? In this episode, Bill Sherman talks with serial entrepreneur and systems strategist Apple Levy, author of "The Apple Effect". Apple has spent decades in construction, manufacturing, home flipping, and retail. She combines operational grit with financial discipline to help entrepreneurs stop firefighting and start scaling with intention. Her core belief is simple and provocative: if you know something that works, you have a duty to share it. Apple walks through how she turned years of wins and failures into a repeatable framework for growth. She explains why she began capturing notes, call recordings, and data from every client, and how that archive became The Apple Effect—a practical playbook for owners running businesses from $1M to $40M in revenue. The book distills what actually moves margin, cash flow, and culture, and she uses it as the backbone for her firm, Obsidian Thorne, when helping companies scale. You'll hear the real problems that keep owners up at night. Not just cash flow and margin, but rework that kills profit, weak follow-up on sales, and the emotional landmine of hiring family you can't hold accountable. Apple shows how to move from "leading by personality" to "leading by systems," so the process becomes the bad cop—not you. That shift frees leaders to exit someday, build a legacy, or simply step out of daily chaos. Apple and Bill also explore the mindset required to grow. Apple challenges entrepreneurs to ask, "How badly do I want this?" and to accept that scaling may mean dismantling what no longer serves the business—including long-standing people, habits, and assumptions. She shares how she applies her own advice inside Obsidian Thorne, using automation, hiring a business development lead early, and treating every pain point in her firm as data she can use to better serve clients. Finally, Apple looks ahead. She talks about taking her message to bigger stages—through construction trade shows like Build Expo, her growing calendar of workshops, and future events she plans to host herself. She's already filling the next scratch pad with insights for future books and building a team of people who share her attitude: hungry, accountable, and obsessed with helping entrepreneurs go from $1M to $10M and beyond. If you're an owner who's tired of firefighting, wrestling with family in the business, or worried about what you're leaving to the next generation, this conversation—and The Apple Effect—offers both a wake-up call and a roadmap. Three Key Takeaways: • Systemize your expertise. Turning real-world lessons into a documented framework is the foundation for scaling any business. • Measure what matters. KPIs and process discipline reduce rework, protect margin, and move the company out of constant firefighting. • Use your book as a strategic tool. A well-structured book can double as a thought leadership platform and an operating guide for clients and teams. If this episode has you thinking about systems, scale, and getting out of firefighting, the next step is to focus on your leaders. Pair this conversation with the episode "Scaling Leadership: Making Coaching Accessible at Every Level" with Kristin Lytle and you'll see the other side of the equation: how to build repeatable, scalable ways to grow people, not just processes. Both episodes explore how to move from one-off heroics to structured, repeatable solutions—whether that's tightening operations and KPIs, or creating blended coaching and learning programs that reach leaders at every level. Listen to them together and you'll walk away with a more complete roadmap: how to systemize the business and build a culture of high integrity, accountability, and leadership growth across the organization.
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Dec 11, 2025 • 21min

Mindsets, Not Maps: Rethinking Corporate Innovation | Richard Braden | 683

What if innovation wasn't reserved for a handful of "geniuses" in hoodies and turtlenecks? What if every person in your organization could solve real problems in bold new ways? Today's episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership, I'm joined by Richard Braden to explore how to democratize innovation inside the enterprise. We dig into his practical framework from "Innovation-ish: How Anyone Can Create Breakthrough Solutions to Real Problems in the Real World" which was co-authored with Tessa Forshaw to challenge the myth of the lone genius. Innovation stops being a mysterious black box and becomes a repeatable, teachable capability across the business. Rich explains why most organizations over-invest in "innovation theater" and under-invest in mindset. Instead of obsessing over yet another step-by-step process, he focuses on the mental shifts that actually drive breakthrough thinking. From "shopping" vs. "buying" mindsets to the difference between learning, iterating, and executing, you'll get language you can use with your teams tomorrow. We also unpack Rich's hybrid model for innovation: part consulting, part capability-building. You'll hear how a global quick-service restaurant brand redesigned its supply chain using cross-functional teams—everyone from restaurant crew to executives—working on real projects over nine months. The result? Tangible business outcomes and an enduring lift in problem-solving capability, long after the external experts left. Rich shows that innovation isn't just about moonshots. It's about orbit shots, cloud shots, roof shots, and jump shots—small, targeted changes that add up to massive impact. Imagine your finance team "innovating" the expense-report process so it's fast, accurate, and painless. That may not land you on the cover of a magazine, but it can unlock time, energy, and engagement across the organization. If you're tired of one-off workshops, "innovation labs" off in a corner, or expensive programs that don't stick, this conversation with Rich Braden offers a better path. You'll learn how to embed innovation in day-to-day work, build your own obsolescence into client engagements, and turn innovation from a slogan into a core competency. Three Key Takeaways: • Innovation is a teachable skill. It's not the domain of lone geniuses; with the right mindsets and language, you can help people across the organization solve real problems in new ways. • Mindset beats methodology. Most organizations over-index on processes and "innovation theater," but sustainable breakthroughs come from shifting how people think, learn, and experiment in their day-to-day work. • Capability-building must be tied to real work. The most effective innovation programs blend consulting with hands-on projects, so teams deliver tangible business outcomes and build enduring problem-solving muscles at the same time. If this conversation on democratizing innovation resonated with you, your next listen should be the episode with Michele Zanini. In that one, we take the same core ideas—moving beyond "innovation theater," distributing problem-solving across the organization, and building real capability instead of one-off programs—and apply them to dismantling bureaucracy and unleashing talent at scale. Listen to both episodes together and you'll get a powerful one-two punch: a practical framework for everyday innovation, plus a blueprint for removing the structural and cultural barriers that keep your people from using it. If you're serious about making innovation everyone's job—not just a select few in a lab—queue up the Michele Zanini episode next.
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Dec 4, 2025 • 26min

Designing the Long Tail of Thought Leadership | Tom Ziglar | 682

What if your thought leadership wasn't just inspiring for 40 minutes on stage, but life-changing for years after the keynote? In this episode, Peter Winick talks with Tom Ziglar, CEO of Ziglar, Inc., about how he's evolving his father Zig Ziglar legacy into a modern, scalable thought leadership business. They dig into how to turn big ideas into programs, tools, and revenue streams that deliver real behavior change for clients, not just applause. Tom shares how Ziglar built an AI "digital brain" for Zig Ziglar by feeding in manuscripts and 50+ hours of audio. The result is Zig AI – a focused tool that gives only Zig's answers to modern questions. You'll hear how coaches are using it to adapt Zig's classic seven-step goal system into language an eight-year-old can use, without losing the depth of the original framework. They explore AI as a thought partner for speakers and experts. Tom shows how he uses AI to quickly understand new audiences, generate the "top 10 pain points" for a niche, and tailor stories so a talk lands with homeowners' association leaders one day and senior executives the next. This is practical, in-the-trenches use of AI to make your content more relevant, not more generic. Tom and Peter then break down the business models behind thought leadership. Drawing on Rory Vaden's lens, Tom explains the three lanes of content creators: entertainers, encouragers, and educators. He argues that the long-term business is built in the educational lane—where niche expertise and implementation tools create the long tail of revenue, even if the spotlight feels smaller. You'll also hear a powerful distinction: are you in the keynote business or the life-changing business? Tom shares what Ziglar learned after reviewing thousands of testimonials: for every one person who said a keynote changed their life, 99 credited a program or product. That insight reshaped how he designs calls-to-action, follow-through, and multi-step client engagements. The conversation closes with a look at trust and authenticity as strategic assets. Tom brings in Seth Godin's idea of "scalability of trust" and applies it to how thought leaders sell, speak, and serve. From customizing keynotes to building follow-on programs, Tom shows how to design a business that scales trust, not just reach—while staying the same person on and off stage. If you advise, speak, coach, or consult, this episode will help you reframe your IP, your offers, and your use of AI so you can create deeper impact and more predictable revenue from your expertise. Three Key Takeaways: • Keynotes don't create most of the life change—programs do. For every one person who credited a keynote with changing their life, 99 pointed to a program, product, or course. If you're in the "life-changing" business, your follow-on offers matter more than the standing ovation. • AI can be a thought partner that makes your IP more usable and targeted. By building Zig AI from Zig Ziglar's manuscripts and audio, Tom shows how AI can give only "on-brand" answers, adapt classic frameworks (like the seven-step goal system) for specific audiences—right down to an eight-year-old—and help experts quickly tune their content to different markets. • The long-term business is in education, not entertainment. While entertainers dominate the airwaves, the real, scalable revenue sits in the educational lane—where niche expertise, tools, and implementation support live. That's where thought leaders build the long tail of their business, well beyond a single talk or appearance. If this episode got you thinking about the difference between a keynote and a real thought leadership business, your next listen should be the Tendayi Viki episode "Thought Leadership Business Models". Together, these two episodes connect the dots between inspiring from the stage and building scalable offers, frameworks, and revenue streams around your ideas. Queue up the Tendayi Viki episode next and ask yourself: am I running a talk, or building a business?
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Nov 30, 2025 • 20min

AI, Executive Coaching, and the Future of Thought Leadership | Alisa Cohn | 681

What if your most valuable business asset isn't your product, but the way you think? In this episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership, Peter Winick sits down with Alisa Cohn—one of the world's top startup coaches, Thinkers50 and Marshall Goldsmith award winner, author of "From Startup to Grown Up", and host of a podcast by the same name. Together, they unpack what it really takes to turn expertise into a scalable thought leadership platform that attracts premium clients. Alisa breaks down what great coaching actually is at the top of the house. Not therapy. Not box-checking. It's the disciplined work of helping senior leaders see where they are, where they're going, and how they'll get there. She explains why she now focuses almost exclusively on experienced founders and C-suite executives—and why the best clients see coaching as a sign of strength, not weakness. Peter and Alisa explore the often lonely reality of thought leadership work. You're on planes. In hotels. Delivering keynotes. Building IP. Yet rarely surrounded by true peers. Alisa shares how communities like 100 Coaches, mastermind groups, and curated gatherings of top thinkers create "connective tissue" between experts—and why those collisions of adjacent ideas (resilience meets agility meets questioning) are rocket fuel for new IP and offerings. Then they turn to AI. Not as a shortcut, but as a force multiplier for serious thinkers. Alisa explains how she feeds transcripts of 100+ podcast episodes and her HBR/Forbes pieces into AI tools to surface patterns, themes, and questions she'd forgotten—and then does the real work of shaping those into sharp, human insights. They talk about AI as a research partner, synthesis engine, and creative sparring partner—not a cut-and-paste content mill. Alisa also reframes the business model of thought leadership. Her core work is high-touch: one-on-one coaching, offsites, and select speaking. Everything else—books, articles, podcasts, media—exists to build a premium brand, generate demand, and give her the right to charge at the top of the market. She and Peter dig into why a book should be treated as a five-year march, not a launch-week event, and how evergreen ideas keep attracting ideal clients years after publication. If you're a founder, executive, or expert looking to scale your impact without becoming a commodity, this conversation is a masterclass in how to think about your IP, your business model, and your relationship with AI. Three Key Takeaways: • Coaching at the top is a strategic asset, not a remedial fix. Great coaching helps senior leaders clarify where they are, where they're going, and how they'll get there. The best clients see coaching as a sign of strength and leverage it to navigate different stages of growth—from early-stage chaos to pre-IPO scale. • Thought leadership plus brand equals pricing power. Alisa treats her thought leadership—book, podcast, HBR/Forbes articles—as the engine that builds a premium brand. That brand brings her better-fit clients and gives her permission to charge premium rates for high-touch coaching, offsites, and speaking. • AI is a force multiplier for serious thinkers, not a replacement. AI accelerates research and content creation, but the real value of thought leadership still comes from deep expertise, synthesis, and conviction. The challenge (and opportunity) is to use AI to move faster without letting the thinking get sloppy. If you're intrigued by how this episode unpacks coaching at the top, building a premium thought leadership brand, and using your IP more strategically, you'll love the episode with Cara Macklin. Both conversations look at how to design your business model as intentionally as your ideas—shifting from "doing the work" to building scalable offers, curating the right clients, and creating more freedom and impact. Listen to them together as a mini-masterclass in turning expertise, coaching, and content into a focused, high-value business.
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Nov 23, 2025 • 25min

Why Pressure—not Power—Breaks Leaders: | Sabina Nawaz | 680

What happens when pressure—not power—shapes the way leaders show up? That's the question at the heart of this conversation with executive advisor, keynote speaker, and bestselling author Sabina Nawaz. Sabina's thought leadership centers on a bold idea: pressure can squeeze the humanity out of even the best leaders. And in today's high-velocity business environment, every manager—from first-line supervisors to CEOs—is at risk. Her work helps leaders reclaim that humanity, especially when the stakes are highest. In this episode, Sabina shares the research behind her book " You're the Boss: Become the Manager You Want to Be (and Others Need)" , built on 12,000 pages of interviews with employees about their managers. Her frameworks reveal the real drivers of effective leadership. Not charisma. Not authority. But the ability to stay grounded, present, and self-aware when demands are relentless. Sabina also unpacks how senior-level coaching delivers exponential ROI. She explains why small behavioral shifts at the C-suite ripple through organizations, and why understanding value—not hours—is the key to pricing high-impact advisory work. Her insights on scope, pricing, and client alignment are a masterclass for anyone growing a thought leadership business. We also explore the business of books. Sabina offers a candid look at what it truly takes to publish successfully with a traditional publisher—and why marketing, positioning, and community matter more than manuscripts. Her perspective on ethical promotion, generosity within the thought leadership ecosystem, and crafting high-quality, specific asks is practical and refreshing. Finally, Sabina introduces one of her signature practices: "the blank space"—two intentional hours each week to step back from pressure, reset, and let insight emerge. It's a powerful mindset shift that every leader needs. This episode is packed with actionable wisdom for executives, coaches, and thought leaders ready to lead with clarity, courage, and humanity. Three Key Takeaways: • Pressure changes leaders more than power does, and without intentional practices—like creating "blank space"—managers risk losing their humanity and effectiveness. • High-impact coaching is valued by the long-term ripple effects it creates, making thoughtful pricing, scope alignment, and articulating ROI essential for senior-level advisory work. • Writing a book is only the first step—successful thought leadership publishing requires strategic positioning, ethical promotion, and the courage to make focused, specific asks of your network. If you found this episode insightful, you won't want to miss our conversation with Lance Tanaka. Both episodes unpack what really happens when senior leaders step into high-pressure roles, rethink how they lead, and learn to create impact through clarity, presence, and intentional development. Lance takes those themes even further—diving into how executives transition into high-value coaching, define their worth, and build influence that truly sticks. If Sabina's insights on pressure, leadership behavior, and the real value of coaching resonated with you, Lance's episode will deepen your understanding and give you even more actionable ideas to elevate your own leadership practice. Listen next: The Lance Tanaka Episode — and continue your growth journey.
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Nov 20, 2025 • 24min

The Playbook for Scaling Thought Leadership | Daniel Harkavy | 679

What does it take to transform leadership into a calling — and build a business that transforms others? Today, Peter Winick sits down with Daniel Harkavy, founder and CEO of Building Champions, a pioneer in executive coaching and leadership development. Daniel shares how he turned the lessons from his early career in mortgage banking into a structured, scalable system for growing leaders — and why his success is rooted in helping others unlock their potential. Daniel's approach to thought leadership isn't about pedigree or credentials — it's about proof. He took what worked in one high-performance environment and codified it into frameworks, checklists, and playbooks that any leader could use to create lasting impact. From Becoming a Coaching Leader to Building Champions' current programs, Daniel's work continues to shape how organizations coach, communicate, and cultivate leadership at every level. The conversation dives deep into what it means to scale a mission-driven business without losing its soul. Daniel opens up about the "near-death" moments that almost derailed his company — from failed partnerships to market crashes — and the resilience it takes to rebuild stronger each time. His story is a masterclass in balancing faith, strategy, and discipline in pursuit of a greater purpose. Peter and Daniel also explore how AI is reshaping the future of leadership and coaching. Daniel sees it not as a threat but as a copilot — a tool that, when mastered, can amplify human insight, accelerate problem-solving, and deepen relationships. His message is clear: technology can enhance thought leadership, but it can't replace the leader. Three Key Takeaways: • Codify What Works: Turning personal insight into repeatable frameworks allows leaders to scale their impact, build stronger teams, and create lasting organizational value. • Lead with Purpose and Resilience: Sustainable success comes from aligning business strategy with personal values and staying adaptable through inevitable market and operational challenges. • Leverage AI as a Copilot, Not a Replacement: The future of leadership depends on mastering technology to enhance human insight, accelerate decisions, and deepen relationships — without losing the human touch that defines great leadership. If Daniel's episode inspired you to think differently about leadership systems, purpose, and resilience, you'll want to listen next to "Becoming Resilient Through Thought Leadership" featuring James Harold Webb. Both conversations explore how true leaders turn adversity into an advantage — Daniel through codifying leadership frameworks and James through channeling personal reinvention into influence and impact. Together, they reveal the blueprint for thriving in uncertainty: build systems that scale, lead with purpose, and use your story as fuel for growth. Listen to both and discover how resilience isn't just about bouncing back — it's about building forward with clarity, structure, and intention.
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Nov 13, 2025 • 20min

How Rituals (Not Routines) Transform Leadership and Life | Erin Coupe | 678

What if you could stop running on empty—and still perform at your best? That's the question Erin Coupe, author of "I Can Fit That In" (and host of a podcast by the same name), invites leaders to ask. She challenges the old "time management" mindset that rewards burnout and box-checking, replacing it with a human-centered strategy of presence, choice, and renewal. Her message? Productivity doesn't come from cramming more into your day—it comes from creating rituals that restore you. Erin works with executives and teams to help them shift from survival mode to sustainable performance. Through keynotes, workshops, and cohort-based learning, she guides people to design their own energizing rituals—intentional practices that bring clarity, calm, and connection. It's not about doing more. It's about aligning what you do with what truly matters. Her approach transforms corporate cultures. Teams that once ran on autopilot begin building trust, transparency, and shared language. Leaders rediscover focus and resilience. And when people take these lessons home—teaching them to spouses, partners, and even kids—the impact multiplies. As Peter Winick explores in this episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership, Erin's work goes beyond productivity hacks or quick fixes. It's about conscious leadership. Healthy boundaries. Self-respect. And recognizing that how we show up—at work and at home—is a choice. Tune in to hear how organizations are embracing her frameworks to create more intentional, energized, and emotionally intelligent workplaces—one ritual at a time. Three Key Takeaways: • Rituals energize, routines drain. Intentional rituals create meaning and renewal, while rigid routines often lead to burnout. • Mindset drives performance. Shifting from overcommitment to presence and self-respect builds clarity and sustainable success. • Culture grows through connection. Shared rituals and language strengthen trust, resilience, and emotional intelligence within teams. Loved Erin Coupe's insights on transforming burnout into clarity through intentional rituals? Then don't miss our conversation with Dre Baldwin on Think Big, Act Bigger. Both episodes explore how mindset shapes sustainable performance—Erin focuses on the inner rituals that ground us, while Dre breaks down the mental systems that drive consistent action. Together, they form a one-two punch for leaders who want to perform at a high level without losing themselves in the process.
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Nov 9, 2025 • 42min

The Power of the Pause: Why Slowing Down Fuels Stronger Leadership | Melissa Gonzalez | 677

What happens when life forces you to stop—and that pause changes everything? Melissa Gonzalez, Principal at MG2 Design and author of "The Purpose Pivot: How Dynamic Leaders Put Vulnerability and Intuition into Action", knows firsthand. A medical crisis made her rethink what success truly means. Once a Wall Street professional turned retail design expert and author of "The Pop-Up Paradigm", Melissa built a thriving business helping brands tell their stories through physical spaces. But when her own defining moment arrived, she found a new story to tell—one about purpose, well-being, and the strength found in vulnerability. In this episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership, Melissa joins Bill Sherman to explore how life's disruptions can fuel transformation. She shares her evolution from building pop-up experiences for brands to helping leaders embrace intuition, pause with purpose, and redefine balance. Through dozens of interviews with women leaders, Melissa uncovered a truth many resist—taking time to pause isn't weakness; it's wisdom. Melissa also discusses the art of integrating her message of purpose into her business world. She reveals how partnerships with brands like Nordstrom, Simon G. Fine Jewelry, and Crate & Barrel amplified her book's message through events and collaborations that celebrate defining moments. Her story is a masterclass in aligning personal growth, thought leadership, and business strategy—without losing authenticity. From managing the emotional and physical toll of overachievement to embracing JOMO (the joy of missing out), Melissa's journey offers a reminder: the most powerful pivots often happen when you stop chasing and start listening. Three Key Takeaways: • Pause is Power – Taking time to slow down, reflect, and prioritize well-being isn't a weakness—it's a strategic strength. Melissa's personal experience taught her that real success comes from making intentional choices rooted in impact, not busyness. • Authentic Integration Fuels Influence – Thought leadership grows when your personal mission aligns with your professional platform. Melissa leveraged her network, brand partnerships, and events to bring The Purpose Pivot to life—blending purpose-driven storytelling with business acumen. • Vulnerability Creates Connection – Sharing personal defining moments invites others to reflect on their own. Through candid storytelling and interviews, Melissa shows that embracing vulnerability deepens relationships, inspires trust, and sparks meaningful change. If Melissa Gonzalez's story inspired you to rethink success, balance, and the power of the pause, don't stop there. Check out The Non-Linear Thought Leadership episode with Elizabeth McCourt. Both conversations explore how vulnerability, authenticity, and unexpected turns can become catalysts for growth. Melissa's journey shows how a defining moment can reshape purpose. Elizabeth's episode builds on that idea—revealing how non-linear paths, reinvention, and resilience fuel thought leadership. Listen to both, and you'll walk away ready to embrace uncertainty, lead with heart, and turn every pivot into possibility. Listen next: The Non-Linear Thought Leadership | Elizabeth McCourt

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