Leveraging Thought Leadership
Peter Winick and Bill Sherman
Welcome to the Leveraging Thought Leadership podcast, a beacon illuminating the paths and possibilities of thought leadership. With your guides, Peter Winick and Bill Sherman, we will embark on a journey into a captivating world where ideas converge with strategy and insight.
Where will thought leadership take you?
In each episode, we engage with thought leaders from diverse backgrounds. Whether it's professional keynote speaking, writing your own thought leadership book, investigating the niche expertise of specialized consultants, or crossing mental swords with distinguished academics, our guests collectively paint a vivid mosaic of thought leadership's multifaceted potential.
Through nuanced perspectives and rich experience, our talented co-hosts aim to offer you views of the ways independent thought leaders navigate success, elevate talent, and change company culture – while simultaneously examining how organizations harness the power of thought leadership to catalyze innovation and nurture sustainable growth.
Peter Winick is your guide through the realm of independent thought leadership. For the past two decades, he has helped individuals and organizations build and grow revenue streams through designing and growing their thought leadership platforms as well as acting as a guide and advisor for increasing business to business sales of thought leadership products. Peter is the Founder and CEO of Thought Leadership Leverage. His clients come from a diverse set of backgrounds and specialties. They include New York Times bestselling business book authors, members of the Speakers' Hall of Fame, recipients of the Thinkers50 award, CEOs of public and privately held companies, and academics at prestigious institutions such as Yale, Wharton, Dartmouth, and London School of Business.
With a keen eye for detail, he delves into the intricacies of crafting personal brands, fostering genuine engagement with audiences, and expertly monetizing one's expertise. From the artistry of crafting keynote speeches that resonate with audiences to the strategic deployment of bestselling books as conduits for inspiration and insight, Peter's guests offer a treasure trove of strategies for creating value and impact and driving revenue through thought leadership.
Bill Sherman specializes in the exploration of organizational thought leadership. He examines how companies conceive, curate, and deploy thought leadership initiatives, and how those initiatives benefit the orgs and the people who work within them. Bill listens to the stories and advice of industry leaders and their triumphs within the competitive business landscape. Whether through the dissemination of white papers that shape industry discourse, webinars that educate and engage, or insightful executive blogs that offer thought leadership at the highest echelons of corporate governance, Bill's guests provide illuminating perspectives on the evolution of organizational thought leadership and its pivotal role in shaping industry paradigms and perceptions.
Bill concentrates on organizational consulting and business expertise, investigating organizational thought leadership and its effects, from instructional design and learning product development to marketing strategy and execution, to organizational development and transformational consulting. He enjoys working with business leaders, speakers, authors, academics, and other consultants, connecting their ideas organizational platforms and enterprise-ready product development.
As the series unfolds, Peter and Bill will lead us through a nuanced exploration of the latest trends and advancements in thought leadership. From the transformative impact of technology on communication and collaboration to the evolving preferences of consumers in an increasingly digital marketplace, they will dissect the shifting landscape with precision and insight. Moreover, they will shine a spotlight on emerging modalities that are reshaping the contours of thought leadership, from the ascendance of virtual events as a cornerstone of engagement to the growing influence of social media platforms as conduits for thought dissemination and audience interaction. Through their discerning analysis, they will reveal how thought leaders can adeptly harness these trends to amplify their reach, captivate new audiences, and maximize their influence in an ever-evolving business environment.
Whether you find yourself at the height of your career as a seasoned thought leader, or whether you stand at the threshold of possibility as an aspiring entrepreneur, the Leveraging Thought Leadership podcast offers an enriching voyage of discovery.
Join us as we unravel the enigmatic secrets to success in the vibrant realm of thought leadership, where ideas have the power to shape perceptions, drive change, and inspire action. Together, let us explore how you, too, can engineer value, evoke impact, and cultivate revenue through the sheer power of your ideas and expertise.
Welcome aboard.
Where will thought leadership take you?
In each episode, we engage with thought leaders from diverse backgrounds. Whether it's professional keynote speaking, writing your own thought leadership book, investigating the niche expertise of specialized consultants, or crossing mental swords with distinguished academics, our guests collectively paint a vivid mosaic of thought leadership's multifaceted potential.
Through nuanced perspectives and rich experience, our talented co-hosts aim to offer you views of the ways independent thought leaders navigate success, elevate talent, and change company culture – while simultaneously examining how organizations harness the power of thought leadership to catalyze innovation and nurture sustainable growth.
Peter Winick is your guide through the realm of independent thought leadership. For the past two decades, he has helped individuals and organizations build and grow revenue streams through designing and growing their thought leadership platforms as well as acting as a guide and advisor for increasing business to business sales of thought leadership products. Peter is the Founder and CEO of Thought Leadership Leverage. His clients come from a diverse set of backgrounds and specialties. They include New York Times bestselling business book authors, members of the Speakers' Hall of Fame, recipients of the Thinkers50 award, CEOs of public and privately held companies, and academics at prestigious institutions such as Yale, Wharton, Dartmouth, and London School of Business.
With a keen eye for detail, he delves into the intricacies of crafting personal brands, fostering genuine engagement with audiences, and expertly monetizing one's expertise. From the artistry of crafting keynote speeches that resonate with audiences to the strategic deployment of bestselling books as conduits for inspiration and insight, Peter's guests offer a treasure trove of strategies for creating value and impact and driving revenue through thought leadership.
Bill Sherman specializes in the exploration of organizational thought leadership. He examines how companies conceive, curate, and deploy thought leadership initiatives, and how those initiatives benefit the orgs and the people who work within them. Bill listens to the stories and advice of industry leaders and their triumphs within the competitive business landscape. Whether through the dissemination of white papers that shape industry discourse, webinars that educate and engage, or insightful executive blogs that offer thought leadership at the highest echelons of corporate governance, Bill's guests provide illuminating perspectives on the evolution of organizational thought leadership and its pivotal role in shaping industry paradigms and perceptions.
Bill concentrates on organizational consulting and business expertise, investigating organizational thought leadership and its effects, from instructional design and learning product development to marketing strategy and execution, to organizational development and transformational consulting. He enjoys working with business leaders, speakers, authors, academics, and other consultants, connecting their ideas organizational platforms and enterprise-ready product development.
As the series unfolds, Peter and Bill will lead us through a nuanced exploration of the latest trends and advancements in thought leadership. From the transformative impact of technology on communication and collaboration to the evolving preferences of consumers in an increasingly digital marketplace, they will dissect the shifting landscape with precision and insight. Moreover, they will shine a spotlight on emerging modalities that are reshaping the contours of thought leadership, from the ascendance of virtual events as a cornerstone of engagement to the growing influence of social media platforms as conduits for thought dissemination and audience interaction. Through their discerning analysis, they will reveal how thought leaders can adeptly harness these trends to amplify their reach, captivate new audiences, and maximize their influence in an ever-evolving business environment.
Whether you find yourself at the height of your career as a seasoned thought leader, or whether you stand at the threshold of possibility as an aspiring entrepreneur, the Leveraging Thought Leadership podcast offers an enriching voyage of discovery.
Join us as we unravel the enigmatic secrets to success in the vibrant realm of thought leadership, where ideas have the power to shape perceptions, drive change, and inspire action. Together, let us explore how you, too, can engineer value, evoke impact, and cultivate revenue through the sheer power of your ideas and expertise.
Welcome aboard.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Dec 21, 2023 • 22min
Tips, Tricks, and Advice for Elevating Thought Leadership | Robert Glazer | 539
You can find an audience for your thought leadership on almost any social media platform. Time is the ultimate commodity - so, how do you break through the noise to get your audience's attention? Today's guest has a keen understanding of audience, message, and modality! Robert Glazer is the best-selling author of Elevate: Push Beyond Your Limits and Unlock Success in Yourself and Others, a keynote speaker, award-winning executive, and host of The Elevate podcast. Our conversation starts by discussing creating content and discovering what the audience is seeking. Robert shares how experimentation is required, but one trick for content creation is writing an article on anything you've been asked about five times. This shows that the topic is a pain point to many and allows you to point back to the article as something you've previously dealt with, not something you are tackling at the moment. Furthermore, Robert tells us why you have to create content that is more than a sales pitch. By creating content and opportunities that are mutually beneficial you increase the odds of reaching your audience. In addition, we look at the medium for thought leadership Robert explains that you need to understand the reason for tackling the platform you are. Many platforms like podcasting reward longevity, so digging in and preparing to stick it out through the crickets is required to find success down the road. He also discusses picking one channel and learning to excel at it. Once you've built an audience there, you can expand to other platforms. Three Key Takeaways: · Pick a strategy, pick a tone, and pick a channel. Learn to do that one channel well before moving on to another. · Success of a platform can take on various looks. From increasing brand awareness, creating new relationships, or by establishing yourself as an expert in your field. · If you want to make something go viral, make something worth sharing.
Dec 17, 2023 • 44min
Spotting Ideas with the Potential for Scale| Ward Kampf | 538
Can you spot a good idea? And when you do, how do you successfully find its best audience? These are just two questions we examine with today's guest, Ward Kampf. Ward is the President of Northwood Retail, which leases, manages, and markets a portfolio of over five million square feet of mixed use and community properties. With retail facing constant technological changes, leaders are always trying to discover the next frontier. Ward shares with us the exciting way content and context come together to impact a potential consumer. Part of creating that impact involves staying relevant, fresh, and - if possible - first to market. Searching for the next frontier means having to constantly examine new ideas. Ward explains why we need to step back, absorb the idea, and learn about it. Only then can you create a vision, strategy, and execution that can bring success. We also discuss building relationships. Again, retail and thought leadership involve creating relationships based on trust, which means not always seeking to make a sale. Ward shares how some of his best relationships took years to develop before any business transactions took place, but that time invested has paid off in the long run. Today's episode is a great example of how thought leadership can have an impact on a wide variety of industries - around the world! Three Key Takeaways: · You have to have an open mind and a want to listen and learn. It's an evolve-or-die environment. You can't afford to become irrelevant or stale. · Financial and human resources are not infinite. Go where you can be your most productive with the resources you have. · It can take years to develop a business partnership. Investing time can pay off down the road when you are trying to sell a better experience and partnership instead of just a product.
Dec 14, 2023 • 16min
Increasing Confidence Through Curiosity | Emily Jaenson | 537
It can be easy to think "I'm just not a confident person" But confidence isn't something you have to be born with. Like any other skill, you can practice behaviors to grow that skill. Our guest today is Emily Jaenson, a keynote speaker, host of the hit podcast Leadership is Female, and co-founder of The Assist Group a collective of experienced sports professionals ready to step in and provide sales, marketing & leadership consulting. Emily has an impressive resume in sports and thought leadership, but at one time she was too shy to even order a pizza. She shares her journey leaving her small town to attend university where she realized she needed to level up and that could only be accomplished with confidence! She pushed through one uncomfortable situation after another taking them as opportunities to grow and even take on leadership roles helping others grow. One way Emily has been able to help others grow is with her TEDx talk "Six behaviors to increase your confidence" which has been viewed more than 3 million times. Emily discusses how the TEDx talk was the culmination of years of knowledge, experience, and interviews from her podcast distilled into an incredibly impactful twelve-minute talk. The talk was so impactful that corporations began to reach out to her to deliver that message to their employees. We learn how she took this opportunity to grow her business, going on the offense creating a website, networking, and developing a pitch to take her content to the world instead of waiting for it to come to her. We wrap up our conversation with Emily giving examples from her career on the behaviors others can practice to get through tough times, expand their comfort zone, and ultimately grow their confidence! Three Key Takeaways: · Once you have content out in the world you can't sit and wait for the clients to come to you. You need to network and take the content to the people who need it most. · People tend to believe you are born with confidence or you're not. However, confidence is a skill. It can be taught and learned. · Confidence is competence. And you gain competence through curiosity.
Dec 7, 2023 • 19min
Mastering Search in a Niche Space | William Vanderbloemen | 536
When the time comes to hire someone new, how can you tell if you have the right candidate? Plenty of thought leaders can tell you that even the best programs often have knowledge gaps, between what is learned in school and what it takes to do a job from day to day. Our guest today is William Vanderbloemen. William's been a senior pastor for 15 years, and comes from a strong HR background at Fortune 200 companies. He is the founder of the Vanderbloemen Search Group, helping churches, schools, nonprofits, family offices, and values-based businesses find key staff, and also the author of Search: The Pastoral Search Committee Handbook, the go-to guide for creating a pastoral succession plan. William shares his journey into thought leadership, starting with his blog on how to build, run, and maintain a great team. As his business expanded, he instituted a content quota for everyone in the business, literally making thought leadership a companywide responsibility. With so many contributors to the content pool, it would be easy to get off track. William describes how they've created detailed "personas" (also called "avatars") to guide their marketing. These "personas" are clearly defined, allowing them to address specific, identifiable pain points. Additionally, William shares how these personas are regularly updated to keep up with the changing world. Finally, William discusses his book Search: The Pastoral Search Committee Handbook, which targets a micro-niche audience but has sold 60000 copies and secured him a spot as the go-to guy when churches are seeking a succession plan. William shares how the book is full of quantitative data with qualitative stories, giving data-driven facts instead of opinions. This conversation demonstrates how you can find great success by getting super focused on your audience and how you can accomplish that. Three Key Takeaways: · If you create target avatars to guide content creation, update them often – and be sure to know their current challenges! · Content-based marketing and thought-based leadership that doesn't come from the top it's not going to work in the organization. · Clickbait might get immediate attention, but thought leadership earns you a loyal following!
Dec 3, 2023 • 38min
From Who Me? To Yes Me! | Deborah Levine | 535
Thought leaders know that a sharp eye is the best tool for keeping a sharp mind. In fact, others see abilities in us long before we see them in ourselves, and can support us as we blossom into a new role or skill. Our guest today has found herself asking "Who me?" and "Why me?" at almost every step of her incredible career. Deborah Levine is the Founder and Editor of the American Diversity Report, whose mission is to boost the effort to repair the world and inspire fellow diversity, equity, and inclusion change makers with the resources they need. Deborah shares how her history weaves together seemingly unrelated skills and experiences that take her from being the only Jewish girl in her community in Bermuda, to unexpectedly being put in charge of inter religious affairs at the American Jewish Committee, and eventually becoming an award-winning screen writer and producer! One of the threads that is common through most of her experience is others offering aid to move her career and thought leadership forward, eventually allowing Deborah to learn and step up to the task on her own. Deborah shares real life experiences of getting help and learning to grow into new roles that she might have thought were impossible for her to accomplish. This episode is full of stories and antidotes that are sure to inspire anyone who has been asked to step up to the plate and thought "Why me?" Three Key Takeaways: · When asked to do something, take the opportunity that is presented. Don't say no because you aren't sure how to do it. Take the time to learn and grow. · Part of being a thought leader is encouraging and creating spaces for conversations that will have meaning and value. · Being a thought leader means being in a constant state of evolution of who you are.
Nov 30, 2023 • 22min
Speak-Up Culture | Stephen "Shed" Shedletzky | 534
Before anyone shares their ideas, feedback, or concerns they tend to ask themselves two questions: Am I safe to speak? And is it worth it? If the answer to either of these questions is no, odds are they will stay silent. So how can leaders, teams, and organizations facilitate an environment where speaking up is celebrated and not ignored or punished? Our guest today is Stephen "Shed" Shedletzky, a speaker, leadership coach and advisor who is using his new book Speak-Up Culture: When Leaders Truly Listen, People Step Up to help create a culture where people feel safe and supported to take part in and start conversations. Shed shares how his work with Simon Sinek laid the groundwork for developing his own content that focused on two areas that stood out to him over his years of work: Psychological safety and living your message. We examine what Psychological safety and Speak-Up Culture mean to Shed and how he is bringing these elements to individual's, teams, and organizations. In addition we discuss how psychological safety still comes with accountability, which is best achieved by mutually established agreements that bring what is best for both employee and employer to the front. Three Key Takeaways: · Business books are written for two reasons. It's something you are so good at you want to share that knowledge. Or you are so bad at it that you need to write a book to fix it. · Whatever you message is you have to live it inside and outside of your organization. If you talk the talk, but fail to walk the walk people will see right through you. · When people don't feel like speaking up will have an effect they become apathetic. When they don't feel safe they stay silent. Creating an environment where employees can speak and be heard can create a happier and higher functioning atmosphere.
Nov 26, 2023 • 29min
Diving Into the World of Thought Leadership | Kon Apostolopoulos | 533
The journey of a thought leader often involves moving from being a subject matter expert inside the house, going from room to room sharpening various skills, to eventually leaving the house and applying all of those skills to the greater neighborhood you've always lived in. Kon Apostolopoulos is the Founder and CEO of Fresh Biz Solutions. He's been helping businesses achieve strategic goals for more than 20 years by preparing people for the right leadership roles. In addition, Kon is the co-author of 7 Keys to Navigating a Crisis: A Practical Guide to Emotionally Dealing with Pandemics & Other Disasters, a guide to help readers through crisis both personal and global. Kon takes us through a series of milestones, including publishing his first book, having to take that material to scale, and finding success that had his audience asking new questions — forcing him to continually expand his thinking and problem-solving. We explore the way thought leadership needs to move the audience further along than they are. Kon explains how this often means having to speak in simplified terms that allow you to break through both ego and preconceived notions. We learn how this can only be accomplished by understanding your audience, where they are, and where they need you to take them. Three Key Takeaways: · There are two parts to thought leadership. The idea and thought part. And the action and external part. They are symbiotic and necessary to each other to create content that is actionable. · Thought leadership needs to move the audience further along than they are. The conversation doesn't have to go from 1 - 100, but you have to move the audience at least from 1 to 2 and beyond. · Sometimes the best way to break through adult egos and preconceived notions is to present complex ideas in simple ways.
Nov 19, 2023 • 34min
Threading the Needle of Thought Leadership | Nora DePalma | 532
Topics like climate change can be a hot button issue in discussions. So how can you deliver thought leadership on controversial topics without disengaging various portions of your audience? In order to thread that difficult needle, I've invited Nora DePalma to join me. Nora is the CEO of Dialogue, a modern PR firm that builds value for organizations seeking to advance climate solutions. Nora starts the conversation by sharing how discussing climate solutions instead of climate change helps to shape the conversation, allowing them to start a dialogue without turning off certain parties that might be needed in order to meet their goals. Once your audience is open to hearing what you have to say you'll need to be prepared for what comes next. Nora explains how you need to tie activity to business outcomes and understand what action you want them to take next, moving them deeper into your content but not necessarily leading them into a sales funnel. She shares why not every call to action has to lead to sales and why education and relationship building can be as powerful and lead to sales in other ways. Nora provides great advice and examples of how to deliver complex thought leadership that tactfully opens the door to deeper, more meaningful conversations. Three Key Takeaways: · In addition to understanding your audience and shaping the conversation you have to deliver your ideas with authenticity and passion. Otherwise, they are likely to tune out. · Not all calls to action have to lead into the sales funnel. They can be a call to education, or to further a relationship. · You have to earn people's attention. That is how you build trust and sustain relationships.
Nov 16, 2023 • 20min
Writing a Better Business Book | Josh Bernoff | 531
A lot of thought leaders have written books, eager to get their insights out into the world. Yet many start the task without having a well-defined plan for what comes next! Our guest today has literally written the book on writing thought leadership books! "Build a Better Business Book: How to Plan, Write and Promote a Book That Matters" is the work of the amazing Josh Bernoff, and we can't think of a better person to help nonfiction authors succeed. In order to help authors find success, they first have to understand what that means to them. Josh explains how success can look differently to each author and often is unrelated to the quantity of books sold. Success can take the form of launching a speaking career, generating leads, or purely having a book that makes you the authority in your field. Once you know what sort of success you want, you'll need to plan beyond the book. Josh shares how many authors don't look beyond the launch of their book and become disappointed when nothing happens. However, those that properly promote their book, and have scalable plans in place for after the book is launched, can take their business to the next level. If you have an idea for a book, but you're not sure if it checks the boxes of "big, right, and new," then this episode will guide you on your journey. Three Key Takeaways: · For authors the success of a book is typically not measured in sales but in the additional business generated from the book. · Before you publish a book have a plan to define yourself beyond the book. · Tradition, hybrid, and self-publishing all have pros and cons. You have to understand the needs of your book to find the right fit.
Nov 9, 2023 • 17min
Culture as a Strategic Tool | Clint Tripodi | 530
Could poor leadership have a direct impact on workers' insurance claims? Today, we go outside the box by discussing insurance with Clint Tripodi. Clint is a National Practice Leader for The Liberty Company where they are changing the way business leaders look at and think about insurance - through the use of thought leadership. While insurance is often thought of as "mundane," Clint shares what his company found when they tracked leadership's impact on workplace culture, and why they are looking to find the root issues, in order to mitigate risks downstream. Through data analytics, Clint is able to see where claims have an impact, and then go directly to the root of the problem, which is often a lack of leadership. Clint uses data analytics to show the way poor leadership has an effect on workers' compensation claims as well as employee retention, and ultimately, ROI. Clint helps us understand how the culture of wellness at Liberty is being spread to their clients through thought leadership that sets them apart from and above the competition! Three Key Takeaways: · Culture is a strategic tool and insurance can help you drive that strategy. · When working in a highly commoditized market you have to position yourself as a business partner, not just a solution. · Data analytics can help to identify problems so that you can go upstream and fix them at the source.
