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
Feb 19, 2023 • 27min
Publishing, Marketing and the Platform for Thought Leadership| Lee J. Colan and Julie Davis-Colan | 469
If you expect your book publisher to handle your marketing strategy, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. So what are your other options? Today, we have a pair of authors who have written 16 books between them, and they're here to help our audience better understand the world of publishing and marketing, and how to create a well-rounded platform for add-on offerings. Lee J. Colan is an Organizational Psychologist, CEO Advisor, Leadership Author, and Co-Founder of the L Group, Inc. Julie Davis-Colan is a CEO Advisor, Corporate Health Strategist, Leadership Author, Executive Coach, and Co-Founder of the L Group, Inc. Lee shares how they used the mid-size publisher Cornerstone Leadership Institute to publish their newest book Healthy Leadership: How to Thrive in the New World of Work. This publisher offers both publishing and marketing allowing them to get large quantities of the book cheaply and via their direct mail sampling method put the book on the desk of the right people. Next, we learn how Lee and Julie have recently written a book about creating a compelling purpose, engaging teams, culture, positive coaching, and more. All of which deal with aspects known as Growth Factors. All of these factors are built around the focus of Healthy Leadership. By focusing on Healthy Leadership as the core concept, they've been able to make their offerings cleaner and decisions easier. A great book with useful ideas won't get far if it isn't in the hands of the right people. We discover what the target audience loos like for Lee and Julie's offerings. Finding the perfect client goes beyond the size of a company or the position they hold. You have to drill down to the mindset, finding the people that want to adopt your views and who are already investing in the education of themselves and their teams. Three Key Takeaways: * You need to find where your passion meets the needs of the market. * You can't have clear writing or clean speaking without clear thinking. * The right client is more about their mindset than the size of their company, or the position they hold.
Feb 16, 2023 • 19min
Merging Behavioral Science and Design Thinking | Luke Battye | 468
The best and biggest ventures start by having a dream, and taking risks. Knowing when to keep your feet on the ground, and when to make a leap of faith, is a critical skill. But how do you know when it's time to jump? Our guest on today's podcast is Luke Battye, the founder of Sprint Valley, a change consultancy that helps teams enact their vision, navigate risks, and make bolder moves! In a bold move, Luke starts our conversation off with a fascinating thought experiment he has never done in an audio medium, in order to help us understand how people make decisions under uncertainty. In our conversation, Luke tells us more about human brain functions, and how the choices we make are based on system 1 and system 2 responses and those are what Luke targets to create change. Luke explains how Sprint Valley is merging the science of behavior change with the art of design thinking, to find ways to help people work hand in hand in order to solve complex problems. The amazing insights found in academia are put into tangible practice, turning the natural patterns of brain function into a model that can be understood and used in business. Often, the language of academia gets so specific it leaves the client out of the conversation. Luke shares his insights about the critical principle he calls, "taking the time to teach." By bridging the gap between learning and implementation, teams can instantly apply newly-discovered insights to challenges they are currently addressing. This episode is a deep dive into how the human brain functions, how consumers make choices, and the levers we can use to influence buyer intent. Three Key Takeaways: * Ideas are only useful if they're functional. Don't fill your thought leadership with verbiage that will leave your audience baffled. * By making your methodologies open source you allow others to understand what you do and force yourself to be constantly innovating for the future. * Take the time to teach your audience. Don't assume they understand the concepts or models you are discussing.
Feb 12, 2023 • 17min
The Four Elements of Thought Leadership | Bill Sherman | 467
As a consultant, Bill Sherman has had the privilege of working with countless incredible thought leaders over the past twenty years, helping them elevate their ideas. That work has given him the insight to create the Four Elements, a framework for thought leadership that helps sharpen thinking and communicate ideas effectively. The first element is Ideas. Ideas are the building blocks of thought leadership. An idea is a short, provocative statement that catches the attention of your target audience and gets them invested in learning more. Our next element is Content. Content encompasses the stories, data, anecdotes, case studies, and examples that support your ideas. Ideas provoke discussion; Content offers persuasive support. A content library should be well organized and well documented, so that it can support your thought leadership in reaching scale. The third element is Offerings. Offerings turn your insights into a deliverable package, leading with value and signaling your relevance to the audience. You don't want to offer whitepaper to a Gen Z audience, or short-form video to readers of the Harvard Business Review. The final element is Platform. Platform is often overlooked, but it's critical to your content - strong platforms give your insights traction in the market. Your platform needs to answer questions like "What are these ideas about?", "What problems do they solve?" and "Who should use them?" all without you being in the room. For more information on the Four Elements, read the whitepaper mentioned in the episode. It's located on Bill's LinkedIn. Three Key Takeaways: * Every interaction has a transaction cost of time. If you want a fraction of your audience's time you need to provide value. * When working with a team it is important to have your content organized so that each member can access and deploy content without the need to ask where to find it or what it means. * The number of ways you can package your content is endless but the interest and time of your audience are not. Lead with value and relevance.
Feb 9, 2023 • 16min
Introverted Leadership | Marcel Wijermars | 466
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.
Feb 5, 2023 • 23min
Transformation During Crisis | Simon Leslie | 465
Imagine running a $100,000,000 company that produces airline magazines. Great, right? But then came the Covid era in 2020. When the world literally brings your company to a standstill, how do you move forward? Today, I'm talking with Simon Leslie, the co-founder and CEO of Ink Global, a media company that connects brands with global audiences. Simon is also the author of several books, including, There is No F in Sales: A Book About Selling in Every Market Condition and Equanimity: The Diary of a CEO in Crisis. We start our conversation by talking about Simon's first book, There is No F in Sales, which shines a light on his years of sales experience. Publishing the book brought a new level of credibility to his thought leadership, allowing Simon to take bigger steps in telling the story of his business to wider audiences. As if the world wanted to put his book to the ultimate test, the pandemic ground his business to a halt. Still, that didn't stop Simon. He shares how a series of conversations with other business leaders, meant to inspire his team, caused the spark that turned into his third book, Equanimity. Like many good stories of hardship, Simon's ends with an epic comeback! With courage, Ink Global made a huge transformation, heavily investing in digital technology and leading the way to new horizons. Now their content can be found on screens at gates, bars, and restaurants of airports around the world. Plus Simon explains how they feed their content into passengers' social media, based on their travels, to connect brands with audiences in an all-new way. Three Key Takeaways: * Being a visible thought leader for your company allows you to tell the story of your brand on stages you might never get invited to. * Don't look at your business and think "we are doing ok". A handful of good or bad deals is all that separates failure and success. * Have the courage to keep moving forward and transform when needed.
Feb 2, 2023 • 17min
Communication for Powerful Thought Leadership | Jane Hanson | 464
Your main goal as a thought leader is to get your insights into the world. But if your communication doesn't live up to its message, then your thought leadership will gather dust on a shelf To offer insights that elevate your communication, I've invited Emmy Award winning Journalist Jane Hanson to join me for today's podcast. In addition to being a journalist, Jane is a coach with thirty years of helping people communicate more clearly, more efficiently, and with greater panache. Jane shares a recent study that revealed the average American has an eight second attention span. Eight seconds! That means thought leaders have to be able to take advantage of a tiny flicker of time to communicate ideas quickly and clearly. Often, thought leaders are better at communicating in a single medium. However, to be successful, you'll need to master many different mediums - because different audiences have different preferences! Jane shares great advice for learning new mediums, and offers elements to strengthen your message in any form. Jane shares why thought leaders should follow in the footsteps of comedians, rehearsing their material over and over, working on timing, inflection, and nuance. If you are deeply familiar with your strongest talking points, speaking in front of crowds will become easier, and your speeches will appear more natural. Plus, we learn how to get personal with an audience by mingling and getting to know them before an event, adding touches that make your keynote feel tailor-made for that audience. Jane shares so much advice for becoming a better communicator. You are going to want to listen to the episode, read the transcript, and take notes! Three Key Takeaways: * Good communication is the heart and soul of thought leadership. * Tailor your message to the audience to increase clarity and impact. * Strife to deliver your ideas with passion, confidence, and comfort.
Jan 29, 2023 • 32min
Creating Frameworks and Models from Expert Insights. | Dr. A.J. Marsden | 463
What is a model? How can you make one? How do you know if it is useful and what is a validated model? Statistician George P. Box once said, "All models are wrong, but some of them are useful." Models give us ways to depict how our insights relate to one another, and create structure that can be supported by statistical data – validating and confirming your ideas. Today, we take a deep dive into the process that turns insights into validated models. We will explore the topic with Dr. A.J. Marsden, Associate Professor at Boston College's Psychology and Human Services Department; she's also Thought Leadership Leverage's resident Organizational Psychologist. A.J. clearly defines models, and describes where they come from and how they function. We learn the basic components of a model, and why models need to be clean, simple, and free from anything that isn't essential. A.J goes on to explain why a good model needs structure and well defined dimensions, and breaks down how insights interact with each other on a fundamental level. In addition, you need to define observable behaviors in order to measure dimensions, providing valuable data for proving the model's validity and reliability. Creating a validated model means finding any weak spots in your content, and correcting them. A.J. describes the process, and goes into the statistical techniques used to create predictive validity. From there, a model can be written up in a technical report that provides functional numerical data to back up the insight and provide proof of your content's validity. If you are a stats nerd, data curious, or just struggling to identify what makes your insights "tick," this is the perfect episode for you. Three Key Takeaways: * When gathering data it is important to use participants that know and understand the concepts being used in the model. * Part of building a good model is understanding how the dimensions interact, and how the ideas support one another. * While you can create a model on your own, it can only be confirmed by a statistics professional who can develop a technical report. Without that, a model isn't validated.
Jan 27, 2023 • 39min
Writing a Book As an Extension of Your Business | Becky Robinson | 462
Have you ever thought about writing a book to codify what your business does, and what it stands for? And once you do, how long should you work to promote that book after it hits the shelves? To discuss these questions and more, I've invited Becky Robinson to join me for this episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership. Becky is the Founder and CEO of Weaving Influence where she works with business book authors to build their platform and grow the reach of their work. Additionally, Becky has become her own client having authored Reach: Create the Biggest Possible Audience for Your Message, Book or Cause. Our conversation begins with the difficult topic of measuring the ROI of a business book. Becky shares how that equation held her back from starting a book - until the pandemic hit. With some extra time, she started the journey, seeking to have her book launch coincide with the ten year anniversary of her business. Launching a book and running a company that specializes in the book publishing field gave Becky aunique perspective. Becky discusses some of the methods she used to get her book into the world, including pushing for100 Amazon reviews in the first month. To accomplish this, she sent 400 physical copies of the book to friends, colleagues, and anyone who would get value from it. She explains how a physical copy with a personalized note and signature has a far higher return than simply emailing a PDF. The journey of writing the book forced some additional clarity around the content Becky has used for years. She explains how she developed the four commitments, and defined the concept of "reach" in thought leadership publishing. In addition, she shares the importance of defining various terms, and the iterations authors go through in determining title and subtitle before landing on a final version. If you're planning to write a book, have a book coming out, or are out there supporting one - this episode is trove of advice that can help you reach your widest audience! Three Key Takeaways: * Online reviews are important for new books. They provide social "proof" of your insights and help create * Your book can't be for everyone. You'll need to focus on the people that need your book right now. * Don't view book marketing as a project with an end date. It is a life-long commitment.
Jan 22, 2023 • 35min
Connecting Insight to Action | Kathy Risch | 461
Why do people buy? Does it come down to price and features, or are our purchasing habits driven by deeper needs? To better understand consumers, and how to successfully influence their purchasings, I've invited Kathy Risch to join me on our podcast. Kathy is the Senior Vice President, Shopper Insights & Thought Leadership at Acosta, where they provide sales, marketing, and commercial solutions to help lift businesses to success. We begin by examining the similarities and differences between purchasing physical things versus buying intangible ideas. Kathy explains that while data is black and white, people are not. Purchasing habits are based on emotions and needs; therefore, selling a product is easier when you speak to the problems that the product solves for the buyer. Selling ideas can take many forms; speaking on stage, running webinars for hundreds, or working one-on-one. Regardless of medium, Kathy says, you must always set the tone, remaining clear, organized, and straightforward when sharing your insights and ideas. In addition, you need to provide value in exchange for a client's time, delivering fresh and interesting solutions with actionable steps. If you are struggling to connect your ideas to your audience, this episode will provide valuable tips to help you get buy-in and make the sale. Three Key Takeaways: You need to connect your product's brand and vision with the emotional needs of the buyer Always be willing to explore new modalities, even if it goes outside your comfort zone. You need to meet your audience where they already get their information. Fresh insights tend to rise above the noise – always provide interesting and actionable discoveries, to show your value right away.
Jan 19, 2023 • 18min
Elevating your brand with a book | Stacy Mayer | 460
Can your insights literally change people's lives? That's great! But how do you make sure everyone hears what you have to say? My guest today is Stacy Mayer, a consultant and coach who works with women seeking to get promoted into higher level leadership positions. Stacy talks about her book, Promotions Made Easy: A Step-by-Step Guide to the Executive Suite, from the process of writing, to the effect the book has had on her business and her life. Stacy shares her writing journey, and talks about the impact the book has had since its publishing, elevating her credibility and ability to leverage her thought leadership. Even more, it's had a profound influence on her, personally, as people echo back the importance of her ideas. Now she sees how much deeper she can take her work, helping more women move up the ranks in big business. The effects of the book don't stop there. The book has also increased her offerings as a coach! Previously, she offered a six-week group training program, but now it has evolved to a lifetime enrollment offering peer round tables, guest coaches, and so much additional knowledge that she's been able to increase her fees. While the outcome of the book is all positive, getting it written wasn't without hardships. The idea for writing a book came from her husband and those who listen to her podcast Women Changing Leadership, feeling that she already had all the material she'd need for a book. Yet when faced with a blank page it didn't come easy. Stacy shares how the realization that she didn't have to start with the introduction, she could write the book in whichever order made sense by collecting the knowledge she had in spreadsheets and various documents she'd written over the years. Three Key Takeaways: * A thought leadership book allows your ideas to stand on their own, and reach people you may never meet in person. * Getting out and talking about your book will help grow your business, but others talking about your work will increase your reach faster. * A book doesn't have to be written in the order it will be read. Write to your passion, and write the connective tissue as you move ahead.
