Leveraging Thought Leadership

Peter Winick and Bill Sherman

Episodes

Mentioned books

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Jun 9, 2022 • 24min

A retrospective and look forward at thought leadership's future. | Peter Winick and Bill Sherman | 400

To celebrate our 400th episode, our two hosts Peter Winick and Bill Sherman disperse insights they've gained having spoken to hundreds of thought leaders over decades of working in the field. We start with a look at the widely varied paths to thought leadership. There are no schools, no set career path to follow to become a thought leader. Unlike becoming a doctor or lawyer, thought leadership is often the second act of a career. People branch into it once they've become a subject matter expert, have conquered many challenges of their own, and have developed a unique voice that needs to be heard. With no set route, thought leadership practitioners are often faced with experimentation as they create content and sharpen their message. Bill talks about the need to simply get content out and not be afraid of failure. Ideas need to take root, and you need defined goals in order to measure its success. Thought leadership practitioners need to shepherd their ideas, constantly look for new ways to present them, and find their best audience. Looking around the corner, Bill and Peter discuss the drivers that will change thought leadership over the next few years. We examine how publishing will continue to shift its place in a thought leader's toolbox, and the bar for quality content is only going to get higher as publishing becomes a simple, even easy, task. In addition, we learn why a visible digital footprint adds glue to business proposals and engagements, and why lack of visibility will be a major career impediment in the next few years. We want to thank all of our listeners for joining us over the last 400 episodes, and we look forward to bringing you more great content and exciting guests in the future. Three Key Takeaways: * Don't wait for your thought leadership to be perfect. Put it out there, and if it falls short, use that as a learning opportunity. * Your message needs to be independent of the modality. Build a strong foundation of ideas instead of focusing on how to "hack the algorithm" of the platform. * The cost and ease of publishing is allowing a flood of new ideas to enter the milieu. This signal-to-noise ratio can only be overcome with high-quality content and good marketing.
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Jun 5, 2022 • 33min

Launching Thought Leadership within Marketing | Eric Dates | 399

How do you bring thought leadership online in a quickly growing organization? It's a task that can be easily over-complicated, adding more spinning plates to employees who already have their hands full. So how do you make it work? We've invited Eric Dates, the Director, Growth Marketing at Ncontracts, a software firm providing risk management and compliance to a rapidly expanding customer base of financial institutes. Eric's voice adds to the conversation as someone who is currently adding and expanding the role thought leadership plays at his company. Eric shares how he kick-started thought leadership at Ncontracts by finding people inside the organization who are interested in becoming the face of the brand. He's found that people get excited at the prospect of being offered the space to share their voice on behalf of the org. Getting people interested in thought leadership might be easier than the task of creating it. Eric explains how he helps people break down the large task of thought leadership creation into smaller chunks, to avoid employees feeling overwhelmed. We also discuss how to integrate a high-profile employee into the thought leadership program without overshadowing others or taking away from the many voices that are involved. If you want to understand how to better shine the spotlight on the amazing talent in your company, as well as share great ideas, this episode will move you in the right direction. Three Key Takeaways: * By showcasing a variety of the talented people in your organization, they gain credibility and create a level of trust for the entire org. Credibility that can be relied on, and will pay off in every future interaction. * Getting subject matter experts to move into thought leadership involves giving them the space and confidence to share their ideas. * Understanding the full potential of employees contributing to the org's thought leadership can help marketers move the needle.
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Jun 2, 2022 • 22min

Transitioning from Broadcasting to Thought Leadership | Lynn Smith | 398

A short video has 3-5 seconds to get the viewers' attention, and 30 seconds to get them to stay. Are you up to the challenge? Creating videos, catching attention, and the ability to speak well on camera are acquired skills - and today's guest, Lynn Smith, knows how to master them all. Lynn is a journalist and former news anchor with NBC News, MSNBC, and CNN Headline News. With 15 years of experience in headline news, Lynn knows how to take complex stories and boil them down to a single, strong core. Lynn is now using that experience as Founder and CEO of Rylan Media, helping clients tackle their biggest branding and communication challenges. We start by asking Lynn about her insights on taking a complicated story and communicating it to the audience in a clear, succinct manner. Lynn explains how she breaks it down to the headline to grab attention,fills out the story with compelling details, and finally, adds "the chill factor" to leave her audience with a thoughtful takeaway. While many thought leaders can command attention and be charismatic on stage and in person, video meetings, online conferences, and video content creation have changed the game. Lynn shares tips on ways to overcome your awkwardness and connect with the lens in the same way you would a close friend. Her years of experience provide many tips and clear insight that you simply won't want to miss! If you want to create compelling videos that get a ton of hits, this episode is for you! Three Key Takeaways: * Thought leadership videos need to be short. You must connect with the audience in the first five seconds. * Many people experience Zoom fatigue, but we should also embrace the change that has facilitated simple global communication. * Budding thought leaders need to be resilient and keep going. Failure is just a lesson, a minor obstacle on the path to success.
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May 29, 2022 • 34min

Dark Social and Supporting Employee Voices| Kerry-Ann Stimpson | 397

Modern marketing means using popular social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. But how can organizations make sure such marketing is effective, when it's hard to reach or measure the results? Behind the scenes of social media are a million private messages, e-mails, and other chatter that has as much effect on a brand as public announcements. How can that be measured, harnessed, and addressed? To help us navigate the "Dark Social" parts of the net, we've invited Kerry-Ann Stimpson, Chief Marketing Officer at The JMMB Group, an integrated financial service provider who values and promotes heart-to-heart connections and authentic, caring relationships through online media. Kerry-Ann is also the host of The Internal Marketing Podcast, where she gives tips and insights about ways companies can supercharge their brand by focusing on their employees. First, we define the idea of the "Dark Social" connection, and the important role it plays in the way brands are viewed. Kerry-Ann shares ways to educate your employees so they can play important roles in building the company's brand - along with their own! This is best accomplished by giving employees the freedom and trust to use their voices, and follow their passions. Kerry-Ann further gives insights about the ways she's been helping employees step out of the shadow of their company's brand, and share their personal experiences. An employee's personal experiences have great value to a company's reputation, helping organizations create communities that allow budding brand ambassadors to connect, learn, and inspire each other. Three Key Takeaways: * Thought leaders should embrace the idea of "dark social" connections, and build trustworthy allies to carry the conversation in those places. * A customer will never be more excited about your brand than your employees. Thought leadership helps employees get charged up and eager to share those ideas. * You may never have the resources to accomplish all of your marketing goals, but if you create an army of advocates, they'll help take your ideas further than any marketing budget ever could.
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May 26, 2022 • 31min

Being Strategic with Your Book and Business Model | Jan Rutherford & Shannon Huffman Polson | 396

This was originally a LinkedIn Live recorded on October 6th, 2021 In our first Leveraging Thought Leadership Live session, we invited two amazing guests to speak with us about challenges and the grit it takes to overcome them. Jan Rutherford is a former Green Beret, and the founder of Self-Reliant Leadership. He's also the author of The Littlest Green Beret: On Self-Reliant Leadership. Shanon Huffman-Polson is one of the first female Apache helicopter pilots, and also the founder of The Grit Institute and author of The Grit Factor: Courage, Resilience, and Leadership in the Most Male Dominated Organization in the World. Together, these two brilliant leaders, vets, and authors, discuss with us the importance of laying down a strategic plan early in your thought leadership journey. We discuss how they found ways to convey their leadership experience in methods that help others learn from it, and developing avatars to help reach the audience who needs you the most. The conversation covers the need to iterate in order to stay on top of your game, and how to listen to the market in order to keep your business growing with today's needs. Jan and Shannon share why they chose to become authors, and their reasons for wanting to write a book about their personal experience. Both created books that focused on making their personal stories a delivery mechanism for inspiration, insight, and ideas that others can use to improve their lives. If you missed this episode when it was live, this is the perfect opportunity to get caught up. Three Key Takeaways: * Understand your thought leadership's deeper purpose, identify the people you want it to serve, and reach out to them early in your career. * The market will tell you what it values — which might be different than what you want! Be open and willing to listen, and change course toward success. * It can be easy to create thought leadership based on our experiences, but it shouldn't be about you. Make sure you are giving your audience something they can use.
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May 22, 2022 • 35min

Impacting the Conversation through Thought Leadership | Heather Dondis | 395

Traditionally, great marketing requires a big budget, a great deal of manpower, and broad advertising. When your organization isn't able to compete in those arenas, what can you do to punch above your weight class? To help us level up, we've invited Heather Donids, the Director of Thought Leadership and Insight at Harbor Capital Advisors to join us for a chat. Harbor Capital Advisors is an investment company that specializes in helping clients achieve the financial security they deserve. Together, we explore the ways thought leadership sits outside of the traditional streams of marketing. When done properly, thought leadership allows companies and individuals to compete on a higher level — but only if they have something to say, and the conviction to broadcast and shepherd that idea. Once your organization has zeroed in on the message they want to share, you'll need to get it to the right audience. Heather explains how she views thought leadership as an asset, comparing it to human capital. If you develop a content strategy and program, you can create a strategic asset that can be measured, compounded, and guided. The goal is to use many voices and mediums to reach your audience where they naturally spend their time; both in terms of what they are thinking about, and where they are, physically. Three Key Takeaways: * Thought leadership needs to be in perfect alignment with your company's business strategy and values. * If you have someone in your organization with something valuable to say, equip them with the tools they need to take that message to scale. * Proper curation of thought leadership will cut through the clutter and put the spotlight on important ideas.
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May 19, 2022 • 22min

Making a Business Case with Your Book Proposal | Matt Holt | 394

Have you ever thought about publishing a book? Be careful! There are a lot of misconceptions and bad information about publishing. If you want to publish successfully, and see your work reach it's best audience, you might need to do a little research — and our guest on this episode is a treasure-trove of information. To clear up the misinformation and get our listeners started on the right foot, we've invited Matt Holt, Editor-in-Chief of Matt Holt Books (a BenBella Books imprint) to join us. Matt was previously Senior Vice President and Executive Publisher at John Wiley & Sons, where he oversaw a team of 85 staff. Over his 27-year career, he's acquired over 1,000 titles and published 10,000 titles! We start with the questions you need to answer before you set pen to paper. Matt believes you need to know your book's goal; why you are writing it, and for what audience? Once you have those answers, you can start thinking about the publishing model that will best suit your authorship. Having had literally thousands of proposals cross his desk, Matt can tell in only 30 minutes whether a manuscript merits further exploration. During our conversation, he shares what he is looking for in a proposal, and the methods he uses to look into each potential author's background and qualifications. Lastly, we discuss the tension that often exists between author and publisher. The author is making a long-term, multi-year connection ,while the publisher is looking to get in, publish the manuscript, and move quickly onto the next project. Matt explains what both sides can do to provide the transparency needed for everyone to achieve their goals. If you want to ensure that your manuscript proposal doesn't get tossed into the "pass" pile, you've got to listen to this episode! Three Key Takeaways: * You can get a book done quickly and cheaply, or you can get it done right. * Thought Leaders who are also practitioners often have an advantage in promoting their books as they already are in direct contact with their audience. * A book is a mass-market tool, you'll need methods of taking your content to scale if you want to fully capitalize on your book launch.
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May 15, 2022 • 39min

How Ideas Evoke Wonder and Agency | Vince Kadlubek | 393

Thought leadership is all about unconventional ideas. But unconventional ideas can be intimidating. How does a thought leadership practitioner stir curiosity, draw in an audience, and make potential clients want to engage? Does giving the client agency draw them in or push them away? In seeking answers, I've turned to an unconventional guest, Vince Kadlubek. Vince is the founder and director of Meow Wolf, an art studio creating massive, world-class experiences that weave art, space, and narrative into one inspirational adventure. To start things off, Vince explains Meow Wolf's purpose and design, and talks about the three major Meow Wolf experience spaces. These huge art installations provide an environment to explore the unknown, something essential to an authentic, visceral experience. That's the kind of place, Vince says, where real transformation happens. Bringing these massive events to life takes many iterations of prototyping, and many artisans working towards a unified vision. Vince explains how Meow Wolf creates the theme, seeks artists, and builds both teamwork and autonomy, creating a collaborative effort built on trust. This episode takes many concepts and ideas used in the arts, and shows how they can be applied to thought leadership advancements in any industry, to make dreams come true. Three Key Takeaways: * Thought Leadership needs to marry art and adventure, leading their audience into the unknown - where transformation happens. * True collaboration means each side provides 50% of the work toward a result; it's the merging of both that creates something richer and more meaningful. * Prompt your audience to participate in your thought leadership instead of simply being a spectator.
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May 12, 2022 • 21min

Convergence of Thought Leadership and CMOs | Drew Neisser | 392

Chief Marketing Officers (CMO) often think in terms of campaigns, responses, and calls to action. Everything is about selling a product or service. So, when it comes to using thought leadership for marketing, how do you thread the needle? How do you show CMOs that thought leadership can develop a brand, bring in new clients, and not look like just another advertisement? To tackle this tough question, we've invited Drew Neisser, the Founder of Renegade, a B2B marketing agency that helps their clients do the heavy lifting of brand strategy, market research, content, and social media. Drew is also the author of Renegade Marketing: 12 Steps to Building Unbeatable B2B Brands, helping readers remove the complications of B2B marketing. For thought leadership to be successful, you need to be clear about what you are trying to accomplish. Drew discusses the way CMOs should be focusing their efforts, and ways to express how thought leadership differs from traditional marketing. Once you have a clear purpose, you need a clear vision. Drew explains that thought leadership needs to be developed from the viewpoint of the customers, creating content that encourages them to think more deeply about problems in order to find solutions. Drew's CATS (Courageous, Artful, Thoughtful, and Scientific) method is one such framework. It can be used as a guiding light to ensure your content hits all the right targets. We conclude the conversation by examining Drew's goals Drew in writing his book. He set out to make B2B marketing easier by creating a 12-step program that he used in the field to gain real-life feedback and viscerally improve the book. Drew shares how the pandemic affected the release schedule of the book, and how he stripped it back to a massive blog post — which then exploded in popularity, proving that he was on the right track. B2B marketing has never been more complicated. If you are struggling to find your share of the market, this episode might just have the advice you need to find your audience. Three Key Takeaways: * Thought Leadership content should be created with the focus of helping clients solve problems by looking at challenges from a different perspective. * Low or mid-level marketers should consider creating thought leadership content early in their career, as a means of building a reputation for the long run. * Make sure you've considered the three C's when creating thought leadership: Content, Connection, and Community!
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May 5, 2022 • 21min

Assessment Tools for Changing Habits | Meredith Bell | 391

Many organizations deploy assessment tools, only to have the results ignored because of a lack of understanding or motivation. What do we do with them, now? What do the numbers really mean? Our guest today will help us understand not only what it takes to build a valid assessment, but how to use one to drive measurable behavior change. Meredith Bell is the co-founder and president of Grow Strong Leaders, where they help individuals discover key areas for development, and implement strategies for achieving higher levels of performance. She is also the co-author of Connect with Your Team: Mastering the Top 10 Communication Skills and Peer Coaching Made Simple: How to Do the 6 Things That Matter Most When Helping Someone Improve a Skill. Meredith started her journey into the assessment tool space in the 90s, when she became frustrated at the lack of customizable tools at her disposal as a consultant. Before long, she had made the pivot from consulting to software creation. Her original product, 20/20 Insight, is still in use today. In addition to having been a consultant and creating assessment tools, Meredith is also an author, speaker, and thought leader. With so many plates spinning, she knows well how each label factor creates multiple touchpoints for potential clients to utilize her expertise. From those touchpoints, she helps companies and organizations discover which of her offerings will have the most impact for their needs. If you're looking for an in-depth understanding of assessment functionality, and why peer-to-peer coaching can be the most cost and time-effective method for moving the performance needle, you'll want to listen to this episode. Three Key Takeaways: * When creating assessments, keep your questions indirect. Indirect questions create more connection between behaviors and other elements. * Helping people reach their full potential is all about changing the habits that are standing in their own way. * Effective communication often means having to ask, "Who do I need to be, in this moment, in order to connect with my audience?"

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