Leveraging Thought Leadership

Peter Winick and Bill Sherman
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May 1, 2022 • 40min

Ideas, Events, and Behaviors | Ruud Janssen | 390

How can you tell — in an instant — whether an in-person event will be a success or failure? Are there key items that can predict an event's outcome? In-person events are returning, and with them, questions of their utility and ability to really change the behaviors of those who attend. How can a thought leadership practitioner speak about their insights on stage in a way that brings about lasting and sustainable change? In order to better understand the challenges and pitfalls of organizing an event, we've invited Ruud Janssen, the Managing Director and Co-Founder of The Event Design Collective to join us. The Event Design Collective is a group of event designers who train and consult with event owners to elevate events using the Event Canvas model. As the co-creator of The Design Canvas, Ruud shares how they altered Alexander Osterwalder's Business Model Canvas to suit the event space, creating a model that any event owner could use under the creative commons license. Taking an idea and making it shine on stage isn't as simple as it sounds. Ruud helps us grasp the key elements that events need to create value through behavior change. While many concentrate heavily on the look or feel of an event, smart show-runners know that the real selling point is an event's outcome — and how it shapes ideas and habits for those who attend. The most successful events begin by taking notice of the event stakeholders; who they are, what they want from the event, and how they hope it will unfold. Ruud explains why we need to keep in mind those critical elements, and how to both manage expectations and surpass them. He also shares his thoughts on articulating thought leadership on stage, and what we can do to create behavior change from entry to exit. In addition, we learn how his business grew from offering a better understanding of The Design Canvas, to the creation of the Event Design Certificate program, and the creation of the Event Design Handbook — all to help empower event organizers to create amazing, impactful gatherings. If you want to learn more about The Event Canvas, you can get it free along with the first 100 pages of the Event Design Handbook HERE. Three Key Takeaways: Thought Leadership isn't just about insights. It needs to shape those insights and focus them in ways that deliver behavior change. Thought Leaders should spend at least 1% of their total attendance time thinking about the event they are hosting, and how to best reach attending stakeholders. You don't have to have a Hollywood budget for a Thought Leadership event! The production quality simply needs to elevate the conversation taking place.
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Apr 24, 2022 • 39min

The Art of Thought Leadership | Geoffrey Colon | 389

Advertising and innovation are perhaps the two most important components of a company, and both are changing faster than ever before. So, how can advertisers better understand and harness the influence of social media content creators? Our guest on this episode is Geoffrey Colon, Head of Brand Studio at Microsoft Advertising and the author of Marketing: What Growth Hackers, Data Punks, and Other Hybrid Thinkers Can Teach Us About Navigating the New Normal. Geoffrey is well qualified to discuss how individual creators and organizations are being challenged to think about accountability, and how their message and actions affect their reputation. We start off the conversation by discussing how every action taken by your company and its employees is a marketing action, even if you don't intend it to be. Geoffrey explains why companies need to consider how they are seen - from interactions with customer service, to social media, to advertising campaigns and thought leadership. Are you presenting a clear and consistent message? Content creators on TikTok and Instagram are capable of massive reach and influence. With that in mind, what can be learned from their methods? Geoffrey talks to us about the changing world of public relations, and how companies can team up with like-minded influencers to create unique campaigns that are mutually beneficial. We round out the conversation by discussing how thought leadership can help build a brand's reputation. Geoffrey goes on to explain how this can only be done when an organization's thought leadership matches the actions being taken by the company. Trust is immediately lost when the audience sees a company speak about something they clearly don't understand, or worse, when the organization's actions are contrary to their thought leadership message. If you want a better picture of how to bet on the future of your company's public relations and reputation you'll want to listen to this episode! Three Key Takeaways: Thought Leadership should stay true to the actions of the company. Don't tell others about customer service practices if your company is known for having bad customer service. Brands can reach new audiences by teaming up with content creators to spread the thought leadership message of their company. It is important for thought leaders to understand not only the financial standing of the company they are working for but the ethical standing as well.
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Apr 21, 2022 • 22min

Transitioning to virtual events | Robbie Samuels | 388

76% of people say networking is the top driver for attending an event, but the amount that have a plan to achieve that goal is much smaller. With many events having moved to a digital platform, networking has become harder - and yet, even more critical to success. To help understand the problem, and find some answers, we've invited Robbie Samuels to join us. Robbie is a networking expert, consultant, and advisor. He is also the author of Croissants vs. Bagels: Strategic, Effective, and Inclusive Networking at Conferences and Small List, Big Results: Launch a Successful Offer No Matter the Size of Your Email List, plus, he is the host of the podcast On The Schmooze. The arrival of the pandemic meant the end of in-person conferences, but as restrictions are loosening, we are starting to see these events return. We discuss what the post-pandemic conference scene will look like. Robbie explains that there is still great importance for in-person events, but they will have to be more thoughtful and meaningful than ever before. We also discuss the undeniable value of virtual events. Robbie explains that many of the tricks of the trade used by keynote speakers in person simply don't work on a small screen. He compares in-person speaking to a theatrical performance, and virtual events to a television show, where production and delivery is very different. Robbie gives examples to help speakers make changes to their delivery and connect with the audience in either style. Lastly, we discuss how the virtual environment has changed business models. No longer can keynote speakers rely solely on big conference gigs. Robbie discusses the diverse platform you need to deliver content, and how you can continue to provide in-person value - digitally! Robbie has a special offer for our listeners! Click HERE to get The Big Results Toolkit for Free! Three Key Takeaways: Thought Leaders need to have a clear plan to achieve networking goals at both in-person and virtual events. When delivering thought leadership content virtually, consider changing the pace every seven minutes to keep the audience engaged. Don't rely too much on one method of income for thought leadership. By diversifying your business model, you'll increase revenue and protect yourself from future disruptions.
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Apr 17, 2022 • 26min

Discovering Thought Leadership | Mark Smith | 387

Few children say, " I want to be a thought leader when I grow up." So, when did you realize this was what you wanted to do with your life? Every thought leadership practitioner comes from a unique background. Most began in other roles, following twisted paths that unexpectedly led them into thought leadership. When your organization needs a formal thought leadership position, how do you take people from disparate backgrounds and successfully stand up that new function? To better explore this transition, we've invited Mark Smith. Mark is Director, HR Thought Leadership at the Society for Human Resource Management (also known as SHRM). Mark's background includes a Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology and years of consulting in Human Resources, so he's got the right background to help us answer this question! Mark started his career at SHRM by leading a team to develop certification exams for HR. This research led Mark off the beaten path into marketing, social media, and sales - all the while continuing to lead his team. Eventually, Mark's boss recognized that Mark was doing incredible work outside of the scope of his position, and created the title of Director, HR Thought Leadership that Mark holds today. As the first official thought leadership role in the company, Mark was tasked with creating the responsibilities, roles, and tasks that the position would require, and building it into a meaningful part of the organization. He had to discover ways to bridge the gap between their important research and the audience he hoped to reach. Mark further shares his ideas about white papers. He tells us that they're not a great medium for the average audience, but those papers, infographics, sound bites, and more, can be shared on social media to offer people simple ways to take action toward more complex ideas. This is a wonderful conversation about standing up a thought leadership position. From the first steps of writing a vision for the role, to seeking mutually beneficial partners to collaborate with and reach larger audiences, Mark's got amazing insights that can help you do the same. Three Key Takeaways: Research often sits to the side of business goals. Thought Leaders need to bring that research to their audience in an actionable way. Organizational Thought Leaders need to navigate the complexity of silo'ed teams, develop buy-in, and get everyone on the same page. A fast way to grow your thought leadership reach is to collaborate with complementary partners - especially those whose work doesn't share the same audience.
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Apr 14, 2022 • 24min

Understanding management thinking | Art Kleiner | 386

Ever thought you'd found the best solution - only to discover in a few years (or a few months!) that the solution was unsustainable? The truth is that management solutions are complex, and sometimes our answers only complicate the original challenge. We've turned to one of the grandfathers of thought leadership, Art Kleiner, to address this difficult issue. Art is a recognized expert on management thinking, thought leadership, organizational learning, and scenario planning. He's the Principal Consultant at Kleiner Powell International (KPI), and the author of a number of books including Who Really Matters: The Core Group Theory of Power, Privilege and Success and The Age of Heretics: A History of the Radical Thinkers Who Reinvented Corporate Management. Art shares stories of a time when business knowledge was universally applied, leading to a range of difficulties with every new application. Leaders wanted "the one right way" to run a business, not realizing that business isn't a one-size-fits-all scenario. Eventually, thousands of people started offering simpler solutions to complex problems, each expressing the way they'd addressed the challenges. This created a new problemL hundreds of answers, and no way to tell which would be the right fit for any individual organization. Management problems have become more complex than ever, and leaders now face the difficulties of employees who struggle to deal with the global pandemic, radical changes to the workplace, and a much higher standard of responsibility. All of this adds up to the need for thought leaders who can be part of the community and who speak directly to employees with open eyes and empathetic understanding. We wrap up the conversation by discussing why it is much harder to build an audience today. The technology to reach thousands of people actually causes part of the challenge, creating fragmented audiences scattered across various platforms. In order to build your audience, you have to show up on a regular basis, find a way to connect with them, and share simple ideas that bring about complex changes. This conversation is filled with great advice for managers and leaders seeking to better understand the complications of their position. Three Key Takeaways: Thought leaders get a lot of return from being an active part of the community they wish to serve. Clients are seeking a connection that feels real. They want someone who speaks from experience, and doesn't just peddle a quick solution. Different audiences prefer different media. Some might want to read short blurbs, others listen to a podcast, and a third group might prefer video. Thought leaders must connect with audiences in the manner they prefer.
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Apr 8, 2022 • 20min

The business side of thought leadership | Stephen M. R. Covey | 385

Many thought leaders start with speaking, consulting, and creating content. They love their insights, and want to share them - but they don't always stop and think about their business model. What products will you offer? How will you market them? What kind of ROI, KPI and other metrics will you use? What would it be like to start on the business side, before stepping out with your thought leadership? We are thrilled to have Stephen M. R. Covey join us again on our podcast. Stephen is the co-founder of Covey Link and Franklin Covey, the bestselling author of The Speed of Trust, and a global authority on trust, leadership, and culture. Stephens's incredible career can be divided into two acts: first, as a leader on the business side of operations, he was charged with figuring out how to scale and leverage the work of his father Stephen R Covey; then, he stepped forward to share his own thought leadership alongside the gold standard his company achieves. Stephen explains his realization that thought leadership practitioners don't have to choose between impact and income. By aligning the two, and focusing on the audience that would benefit most from your insights, you can have great ideas and make money Over the years, Stephen has watched the industry move from analog to digital and has continued to be at the forefront of change. We discuss the forward-thinking ideas he had during the analog years (creation of certifications and train-the-trainer), and talk about the challenges and successes involved with staying at the top in this digital world. Stephen also shares his reasons to believe that intellectual property will always be the underlying engine of any platform or medium. We wrap our conversation by discussing Stephen's new book, Trust and Inspire. Stephen enlightens us about how little leadership has changed from the industrial age. While we have polished and refined the system of "Command and Control," today's environment requires more. Stephen gives us a rundown of his new system, what "Trust and Inspire" looks like, and why it's more complete and robust way of leading is more relevant in today's workplace. Three Key Takeaways: * The primary goal of thought leadership should always be the mission. Balance the scales between margin and reach, and don't lose sight of the mission. * Even if you believe that your insights are for everyone, don't overreach. Focus on your most integral audience, and create a profitable core before reaching out to a broader field. * When the market wants something - give it to them!
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Apr 3, 2022 • 35min

Curating Good Ideas | Mike Zimmerman | 384

Is the thought leadership of your organization integrated with other teams? Or it is something you do on your own time, without broad company support? To explore how thought leadership is about the effective deployment of great ideas, we sit down with Mike Zimmerman. Mike is the managing editor of The Thought Leadership Hub and Newsroom at Hitachi Vantara, a company helping mission-critical organizations get from data-rich to data-driven! Purchasers for businesses now spend 83% of their buying cycle educating themselves on the products and services they seek. Mike helps us understand how thought leadership can get you on that shortlist, by helping those purchasers understand what your product is – and more importantly, why they need it. Thought Leadership takes a different position inside every company. We examine where it sits within Hitachi Vantara, as well as the investments they are making in it. They integrate thought leadership on a top-down basis, and their "Insights" platform provides a home for stories about innovation, and perspectives on everything from supply chain to sustainability. In order to have a successful thought leadership platform, you need a fertile source of new content. Mike takes us through the steps he used to identify and recruit his subject matter experts and the various skills they contribute to the platform. This episode provides critical information for listeners seeking to develop a curatorial role for thought leadership in their organization. Three Key Takeaways: Your commitment to thought leadership shows in the frequency of the content you produce. When your thought leadership gets published, it is as important to clarify where you stand on each issue, both for and against. When developing your company's thought leadership, make the org's manifesto of ethics and values is the anchor for your thoughts.
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Mar 31, 2022 • 20min

Advantages of Being An Outsider | Monique Maley | 383

How do you go from "outsider" to "pro"? Through recognizing your unique perspective - and sharing it, with great thought leadership. Many thought leaders initially feel like "outsiders" in their industry. They have niche interests, new and potentially counterintuitive perspectives, and they think so far ahead of the game that it might seem outrageous to those more comfortable working "inside the box." Monique Maley is the Founder and President of Articulate Persuasion, working at the intersection of leadership and language. She is equipped with the belief that engaged, articulate, and persuasive leaders and teams can scale faster, build dynamic cultures, and impact those around them for the better. Monique is also the author of Turbulence, where she shares her insights about the way explosive challenges affect an organization. In it, she provides tools and strategies to overcome turbulence and build stronger organizational cultures. Monique grew up feeling like an outsider due to her bi-cultural background. Her life changed when she realized that she could be more authentic in work and with conversations, and that her background gave her a unique and insightful perspective. Being an outsider has given her a strong advantage when it comes to consulting and advising, and Monique uses that advantage to help her clients and encourage those with similar situations. She tells us how an "outsider's" perspective allows you to see things more clearly, and be more direct, while overcoming internal politics that might try to hold you back just for being different. As "outsiders," thought leaders must develop tools that put the spotlight on their perspective and hold the attention of their audience. Monique has a rich background in acting and theatre. She shares methods to help those without such a background become comfortable in the spotlight, and shares the real reasons that you need to be authentic in order to build trust. Three Key Takeaways: Thought leaders should embrace their unique backgrounds and be authentic. Those strengths bring a unique outlook to your content. Thought Leadership that comes from outside an organization can provide a different and important point of view to those whose information has been isolated. Thought leaders need to be able to present themselves in a manner that keeps an audience engaged. Don't copy someone else's performance; stay true to yourself, or you risk losing the trust of the audience.
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Mar 27, 2022 • 31min

Bootstrapping Thought Leadership | Adam Zuckerman | 382

Anyone with the right academic training can understand research materials and data points. The struggle comes when we try to use that knowledge to move people to act. How can we fuse personal experiences with statistical information, to connect with people and get them excited about the future? Our guest today is Adam Zuckerman, Product Leader, Employee Engagement Software at Willis Towers Watson, a company offering data-driven, insight-led solutions in the areas of people, risk, and capital. They work to make organizations more resilient, more motivated, and capable of amazing things. Adam shares insights about crafting a unique voice for your thought leadership. He used a personal approach, sharing his narrative and using storytelling skill to add emotion to cold, academic numbers. Through this approach, he connects thought leadership to business development - and enhance employee performance. When it comes to employee experience, WTW has a host of technological tools at its disposal. Adam knows that technology has become increasingly important to employee satisfaction and engagement. However, he firmly believes that a smart organization's focus needs to remain on people. He tells us how he uses technological data to identify employee needs, and then spur action to address and solve those problems. That's what sets orgs apart from their competition. We also explore Adam's growing love for social media, particularly Linkedin, a platform he had previously all but written off. At the suggestion of a co-worker, he started to use Linkedin as a platform to share his ideas, and quickly realized it is a powerful tool for sharpening content, building your network, and discovering new ideas. This conversation is a delightful exploration that ranges from crafting your thought leadership voice to integrating technology into employee performance. Be sure to listen in! Three Key Takeaways:· * Leaders who encourage their employees to believe in themselves create a stronger work environment. * Customer and employee experience are deeply related. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of your customers.· * Posting thought leadership content on social media is a great way to sharpen the content and see what resonates!.
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Mar 20, 2022 • 43min

Making the Business Case for Thought Leadership | Kimberly Ellison-Taylor | 381

While thought leadership has been around for a long time, it's only recently started popping up as a topic of discussion in major boardrooms. Company executives and board members want to know the ROI and KPI of a thought leadership investment. So how do you quantify thought leadership's impact and worth? To help me add up the numbers, I've invited Kimberly Ellison-Taylor to join us in this episode of our podcast. Kimberly is a thought leadership practitioner, an experienced accountant, an active board member and the CEO of KET Solutions. She has the perfect balance of knowledge to assess the usefulness and impact of thought leadership at the highest levels. We discuss thought leadership's impact within the executive suite, and how it can help prepare someone for a board position. Find out what the executive team of any organization should be thinking about when they begin a thought leadership journey; from roll out to measuring impact on a wide scale. Kimberly shares the reasons that an organizational thought leadership role is critical to the client-value proposition, and how great thought leadership can set your organization apart and push it toward greater levels of success. Kimberly understands the need to include diverse groups of people in your organization's thought leadership, to ask the questions that might otherwise be missed. She also celebrates the next generation of thought leaders, and talks about drawing attention to the time and focus that people put into attaining their professional goals. This is an exciting conversation for board members, executives, and thought leaders, focused on truly understanding how the power of thought leadership goes beyond the spreadsheet and into the core values of an organization. Three Key Takeaways: · Don't assume executives have a lot of bandwidth for research. Be sure to discuss with them, rather than asking them to investigate on their own. · Thought leadership is about peering around the corner into the future. Investing in thought leadership ensures that your organization is at the forefront of change. · You need a network of leaders and executives you can rely on, to help answer questions, solve problems, and discuss current topics of thought leadership.

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