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
May 2, 2021 • 32min
Leveraging Thought Leadership | Stephen G. Pope | 310
Today's guest is Stephen G. Pope the founder and CEO of SGP Labs a creative marketing, media, and technology company with the goal of helping others grow their business faster. Creating video is as easy as hitting the record button, but once that is done what do you do with it? Stephen shares the importance of having a solid process in place that makes for an easy workflow for everyone involved in it. Stephen talks about how you can take existing video content such as zoom calls and repurposes them into shorter video clips for social media, transcribe them for consumption on your website, and even convert them into other blog posts to create a deep pool of content suitable for any platform. If you are thinking about adding video to your thought leadership arsenal or already have video sitting on a drive somewhere this episode is just what you need to turn that unused potential into a new content library! Three Key Takeaways: When creating thought leadership videos you should be mindful to highlight what your company is doing and what value you bring to the table. Thought leadership videos are a great way for people to meet you and remember your name. Don't let a thought leadership video stay in that one format. Reuse it in smaller clips, transcripts, or slide decks.
Apr 29, 2021 • 19min
Leveraging Thought Leadership | Justin Foster | 309
Today's guest is Justin Foster, the author of Oatmeal vs Bacon and co-author of Rooting Up. He is a speaker consultant and co-founder of Root + River a practice that specializes in branding for defiant leaders. Justin shares his path to thought leadership and the tricks he learned along the way, including a brilliant method for how to get in front of potential clients when they won't answer the phone for a sales call. Breaking through the noise to have your voice heard amongst an abundance of other consultants is tough enough, but how do you get heard without coming across annoying or worse like a jerk? Justin tells us how conviction and originality can be the key! Last we discuss methods of generating content, the pros and cons of going with the method you are comfortable with and have energy for versus the method that you audience might expect from you. This episode is filled with a ton of TLPM (Thought Leadership per Minute) so grab a pen and take notes! Three Key Takeaways: Being an expert in your clients business is just as important as being an expert in the thought leadership you look to delivery to the client. Your thought leadership cannot afford to be bland. You have to have an original take on an idea and the conviction to stand by it. It's okay if your thought leadership is heretical or counter-intuitive, so long as you can prove and defend your content.
Apr 25, 2021 • 30min
Leveraging Thought Leadership | Ali Ahmed | 308
Today's guest is Ali Ahmed, the director of thought leadership at Fidelity. We discuss with Ali the work he is doing at Fidelity leading a team of thought leaders, two of the audiences they focus on, and the modalities used to help people along their financial journey that is often not a straight line. Ali has a strong background in experience design that he incorporates into the content they create. We discuss the techniques that carry over, how to put the user at the center of the journey, and ways to avoid overwhelming the user. Three Key Takeaways: When creating thought leadership makes it impactful in a way that will inspire people to action. Thought leadership that focuses on the experience of the user is better than content that overwhelms the user with data. Thought leaders need to understand when and where to insert themselves into the conversation.
Apr 18, 2021 • 22min
Leveraging Thought Leadership | Tendayi Viki | 307
Today's guest Tendayi Viki, author of Pirates in the Navy and the Corporate Startup and associate partner at Strategyzer, the global leader in enterprise growth & innovation services. Tendayi shares how his path to thought leadership involved leaving Zimbabwe for the UK and teaching forensic psychology before transitioning to social psychology. We discuss how Alexander Osterwalder created Strategyzer and how the platform was designed to deliver consistent results for clients by well-trained consultants allowing the model to be scalable and consultants to create plug-ins that add to and modify the platform. Tendayi and Peter discuss the danger of the personality of a thought leader is a cliff that can be hard to climb and how if used properly you can instead be a platform to raise up others. We wrap up our conversation discussing the changes Strategyzer went through to flourish during the COVID-19 pandemic. After the initial panic that everyone felt they quickly transitioned their offerings to digital formats, creating high-level engaging content that presented the same value. Three Key Takeaways: When creating a platform for your thought leadership is sure the content is scalable and deliverable by others. If your thought leadership is only based on your personality you risk overshadowing your own content. When creating virtual content you need to find ways for your thought leadership to deliver the same value you present in person.
Apr 15, 2021 • 19min
Leveraging Thought Leadership | Dr. Troy Hall | 306
Today's guest is Dr. Troy Hall Chief Strategy Officer for South Carolina Federal Credit Union, and the lead consultant for SCF Solutions, LLC. He is the best-selling author of Cohesion Culture and his newest release Fanny Rules. Troy shares the heartwarming story of his mother's leadership that makes up the lessons that in his book Fanny Rules and how these lessons are suitable for both the home and office. We discuss how Troy has developed the consulting and executive coaching division for South Carolina Federal Credit Union and how that position allows him to work with leaders who want to grow, advance, and develop while focusing on the internal culture of their organization. Finally, Troy gives advice for burgeoning thought leaders. He shares how if you believe something you have to speak it and become your truth now not someday. Three Key Takeaways: The earliest lessons in our life can become the basis for our thought leadership. Developing thought leadership for an organization requires trust that both sides are working towards the same goals. Transformational leadership involves focusing on the needs of others before yourself.
Apr 8, 2021 • 20min
Leveraging Thought Leadership | Karen Leland | 305
Today's guest is Karen Leland, CEO at Sterling Marketing Group, the best-selling author of No Nonsense and The Brand Mapping Strategy, and a lifelong artist. With a lifelong commitment to the arts, before moving into thought leadership Karen shares how the skills learned in music, theater, and improv have given her the ability to handle rejection, think on her feet and be fearless in her knowledge that she can face any obstacle that might present itself. We continue our conversation by looking at the increased speed at which the industry was forced to move to digital events. Karen shares her thoughts on the hybrid world that she sees evolving from the COVID-19 pandemic and what the new normal might be once we are on the other side of it. Finally, Karen shares two passion projects she is looking at developing and how many professionals are seeking side businesses that support their passion more than their pocketbook. Three Key Takeaways: * Thought leaders with a background in the arts are often capable of thinking on their feet and being more agile. * With the world forcing thought leaders to change how they deliver content you have to be willing to figure out a way forward or face extinction. * Thought leaders should be seeking to find a way to apply their domain of thought leadership to the way the world has changed.
Apr 4, 2021 • 8min
Leveraging Thought Leadership | Organizational Thought Leadership Anthology | 304
Today we make a small departure from our usual format of interviewing a guest. Instead, we shed a light on the series of short videos Bill Sherman has been producing over the last year that focus on specific issues related to Organizational Thought Leadership. First, we look at the many varied paths that professionals travel to land in a thought leadership role. Second, we examine the skills thought leaders need to be successful. While there are many that are useful we discuss the three key ones: analytical thinking, storytelling, and empathy. Third, we look at the four primary ways that ideas emerge in thought leadership: forge, sharpen, weld, and transport. Fourth, we discuss the benefits of narrowcasting, which might seem counterintuitive given the constant hype we hear around clicks, likes, and shares. But do those metrics really hold value? Three Key Takeaways: · Thought leaders with empathy are able to break through the distractions of what interests themselves to focus on what their clients truly need. · Many believe new ideas in thought leadership are brand new, but in fact, most are rooted in evolving and combing existing ideas. · Narrowcasting allows thought leaders to speak more directly to the audience that is most important to them.
Apr 1, 2021 • 22min
Leveraging Thought Leadership | William Arruda | 303
Today's guest is William Arruda, a personal branding pioneer, speaker, and coach. William is the author of Digital You and Career Distinction and creator of 360 Reach a web-based personal branding survey that has helped more than 1.8 million people! William tells us how in 2001 he went from a comfortable job at IBM to having no income for 18 months after reading Tom Peter's The Brand Called You. The hard 18 months helped him develop this thought leadership and methodology that he uses to this day! Peter and William discuss the importance of constructing methodologies and frameworks that can be repeated and explained in meaningful ways, which allow you to stand out from the competition. Those frameworks build the foundation that you can spread your thought leadership in endless ways. William shares the three C's for branding: Clarity, Consistency, and Constancy. He explains how to properly deploy them and the importance of each for building a brand that has meaning and is unforgettable. We wrap up our conversation with William giving advice to anyone looking to establish or expand their brand. Three Key Takeaways: · Your thought leadership needs to have solid processes and frameworks to ensure it is repeatable with the same outcome each time. · Thought leaders should consider the external view of their personal brand. Seek external feedback to verify how your brand is held in the hearts and minds of your clients. · Every day we are overwhelmed with information. You need to be consistent and constant with delivering thought leadership to your audience.
Mar 28, 2021 • 43min
Leveraging Thought Leadership | Jeff Kavanaugh | 302
Today's guest is Jeff Kavanaugh, the Global Head at Infosys Knowledge Institute, the research and thought leadership arm of Infosys diversified technology and digital firm. Earlier this year Jeff published his second book The Live Enterprise. Jeff explains how the institute isn't just a place for people to have a platform but a place for teaching others to build communication and extend their voice. We look at the three audiences that the institute serves best. Jeff and Bill spend some time discussing the transformation of the digital age and the concept of the invisible brain, an evolution of the invisible hand. We examine the knowledge graph and how it connects data to people and things. Plus we look at how the digital brain can take rules-based information that has become digitized, then automate and optimize it. Together, the digital brain and the knowledge graph set the tone for the curation of knowledge in a company. We wrap up with Jeff giving some valuable advice for anyone who might want to turn their ideas into a book for their organization, from where to start to actually publish the project. Three Key Takeaways: · Branding you thought leadership is a long game. You have to be comfortable with giving value with no expectations of something in return. · Your thought leadership needs to have its own edge. If you are saying the same thing as everyone else you are invisible. · When making the choice to write a book start with a four thousand word keystone, then determine if there is still enough depth to write a full book that others will want to read.
Mar 21, 2021 • 23min
Leveraging Thought Leadership | Peter Winick & Bill Sherman | 301
Today our dueling hosts Peter Winick and Bill Sherman sit down together to give an overview of the thought leadership world. They start with the topic of Organizational Thought Leadership, which TLL has had a heavy focus on. We examine why more and more companies are investing in dedicated thought leaders, how those companies are struggling to define what it means to them, where it falls in the company, and how to measure its success. Peter and Bill discuss to find the right audience for both organizational and standalone thought leadership can be a challenge. The old method of broadcasting to as many people as you can isn't as effective anymore. They give us some insights into how narrowcasting small chunks of information can have a greater impact. We wrap up our one on one discussing the transformations that have happened over the last year due to COVID-19. With most in-person events canceled people are missing the community aspect of conferences. How can you build a successful community online and have members become engaged and excited? The lack of travel to events has given many thought leaders far more free time which has caused creative renaissances, but when the world fully re-opens will that come to an end? How will thought leaders protect that time they've gained for deep thought and development? Three Key Takeaways: · If an organization is going to invest money into thought leadership they need to have a firm grasp on what that means to them and how to scale it through the organization and beyond. · Measuring the success of thought leadership isn't a simple metric. It has to be measured over a long period of time and the precise ROI often cannot be calculated. · The so many events being digital the barrier to entry has dropped. This allows thought leaders to attend more events and still save time and money.
