Leveraging Thought Leadership

Thought leaders know that a sharp eye is the best tool for keeping a sharp mind. In fact, others see abilities in us long before we see them in ourselves, and can support us as we blossom into a new role or skill.

Our guest today has found herself asking “Who me?” and “Why me?” at almost every step of her incredible career. Deborah Levine is the Founder and Editor of the American Diversity Report, whose mission is to boost the effort to repair the world and inspire fellow diversity, equity, and inclusion change makers with the resources they need.

Deborah shares how her history weaves together seemingly unrelated skills and experiences that take her from being the only Jewish girl in her community in Bermuda, to unexpectedly being put in charge of inter religious affairs at the American Jewish Committee, and eventually becoming an award-winning screen writer and producer!

One of the threads that is common through most of her experience is others offering aid to move her career and thought leadership forward, eventually allowing Deborah to learn and step up to the task on her own.  Deborah shares real life experiences of getting help and learning to grow into new roles that she might have thought were impossible for her to accomplish.

This episode is full of stories and antidotes that are sure to inspire anyone who has been asked to step up to the plate and thought “Why me?”

Three Key Takeaways:

·         When asked to do something, take the opportunity that is presented.  Don't say no because you aren't sure how to do it.  Take the time to learn and grow.

·         Part of being a thought leader is encouraging and creating spaces for conversations that will have meaning and value.

·         Being a thought leader means being in a constant state of evolution of who you are.

Before anyone shares their ideas, feedback, or concerns they tend to ask themselves two questions:  Am I safe to speak?  And is it worth it?

If the answer to either of these questions is no, odds are they will stay silent.

So how can leaders, teams, and organizations facilitate an environment where speaking up is celebrated and not ignored or punished?

Our guest today is Stephen "Shed" Shedletzky, a speaker, leadership coach and advisor who is using his new book Speak-Up Culture: When Leaders Truly Listen, People Step Up to help create a culture where people feel safe and supported to take part in and start conversations.

Shed shares how his work with Simon Sinek laid the groundwork for developing his own content that focused on two areas that stood out to him over his years of work:  Psychological safety and living your message.

We examine what Psychological safety and Speak-Up Culture mean to Shed and how he is bringing these elements to individual’s, teams, and organizations.  In addition we discuss how psychological safety still comes with accountability, which is best achieved by mutually established agreements that bring what is best for both employee and employer to the front.

Three Key Takeaways:

·         Business books are written for two reasons.  It's something you are so good at you want to share that knowledge.  Or you are so bad at it that you need to write a book to fix it.

·         Whatever you message is you have to live it inside and outside of your organization.  If you talk the talk, but fail to walk the walk people will see right through you.

·         When people don’t feel like speaking up will have an effect they become apathetic.  When they don’t feel safe they stay silent. Creating an environment where employees can speak and be heard can create a happier and higher functioning atmosphere.

The journey of a thought leader often involves moving from being a subject matter expert inside the house, going from room to room sharpening various skills, to eventually leaving the house and applying all of those skills to the greater neighborhood you’ve always lived in.

Kon Apostolopoulos is the Founder and CEO of Fresh Biz Solutions. He's been helping businesses achieve strategic goals for more than 20 years by preparing people for the right leadership roles. In addition, Kon is the co-author of 7 Keys to Navigating a Crisis: A Practical Guide to Emotionally Dealing with Pandemics & Other Disasters, a guide to help readers through crisis both personal and global.

Kon takes us through a series of milestones, including publishing his first book, having to take that material to scale, and finding success that had his audience asking new questions — forcing him to continually expand his thinking and problem-solving.

We explore the way thought leadership needs to move the audience further along than they are.  Kon explains how this often means having to speak in simplified terms that allow you to break through both ego and preconceived notions.  We learn how this can only be accomplished by understanding your audience, where they are, and where they need you to take them.

Three Key Takeaways:

·         There are two parts to thought leadership.  The idea and thought part.  And the action and external part.  They are symbiotic and necessary to each other to create content that is actionable.

·         Thought leadership needs to move the audience further along than they are.  The conversation doesn't have to go from 1 - 100, but you have to move the audience at least from 1 to 2 and beyond.

·         Sometimes the best way to break through adult egos and preconceived notions is to present complex ideas in simple ways.

So how can you deliver thought leadership on controversial topics without disengaging various portions of your audience?

Could poor leadership have a direct impact on workers' insurance claims?

Today, we go outside the box by discussing insurance with Clint Tripodi. Clint is a National Practice Leader for The Liberty Company where they are changing the way business leaders look at and think about insurance - through the use of thought leadership.

While insurance is often thought of as "mundane," Clint shares what his company found when they tracked leadership's impact on workplace culture, and why they are looking to find the root issues, in order to mitigate risks downstream.

Through data analytics, Clint is able to see where claims have an impact, and then go directly to the root of the problem, which is often a lack of leadership. Clint uses data analytics to show the way poor leadership has an effect on workers' compensation claims as well as employee retention, and ultimately, ROI.

Clint helps us understand how the culture of wellness at Liberty is being spread to their clients through thought leadership that sets them apart from and above the competition!

Three Key Takeaways:

·         Culture is a strategic tool and insurance can help you drive that strategy.

·         When working in a highly commoditized market you have to position yourself as a business partner, not just a solution.

·         Data analytics can help to identify problems so that you can go upstream and fix them at the source.

If Generative AI is fed all writing on the internet, then when you ask it a question, it can give you a good answer.  Or at least an answer that is good enough.

For this reason, good enough is no longer good enough.

To discern the role Generative AI can play on the future of thought leadership I’ve invited Mahan Tavakoli to join me.  Mahan is the CEO of Strategic Leadership Ventures which helps people become the sort of leader people want to follow.  He is also the host of the Partnering Leadership where you can learn the leadership journeys of successful CEOs and the top global thought leaders.

Our conversation with Mahan starts with getting an understanding of both generative AI and what we would call good ideas. From there we explore how asking the right questions is the secret to getting useful knowledge out of either.

While asking the right questions of AI can allows us a great understanding of the vast amount of data in our organizations, the right questions of an idea can discover the power of differentiation and niches.

If you’re looking to expand your use or understanding of AI and how we can unlock the power of our ideas this is a great episode for you.

Three Key Takeaways:

·         Part of thought leadership is marrying the ideas of others to see new patterns.

 ·         When we think we know the answer, we don't ask the simple fundamental questions that can unveil new insights.

 ·         The power comes from the differentiation and the niches.  Rather than the belief that you need to go wide.

Moving from internal thought leadership to being a solo act means having to take on a lot of new roles.

Marketing, research, and publishing all fall on your shoulders now.

Are you prepared?

Today our guest is Dan Pontefract, who, after a long prosperous career at companies like Telus, struck out on his own as a leadership strategist, change expert, keynote speaker, and award-winning author.  His fifth book Work-Life Bloom: How to Nurture a Team that Flourishes will be released in November of 2023.

Dan shares his journey from working at Telus as Chief Learning Officer, using the company as a lab with the ability to real-time test ideas to teaching the models he helped create internally, to external companies guiding others through leadership development and culture change.

As an author much has changed over the ten years since his first book was published.  Dan shares his experience both with untrustworthy and fantastic partners in publishing.  In addition, he explains why you should be ready to market the book yourself, the big differences between self, hybrid, and traditional publishing!

If you are just getting started or about to break out from corporate thought leadership, Dan provides valuable advice for thought leaders at any stage!

 Three Key Takeaways:

·         When doing market research look at others in your sphere at your level.  Then look at those above you and determine what sets them apart. What can you learn from what they are doing?

·         Be continually and continuously adding to your body of work.

·         Thought leadership can take a product that might not land you a meeting, and open the door to a more interesting conversation.

What happens when the tools we use to analyze and take control of our environments become the cause of our destruction?

Is your company using the tools they have at their disposal?

Or are the tools using you?

Our guest today is Don Schmincke an explorer, researcher, and partner with The Pacific Institute.  He is also the author of Winners and Losers: Entrepreneurial Lessons from 30,000 CEOs on How to Come Out on Top, which teaches entrepreneurs how to win powerfully!

Our conversation begins with Don telling us how he went from almost dropping out of high school, to learning technology and ultimately strategy and leadership. While working at Johns Hopkins he began to find an astonishingly high failure rate in management theory – and he knew he could help.

Don goes on to explain the seduction of tools.  Why we believe they can save us, allowing us to analyze and control our environments.  And how we can easily fall to letting the tools use us because without altering human decision making through true transition, the tools won’t change the choices we make.

With such a high failure rate many might think diving into the entrepreneurial pool would be foolhardy. However, Don gives us hope by telling us about losing powerfully – taking the loss and learning from it, picking ourselves up and becoming stronger from it.

Three Key Takeaways:

·         It doesn't matter how good your theory is if it doesn't have a measurable impact.

·         We get seduced by our tools because we think they will save us.  But without changing how we think the tools won’t change the outcome.

·         Formulation without execution is just a good idea on a shelf.

How does a thought leader get an audience to take notice, remember, and actively use the content you are putting out?

To get a firm grasp of exactly what engagement means and how to get your audience there, I’ve invited Scott Gould to join me. Scott is a consultant, speaker, and author of The Shape of Engagement: The Art of Building Enduring Connections with Your Customers, Employees, and Communities.

Our conversation begins with Scott not only defining what engagement is but how he has broken out into three types. Head, Hands, and Heart engagement – while each is very different, we learn how they act as building blocks on each other to create deeper connections between you, your idea, and your audience.

A big part of having an audience become engaged is presenting an idea that is easy to understand and remember. Scott shares his process for distilling an idea down to the essentials, which sometimes means blowing the idea up to something huge first!

In this episode Scott offers great insight for taking ideas from brainstorm to living at the heart of an audience!

Three Key Takeaways:

·         Properly defining the topic you want your thought leadership to center around is one of the biggest jobs that you have.

·         The name of an idea is incredibly important. People engage with ideas when it is easy to remember the essence of that idea.

·         Sharpening ideas to the finest point often involves discarding ideas that you like but don’t connect with your audience.

Part of thought leadership is making the invisible, visible.
When that happens, it can challenge beliefs and make people uncomfortable and defensive.

So, how can you break through feelings, and make change deeply significant to that future?

Our guest today is Dr. Suzanne Wertheim, the Founder, and CEO of Worthwhile Research & Consulting, where she uses her expertise to improve hiring, organizational culture, engagement and retention. She is also the author of The Inclusive Language Field Guide: 6 Simple Principles for Avoiding Painful Mistakes and Communicating Respectfully, which is filled with real-world examples and exercise that can help boost your inclusive language skills.

As a linguistic anthropologist, Dr. Wertheim has been researching and studying the intersection of language, power and culture for decades.  She shares how linguistics, like thought leadership, is about recognizing patterns. Accomplishing this can be a difficult task, as people realize they might not be as inclusive as they had believed.

Suzanne explains what inclusive language is and why it matters.  We learn how language is social action and the building blocks of how we create, maintain, and end relationships. She shares the six principles found in her book that can be worked on in order to better our own use of inclusive language.  In addition she gives real life examples of how the wrong wording can cause a deal to go south, as well as how inclusive language can repair that damage.

If you want a better understanding of inclusive language as well as how you can move from being able to identify those problems to acting differently this is a must listen episode.

Three Key Takeaways:

·         Just because something is simple to describe does not mean it is easy or effortless to implement.

·         Inclusive language is like learning any new language.  It takes time and practice to become good at seeing it and changing behavior.

·         A lack of inclusive language can force great employees to leave for greener pastures. This is one of the many reasons leaders need a better understanding of what is acceptable language.

Thought leaders are often torn between scale and depth.
Scale allows you to reach a large audience, while depth allows you to have massive impact.

So, where's the happy medium?

Today’s guest is Jennifer Dulski, the CEO and founder at Rising Team which blends experience and science to help leaders ensure people on their teams feel valued, motivated, and connected.  In addition, she is the bestselling author of “Purposeful: Are You A Manager or A Movement Starter?” The book provides invaluable resources for leaders who want to step up and make a difference.

Jennifer has had a number of roles in her career from entrepreneur for a non-profit start-up, high school teacher, and executive leadership roles at Facebook, Google, and Yahoo.  We learn how all of these roles have given her the experience to take her passion for creating a happy and successful high-performing team to scale using technology.

Often thought leaders believe they have to stick to a single domain, but Jennifer shares how her varied career has allowed her to adjust, grow, and change her domain expertise over time as her own experience has developed through both success and mistakes in the field.

Our conversation wraps up by discussing putting content into various modalities and how using LinkedIn, being an educator, and writing a book all play together.  Jennifer explains how the book and book talks helped to tighten up her content and give her credibility while bite-sized portions of that content go out on LinkedIn to have larger engagements with her audience.

Jennifer shares useful information on taking ideas to scale and leveraging a book to create a deep impact on your audience.

Three Key Takeaways:

·         You don't have to be a thought leader in only one domain.  You can grow your thought leadership in multiple domains as your experience grows.

·         Having successes and mistakes are both part of the thought leadership journey.

·         A book can help you solidify your ideas and present them in the clearest way, which you can then build additional product offerings.

How do you get people to think about new ideas?
And then, how do you move your audience from thinking - to buying?

To examine how ideas go from brainstorming to industry-changing, I’ve invited Pete O'Heeron to join me for today's podcast.  Pete is the Founder and CEO of FibroBiologics, a leading biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing fibroblast cell-based therapies.

We kick the conversation off discussing how Fibroblast has gone from a few peer reviewed papers a year to dozens each week in the span of a mere eight years. Pete helps us understand exactly what fibroblast cells are and why the amount of interest and important research for them has spiked.

Not only is research into fibroblast cells new but the work Pete is doing at FibroBiologics is going in directions no one else is. Pete discusses why they are doing work no one else is and how the research and science are the mechanics that steer the direction of the company.

Working on such new and cutting edge ideas often means having to convert people from no, to yes. Pete shares how their scientific discovery board is made up of world leaders in stem cell research, which gives the work they do a great deal of credibility. This creates an opportunity to start conversations that spark interest in what the company is doing and allows the science to sell itself as people dig into these new ideas.

Pete offers great insight into how to take new niche ideas from prototype to market and have conversations that draws your audience in.

Three Key Takeaways:

·         Allowing research and science to dictate the direction of your company can take you in new directions.

·         Getting new ideas out means starting a conversation with the points that will spark interest. After that follow with research and science that can’t be disputed.

·         Having a board within your company that is filled with respected professionals will give the new ideas you produce a level of credibility that others might not have.

An investment in thought leadership - for yourself or your org - compounds over time.
Starting earlier in your career will have a greater impact. So what's stopping you from getting started?

For today's episode, I've invited Vaishali Dialani to chat with us. Vaishali is a Senior Customer Experience Strategist at Konabos Consulting; a full-service, end-to-end, digital experience solutions agency.

Vaishali paints a picture of her earliest journey in thought leadership by participating in everything she could find, and every event possible – often leading events, even though it was early in her education and career. By taking these initiatives she was able to get speaking and presenting opportunities that strengthened her confidence and opened the door to networking prospects.

Meeting a connection at a conference is great but you need to follow up to foster that new relationship.  Vaishali shares how she does active outreach, reaching out via LinkedIn to grow her network.  She goes beyond people she has met in person and explains what you should be looking for in a contact before reaching out.

Finally, Vaishali shares how growing up in India and being from a blended family gives her unique perspectives that she uses to enhance her Customer Experience (CX) work.  We learn how her personality not only affects the CX work she does but also how her personality is blended directly into the work.

 In this episode Vaishali shares incredible advice for starting the thought leadership experience, excelling at customer experience, and nurturing a network of value.

 Three Key Takeaways:

·         Thought Leadership doesn't have to be industry changing ideas.  If you have thoughts and opinions - share them!

·         You are never going to know everything about your field of expertise.  Share what you know now, you can share now.

·         People don't invest enough in learning.  You can never know enough and can always be sharpening your craft.

All right, thoughtleaders – be honest.
Have you ever nodded off a little during a presentation?

Now imagine a conference filled with rock and roll, choreographed numbers, and comedy. That’s a presentation you’d sit up and pay attention to!

Our guest today is Kraig Kleeman, the founder and Executive Producer for Rock the C-Suite a production company that brings electrifying original and relevant musical performances to corporate events.  In addition, he is the author of The Must-React System: User's Guide to Prospecting C-Suite Executives which provides a strategy for winning meetings with senior executives.

Kraig shares where the inspiration for Rock the C-Suite came from and how corporate messaging is better received through the performing arts. He describes the high energy performances he produces that can be the main stage of a conference delivering an audience-focused show that provides researched topics that mean the most to those putting on the event.

Before Kraig was rocking the stage he had authored The Must-React System and he explains why when doing outreach leading with value proposition and product benefit language might seem intuitive it actually isn’t the most effective method.  In fact, providing fact-based briefings combined with smart questions can allow the potential client to map your research to their own experiences and advance you to the next step!

Kraig provides great advice for landing meetings with executives and creating high-octane events that any company can take advantage of.

Three Key Takeaways:

·         Conference producers should prioritize the well-being of the audience over the distribution of information.  If the audience has zoned out, they will not take in the information.

·         When crafting content for a conference make sure to collaborate with the event owner to really dial in a deliverable that is effective for them and their audience.

·         Cold call outreach to executives will have greater success if you lead with fact based research and not value proposition

The road to becoming a Thought Leader is never a straight one.  So going from college basketball coach to book influencer might not seem that odd. Still, the map to get there is fascinating!

Our guest today is Owen Sammarone the Founder and CEO of Unleash the Knowledge, LLC; an online, educational community of lifelong learners and avid readers helping authors reach a larger audience.

Having a business based around books you might assume Owen has a background in publishing or marketing, but he was previously a graduate assistant with the UConn men’s basketball program.  Owen shares that while he loved basketball his true passion came from the self-development habits of coaches.

Owen began to explore what his coach was reading and listening to, then sharing the takeaways he found on Instagram, nurturing a following of self-development junkies.  After Owen was contacted by a heart doctor, seeking to pay for promotion of his new book to Owen’s followers he realized Unleash the Knowledge could be more than a social media platform.  IT could become a business model.

Through this episode Owen shares his journey growing his platform and finding his footing as well as tips you can use to grow your own social media platform!

 Three Key Takeaways:

·         In order to grow a social media platform you need to create a niche that works for your audience and provides value.

·         Certain social media platforms tend to skew towards certain trends or topics.  That doesn’t mean you can’t grow a successful audience outside those bubbles if you are dedicated to it.

·         Growing a platform requires consistency.  You can’t just post when you need something from your audience.

There are few thought leaders who work behind the scenes to create, develop, and deploy programs while simultaneously being the face of the brand.

What does it take to find success on both ends?

Today we’ve invited internationally recognized presenter, content developer, business leader and coach Curtis Bateman!  He is currently the Vice President of International Direct Offices at FranklinCovey, and was previously the President and CEO of Red Tree Leadership before orchestrated a buyout to FranklinCovey.

With few thought leaders working both the back and front of the house, Curtis gives us some insights into what it takes to be successful doing both.  He tells us about the passion and extra hours that are required to practice what you preach.  However creating doesn’t have to be a solo job, in fact, Curtis shares how having Brain Buddies can help sharpen your skills.  Having a knowledgeable team around you to help research stories and ideas as well as draft or polish content creates a high quality end product.

Curtis tells us how being in the market place every day while creating content creates a constant cycle of feedback as content goes out to the audience, gets live reactions, and can be revised based on that input. This system has been used to pressure test everything from their framework to his newest book Change: How to Turn Uncertainty Into Opportunity.

Having had a boutique company that exited to FranklinCovey, Curtis fully understands what it takes to position yourself for acquisition.  While each instance is different Curtis shares how having principle-based content that matched up with the prospective buyer, having a Fortune 50 client, and thought leaders with significant industry experience that were capable of making contributions inside the new organization all played a role in a successful acquisition.

 Three Key Takeaways:

·         Content creation doesn’t have to be a single player game.  By working with others you can polish your skills and elevate your content.

·         Taking ideas to your audience and revising based on feedback can give you real time advice on where the market agrees or disagrees with your content.

·         Exiting a boutique firm for a bigger company means you don’t get to touch every aspect of the business anymore.  You have to learn to trust others.