Leveraging Thought Leadership

How do you help a client integrate research into their thought leadership, and what are the benefits? Enterprise software can be a complicated story to tell. To explore ways to humanize a complex brand or product, I've invited Denise Broady to share her expertise in research, thought leadership, and consulting. Denise is the Chief Marketing Officer at Appian Corporation, helping clients build apps and workflows with a low-code automation platform; combining people, technologies, and data in a single workflow to maximize resources and improve business results. Our conversation begins with an active discussion of thought leadership's ability to help tell a complex, enterprise story in a way that humanizes your brand. Denise shares how the lens of a business user can be used to create greater impact, preferring a personal touch and layman's terms rather than complex, high-level terms that might not be understood by an audience. Often, marketers feel the need to go it alone and control all aspects of their content's delivery, but thought leadership doesn't have to be a solo project. Denise shares how her co-sponsored research with The Economist is helping reach a global market, and how surveys on IT and business issues give her the information she needs to create thought leadership rooted in data - and bring solutions to the problems her audiences face. Toward the end of our conversation, we examine ways to build a thought leadership team. Denise recounts a tale of starting with a task-force that grew as it brought on e dedicated people and found dedicated funding. Nobody approaches accounting as a part-time hobby, and thought leadership is no different. Without a dedicated team and reliable resources, thought leaders can't be expected to develop the reach and cadence needed to effect significant change. Three Key Takeaways: * Choose your words carefully when explaining complex thought leadership; it's critical that your audience understand, so speak in terms they will grasp easily. * Creating co-sponsored thought leadership can create content with wider reach and a deeper, more informed perspective. * Thought leaders coming from a marketing background can be tempted to use a marketing playbook – but think before you jump! Understand where your content fits in the cycle, and how to deploy it.

When it comes to thought leadership, every corporation needs people that are building new ideas, sharing new insights - in essence, creating new maps to move things forward! But it's not just about the "map makers." It's also about the "expedition leaders," people who can share those ideas and insights, and bring others onboard - even if they didn't create the maps themselves. To discuss "map makers" and "expedition leaders," and really delve into the most effective ways to invite your whole organization to do thought leadership, I've invited Steve Watt to join me on the podcast. Steve is the Director of Market Insights at Seismic, the world's largest enablement platform. In both social selling and thought leadership people need to show up, speak up, and publicly demonstrate both subject matter expertise and org-centric passion. Not every sales person can or should be a thought leader, but they can always be a spokesman for the org's thought leadership content. We discuss the need to empower not just sales people, but everyone within a company, by showing them the benefits that being associated with an org's thought leadership can have on their careers and reputation. Steve shares why it is important to start with the right mindset, which may mean tearing down and overcoming staid beliefs and old perceptions about "how sales are done." We discuss the way social media is constantly misused by sales people seeking to use it as a hunting ground full of traps rather than a fertile field for relationship-building. Steve is changing the mindset towards meaningful conversations and interactions, and teaching insights that will magnetically draw clients in. Many sales people agonize over the deals they lost out on, while remaining blind to just how many deals never even gave them consideration. Steve explains the importance of conversation, interactions that build relationships, and how to stay top-of-mind when a client enters a buying cycle. Three Key Takeaways: * Many smart and capable people in your org are sitting by, silently, because they aren't "map makers." Speak up early, and build your reputation as a subject matter expert. * In order to build thought leaders in your organization, you have to empower people and help them see the benefits - not just to your organization, but for their careers and reputations. * If your thought leadership boils down to "and that is why you need me," that's not thought leadership. That is just selling - and in today's market, you need more than a pitch to make your organization stand out.

How many new skills did you learn during the pandemic? The lack of face-to-face meetings required everyone to adapt, and for many, that included the ability to build connections and community online. To discuss the skills and adaptations we all needed to update our lives to fit the new modality, I've invited two good friends to join me in a chat. Nadia Bilchik is the President of Greater Impact Communications. She's a speaker, trainer, and author of Own Your Network: Expert Networking In Person & Online. James Kerr is the founder of Indispensable Consulting. He's also a speaker, as well as a leadership coach and the author of Indispensable: Build and Lead A Company Customers Can't Live Without. First, we look at the way presentations and communication skills training have changed in the wake of the first Covid outbreak. Nadia explains ways that our language has become more intentional due to the lack of ability to read body language in the virtual world. She gives advice on connecting with your audience on camera, and describes changes that will make you stand out and make your message clear. James discusses time constraints, and how we (and our audience) have begun to think about and value time differently. We no longer spend days traveling in order to accomplish a two-hour task. The ability to give a presentation in various time zones within a single day is a dramatic shift in itself, but it has also changed our understanding of real human interaction. We examine how to use online chit-chat and build toward deep "getting to know you moments" that build strong and memorable relationships. We wrap up our conversation by looking at the concept of "Zoom Fatigue." Nadia shares tips for placement of your camera, while James discusses how to interact with clients who prefer to leave their cameras off. The world has changed irrevocably, and the best thought leaders know how to keep up, adapt, and even excel in our new, digital-focused age. Three Key Takeaways: * When delivering thought leadership online ensure your camera is parallel to your eyes and you look directly into it while speaking. This gives the same effect as looking into someone's eyes while speaking in person. * While we have had to reengineer the way we do things - the what is still the same. * It is important to get to know your clients on a deep personal level when you are only able to connect with them online. Ask personal questions about family and hobbies to help develop that relationship.

What is the relationship between thought leadership and entrepreneurship? Both are forward-thinking problem solvers who know that passion and vision can take you far! To dig deeper into the ways these two paths intersect, we sit down with Mary Cronin, a research professor at Boston College. She's also the Founder and President of 4Q Catalyst LLC, a business advisory firm that provides strategy consulting, market analysis, and leadership development services. We start our conversation by discussing the similarities between thought leadership and entrepreneurship. In addition to passion and vision, both roles require a fine understanding of storytelling; a key component to success. Mary describes the impact of storytelling, and why it's often an overlooked function for start-ups as they focus on bootstrapping their business to achieve success. In May of 2021, Mary published Starting Up Smarter: Why Founders Over 50 Build Better Companies, which provides a keen look at entrepreneurs starting companies, and how their success rates were often impacted by the founder's age and experience. The book's research investigates 7 million US start-up companies over the last decade, and provides a keen look into the how's and why's of their success. Mary explains the research showing that most successful founders are in their 50s, which is also the age of many established and successful thought leaders. We further explore the traits of successful founders, and how they cross-over into successful thought leadership. Mary tells us that starting a business in your 50s means having a great sense of purpose, a willingness to partner with the younger generation, and the persistence to keep pushing forward and rethinking problems in order to achieve success. While the most successful founders are in their 50s this conversation will give you great advice to find success as a thought leader or entrepreneur at any age. Three Key Takeaways: * Good storytelling is a useful tool to ensure clients, employees, and investors fully understand your vision - whether you're building a company or creating thought leadership. * Partnering with team members or co-founders of different generations will give your work a broader reach and greater perspective. * Having an overwhelming passion for your mission, whether thought leadership or business, will go a long way to overcoming difficult challenges in your path.

What does it take to become a game-changer in your industry? We are constantly bombarded with products and brands seeking our attention and money. How can thought leadership help your brand stand out? Today, we are joined by Karen Hold, the founder of Experience Labs and co-author of Experiencing Design: The Innovator's Journey. Karen's mission is to build creative capacity in individuals, organizations, and cities, using the language of design thinking. The trick is to turn abstract thought into concrete ideas, and to visualize those ideas in a way that captures your audience's attention. Karen takes us back to the early days of her career, at Procter & Gamble, where her focus was on the Folgers Coffee brand. At the time, as Starbucks was starting to emerge, and Folgers needed a way to stand out in order to keep its share of the market. Karen shares how Folgers studied the Starbucks experience, and - due to flawed assessment - decided that the newcomer wasn't a threat to Folgers' market dominance. Fast-forward to 2022, and Starbucks has a major market share - a share that could have belonged to Folgers', if they'd determined the market need and used it to their own advantage. Determined not to miss the next big opportunity, Karen explains how she changed her thinking. As media changed and people's needs evolved, Karen realized that brands needed better tools to assess market needs - and step forward, staying ahead of the curve by visualizing the future and being ready for the next change. By preparing content with the right approach, you make sure that your thought leadership is there when the audience is ready to receive it. Karen shares even more insights in her book, and discusses the amazing experience she had working with Jeanne Liedtka and Jessica Eldridge to complete and publish her thought leadership. In addition, we learn about the digital tool for creating personal development plans that was recently launched as an add-on, giving even more value to the text and its content. Three Key Takeaways: * Don't blindly follow data. Use your instinct, experiment, and create thought leadership that sees around corners and tries new things. * Ensure that your thought leadership is available in a variety of modalities. This allows you to connect with an audience, regardless of their preferred method of communication. * Adding development tools to a thought leadership book is a method to continue the research you've begun, and expand your insights.

Your org's thought leadership illuminates a highly technical field. So how do you make it accessible to a broad audience? In technical fields like A.I., it can be hard to clearly communicate your organizational insights in a manner that your audience can grasp. In order to make technical insights accessible, you have to get out of your bubble and into the mindset of your audience! Our guest today is Amelia Ross, Director of Content Strategy at Primer AI, a company dedicated to helping organizations make the best use of their investment in data. They do this by using best-in-class machine learning and natural language processing technologies, to help their customers scale and optimize intelligence workflows. We discuss how an organizational thought leader determines the right target audience for their insights. Amelia tells us that it isn't just about reaching the economic buyer, but also spreading your content to the influencers that surround such a buyer. It's important to create content that shows your company as empathetic, leading edge, and knowledgeable — and to take an informed stand on emerging technology, trends, and social issues. The modern world is moving fast, and thought leadership must be timely and relevant in order to have impact. Ameila shares how timely events shaped the course of Primer AI's thought leadership. The Russian invasion of Ukraine sparked Primer AI to use their product, Command, to create content that illuminated events in real time. That thought leadership gave decision-makers under time constraints a complete and accurate view of the information faster than ever before. In addition to reaching your audience in a timely manner, you also have to ensure that your content is presented in a way your clients will easily understand. Amelia explains the need for educational content in thought leadership, and the challenges of creating content at various levels in order to connect with everyone — from the average audience member to industry experts. This conversation is an enlightening look at creating thought leadership that illuminates complex ideas, and doing it in a way that connects with a broad audience. Three Key Takeaways: * When creating Thought Leadership content for complex topics, consider other influences that might support your insights with your economic buyer. * Thought Leadership that connects to trends and social issues needs an immediacy that keeps pace with the news cycle. * Don't assume your audience understands the jargon, terms, and acronyms of your thought leadership. Create content that reaches and enlightens consumers at all levels.

What does a successful entrepreneur do for their second act? Most entrepreneurs work hard to create a prosperous business, perhaps even with the intent of selling it and making an exit. For those who succeed, the next question is — now, what? Do you start a new business and begin the cycle again? And how do you give back to those who helped you reach success? Today, I sit down with Jay Steinfeld, a world-renowned entrepreneur and early ecommerce adopter who took his small blinds business online in the early days of the internet, and the story of how blinds.com became the largest online blinds retailer in the world. He is also the author of Lead from the Core: The 4 Principles for Profit and Prosperity, which lays out the "Four Es" — a set of guiding principles that can help overcome any obstacle to your organization's success. Jay takes us back to 1993, and tells us how he experimented with online sales to supplement his brick-and-mortar store. While it was slow at first, the online channel grew so large they chose to sell the physical business and concentrate on online sales. In 2014, Jay sold blinds.com to Home Depot. Unlike many entrepreneurs, Jay chose to stay with Home Depot for 7 years, leading their online leadership team. Jay explains that his vision was not complete, and he seized upon the opportunity to see it through to the end. He moved his knowledge of online sales into adjacent categories, and found even greater success. Now, Jay tells us about his book, Lead from the Core, which teaches the four 4's E's: Evolve, Experiment, Express, and Enjoy. He uses the book, and it's lessons, to elevate others and help their businesses rise and grow - giving back to the communities and people who supported him in his initial ventures. Our conversation is packed with powerful advice for entrepreneurs at any stage of business! Three Key Takeaways: * When you have a compelling vision for your entrepreneurial efforts, share it with others - it will improve everyone's success, and move the world forward. * Don't be afraid to take chances and experiment with the way your business operates. You might discover new opportunities. * A compelling vision and positive culture is crucial to retaining key employees through any transition. Be transparent with the 'why' as well as the 'how,' and you'll see people lean in!

A single keynote won't incite change, but it can start the ball rolling. Companies are starting to demand programs that take a keynote's lessons deeper, investing resources in building long term relationships with thought leadership. To discuss the way keynote speaking has changed since the onset of COVID-19, I've invited two of the best speakers in the business to share their insights and talk about how they've navigated this new era of thought leadership speaking. David Burkus is a best-selling author of Lead From Anywhere: The Essential Guide to Managing Remote Teams and internationally renowned keynote speaker, using forward thinking ideas to help leaders and teams do their best work. Stephen Shapiro is the author of Invisible Solutions: 25 Lenses that Reframe and Help Solve Difficult Business Problems, and a Hall of Fame Speaker helping organizations keep up with the increasing pace of change. David and Stephen share how they've changed their keynote services to meet the needs of a remote clientele, and what it's like to have their business moving to more than 50% non-speaking generated revenue. They share how they are creating webinars, master classes, and certification programs, that take the ideas in their keynote and make them have a longer lasting effect. We discuss the benefits of virtual speaking, such as no longer being restricted by travel and time zones, as well as being able to offer bookended solutions that make a good keynote serve as an introduction to an ongoing engagement - instead of the end of one. In addition, we look at the drawbacks of being remote, such as difficulties networking and building community. Our guests offer great insight into how to create long lasting relationships through gamification, competition, and other online tools. This conversation offers incredible information on pushing your keynote beyond a single transaction, and into a long-lasting relationship! Three Key Takeaways: * Build your keynote as a bookended experience, using speaking as a lead-in to a multiple-week challenge, and adding a debrief at the end in order to create greater engagement. * Companies want more than an inspiring keynote. They want thought leadership that will take your insights and ideas and make them actionable for every employee. * You can create networking and community in virtual thought leadership events by providing tools that allow the audience to engage with the content, and each other both during and after the event.

While many things in Thought Leadership have changed over the years, one constant is the appreciation of a great subject matter expert. But how do we find those experts? To examine modern methods of developing a reputation and gaining the trust of your audience, we've invited Kevin Eikenberry, Chief Potential Officer at The Kevin Eikenberry Group, a leadership and learning consulting company. He's also the best-selling author of Remarkable Leadership: Unleashing Your Leadership Potential One Skill at a Time and The Long-Distance Leader: Rules for a Remarkable Remote Leadership. When Kevin started as a speaker and consultant, thought leaders had far less options for building a platform. You could make a website, start blogging, or pay a PR firm to get your name out there - but those methods are outdated, and lack greater appeal. Modern social media offers an almost overwhelming number of options, and it's smart to utilize many different platforms to get the word out about your content. Kevin discusses the platforms he prefers, and why he's open to experimenting on new platforms. Not every platform will be the right fit, and Kevin explains how he repurposes content during his platform experiments to keep both the time and financial cost relatively low. Being on a new platform only has value if your ideal audience can be found there, and if you give them content specific to their needs. Although every thought leader has their preferred method of producing content, it's important to be able to discern whether your standard method isn't your audience's preferred medium. Kevin discusses his methods of finding out what the audience wants, and valuing the consumer's interests and needs - even if they aren't currently ready to buy. If you want a better understanding of the way a strong platform can elevate your mission and create commercial success, this conversation has tons of insights for you! Three Key Takeaways: * In order to make experiments with new platforms have value, be certain that your audience spends time there and will see your content. * Repurposing content for different platforms and mediums is a great way to save time and money. * In order to find success, you have to manage some level of commercial expertise. Your audience needs to keep your content top-of-mind!

In rural communities, there are many would-be entrepreneurs with big ideas. Can you imagine how much change for good would happen if every entrepreneur could bring their dreams to life? In order to better understand the role thought leadership can play in reaching entrepreneurs, we're sitting down with Andrew Button, Founder and CEO of Mashup Labs. He's helping rural entrepreneurs grow their ideas, their businesses, and their communities. Today, we're talking about thought leadership, nonprofit startups, and how creative ideas and insights can make a real difference to communities that need a boost. Andrew discusses the difficulties in getting a big idea off the ground, finding people who share your perspective and curiosities, and those who are willing to lend a hand to help things grow. There's a critical mass challenge, finding enough interested people to make an entrepreneur's dream a reality — and Andrew knows how to make it happen. Finally, we discuss how Andrew is stepping into the role of a thought leader and the courage it takes to stand up and make your voice heard. Andrew shares why people should not be so concerned with the aspect of failure but more on getting your ideas out there, testing the theories and sharing what you've learned, right or wrong. While Andrew specializes in activating people in rural communities his advice is solid for any landscape and we hope you'll take the time to listen to this episode. Three Key Takeaways: * In order to find those who share your thought leadership views, you'll have to be courageous about your viewpoint -- even if it doesn't align with the norm. * Thought Leadership allows you to connect with people in places and roles you might not otherwise access. * Don't wait to 'perfect' your thought leadership. Put it into the world, test it in real situations, and share what you learn with others.