Leveraging Thought Leadership

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!.

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.

What if you could change fields - without losing the relationships you'd made at your current organization? Many thought leaders start their careers working for an organization or company. Some begin by writing about culture, leadership, and developing content for the organization, or, thought leadership may be a passion that they follow on their own time. But what do you do when you're ready to take on thought leadership as a full-time practice? Do you have to abandon the relationships you've made in your career? Our guest in today's episode is Dan Pontefract. Dan is a TedX speaker, and author of two really special books; Lead Care Win: How to Become a Leader Who Matters, and Open to Think: Slow Down, Think Creatively, and Make Better Decisions. He is also the Founder and CEO of the Pontefract Group, a firm that aims to improve the state of leadership and organizational culture. Dan talks about what it was like to start his thought leadership career as the Chief Learning Officer at Telus, while writing a personal blog on culture, leadership and learning. From there, he began writing for the leadership channel at Forbes, and sharing his ideas through keynote speaking. When Dan felt his role as CLO had reached its natural peak, he proposed a partnership with Telus. He created an external consulting business, focusing on sharing the same culture changes he'd achieved with Telus - and his thought leadership took off! Dan shares how he navigated being a public thought leader while working at an organization; how he navigated that relationship; and how he worked with Telus when he was ready to expand beyond their interests. He kept the relationships he made at Telus, and expanded beyond them - while not losing the connections he'd already made. If you're a thought leader who wants to move from working in an organization to developing your own firm, Dan's insights will prove invaluable. Be sure to listen in! Three Key Takeaways: It is possible for a thought leader of a company to have a public profile. However, you should ensure that the public persona does not develop at the expense of your internal work. If you have a good working relationship with a company, there is no need to separate as your career advances. Find ways to keep the relationship mutually beneficial. Writing thought leadership for a personal blog can be a gateway to writing for larger publications, or even getting a publishing deal.

When you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing nobody! It can be a hard pill to swallow, but 99.9% of the world isn't interested in your thought leadership. Focusing on a vast, wide audience only ends up wasting your time - and might cause you to miss the people who really need your content. When you figure out what the 0.1% needs from you, and how you can serve them, that's when the magic happens. Today's guest is Sean M Doyle, Sean is a speaker and advisor helping small-business owners improve their marketing so that they can increase sales and work with more profitable customers. He is also the author of Shift: 19 Practical, Business-Driven Ideas for an Executive in Charge of Marketing but Not Trained for the Task We talk with Sean about what a thought leadership practitioner can do when great ideas just don't get traction, and what to do to boost them. He also discusses how thought leaders are their own harshest critics, and why content needs to be bespoke if it is really going to reach and connect with a target audience. Over the last two years, we've seen massive changes in the speaking industry. Sean shares insights into the changes speakers have had to make in order to thrive in this new environment. No longer are generic speeches acceptable, nor can speakers rely on choreographed music, lights, or entrance to create energy. To succeed, speakers must have strong content, clear talking points, and shining authenticity. If you want insight into ways that thought leadership practitioners can raise consciousness, uplift ideas that haven't reached their pinnacle, and make a difference to clients, you'll want to listen to this episode. Three Key Takeaways: Thought leaders are often the worst judge of their own content, due to stubbornness or ego. Thought leadership should be bespoke and feel personal to your audience. Once you recognize and understand patterns in people, you can use thought leadership to reach them and create long-lasting culture change.

How can you identify allies and ambassadors for your thought leadership, and what can you do to cultivate a relationship with them? When trying to expand the reach of your thought leadership, having allies and ambassadors is essential. You need people who can amplify your ideas when you are not in the room, and who will help to take them to heights you could not have reached on your own. Morag Barrett is the Founder and CEO of Skye Team, an international leadership development firm. She is also the author of The Future Proof Workplace: Six Strategies to Accelerate Talent Development, Reshape Your Culture, and Succeed with Purpose. In this episode, we discuss allies and ambassadors – people who evangelize and help grow your thought leadership reach. What makes a person an ally or an ambassador? What are the differences between the two? Morag not only helps us define their traits, but also helps us understand how to identify these amazing resources. Next, we talk about building relationships. Morag shares her insights about the conversations that are critical to creating allies and ambassadors, and how sharing the spotlight can get you further. She cautions against engaging in "transactional relationships," preferring to look at the long game – be generous with your time and energy, and buy in to the relationship at first, in order to get the returns you hope to achieve. Three Key Takeaways: A thought leadership ally can be a sparring partner as well as a spokesperson for your ideas. When seeking allies, don't just look at your current circle. Reach out to past circles and reconnect. When starting to build a relationship with an ally, avoid asking favors. Concentrate on getting to know them, and find out how you can help each other.

Most authors spend, on average, three and a half years from the time they decide they want to write a book until the time the book hits store shelves. That is a massive investment of time that thought leaders and executives could be using to increase other revenue streams. What if you could speed the process up, without sacrificing quality? Today's guest, Aurora Winter, has a method for doing exactly that. Aurora is the Founder of Same Page Publishing and creator of the Spoke Author Method. Both help authors get their ideas on the page faster and on track to having a final product they can be proud of that will impact the lives of others and the author's business. Aurora is also the best-selling author of Turn Words Into Wealth: Blueprint for Your Business, Brand, and Book to Create Multiple Streams of Income & Impact (Turn Your Words Into Wealth). Having started as a television writer and producer, she grew frustrated with the financial restraints and turned to books. As a first-time author, Aurora faced many problems. However, in solving those problems, she found a passion for helping other authors, too. Today, Aurora shares some of the common hardships authors face, and gives suggestions to help those problems be overcome. Many authors forget they will have to promote the book themselves. While the publisher is a partner, they will publish the book and then quickly move on to the next book in their lineup. We discuss with Aurora the pros and cons of traditional vs self-publishing, why you need a clear business goal for your book, and how you should be looking at your book as a long term legacy piece. As we wrap up, Aurora gives us the perfect example of how a solid business plan can create more revenue than book sales. She gave her book Marketing Fastrack: The Little Book That Launched A New Business: $250,000 in 90 Days (which you can download for free) away to interested readers for just the price of shipping. She followed that book with a video series, and offered "business breakthrough" sessions. After 90 days, Aurora had generated $250,000 in sales from a book she was literally giving away. If you want to better understand how your book can amortize over the years and gain a huge ROI, you'll want to listen to this episode! Three Key Takeaways: Thought Leaders don't have to be constantly at the keyboard. Many successful books are dictated to a team who can shape those ideas into magic. Once your thought leadership book is done, the real work starts. You have to put in a lot of effort to promote your book, as the publisher will only do so for a relatively short period of time. A book is a mass-market product, but you must have a solid strategy if you want to use that book to increase your thought leadership business.