Leveraging Thought Leadership

Today's guest is Melissa Davies, Founder, and CEO of Wieseways Consulting, author of How Not to Act Like a BLEEP at Work, and founding member of the Global Institute for Thought Leadership. Melissa is a Dynamic Facilitator, Educator & Executive Coach with a global perspective. Melissa walks us through the path she took to become a thought leader having first had a career as an educator in Canada and The Middle East before landing in the States to use her global insights to understand people, gain their trust, and provide a unique perspective to complex problems. When seeking to improve leadership or teams we often seek to introduce change. Melissa talks about being intentional with those changes, using performance management, and being mindful of the culture you are intending to introduce and the possible negative implications of those changes. Our conversation concludes with a look at how COVID-19 has affected training. We will no doubt return to in-person training on some level, the virtual method is here to stay. Melissa shares how the structure of presentations should change to keep the attention of an at-home audience. Three Key Takeaways: When seeking to introduce thought leadership, find what your audience has in common at their core and understand why they do things the way they do. When using thought leadership to build new processes analyze the positives but also what negative impacts these changes might have. When delivering thought leadership online keep your presentations to 20 – 25 minutes before moving to discussion and activities.

Today's guest is Jim Adler Founder and Managing Director of Toyota AI Ventures, a standalone early-stage venture capital fund that invests in startups working on A.I., robotics, mobility, and more. We start the conversation with Jim describing what Toyota AI Ventures does and what its mission is. From we get into how they help startups take their idea to scale when to introduce processes and how to find a balance that allows creativity and growth. Jim shares how Toyota AI Ventures bridges the gap between global enterprise and startup, which is an important step. If an investor is too involved it can stifle innovation that happens early, but if they are not involved enough the startup could end up lacking the ability to recruit, build company culture, or find clients that see the value in their idea. Next Jim shares the success story of Joby Aviation, his first meeting in a canyon to see their air taxi in flight, going to bat for them, and their goal of saving one billion people an hour each day! We wrap up discussing the qualities Jim looks for in a startup, separating signal from noise, and how to take advantage of the hype cycle! If you have a startup and are seeking knowledge on how to attract investors this is a must-listen episode for you! Three Key Takeaways: It is important to build thought leadership processes around the areas you are weak in, not just your strengths. When working with a startup your thought leadership should add value to the areas they need help with but not overshadow their creative energy. All leaders should be thought leaders. Thought Leadership is a team sport.

Today's guest is Jody Grunden, a visionary accountant with over 20 years of experience that has helped pioneer innovative changes to his industry. Jody is the co-founder and CEO of Summit CPA Group, author of Digital Dollars and Cents. Jody takes us back to 2013 when he arrived at a conference to speak only to have a series of events go wrong that ended with him giving his presentation off the cuff while wearing a Hawaiian shirt and becoming a huge success! Since that fateful event the Summit CPA Group has undergone a lot of changes. We discuss why they've moved to focusing on creative agencies and how thought leadership has become their only form of marketing, and how they are teaching other firms their methods. Getting your thought leadership off the ground is often time consuming and expensive. Jody shares his experience getting things off the ground, what it took to find success, and how he got his business partner on board with his ideas. If you are looking to develop your own thought leadership or are struggling to find your audience this is a wonderful episode filled with excellent advice! Three Key Takeaways: When delivering thought leadership don't use jargon the audience might not understand. Speak in the vernacular of your audience. Even if your thought leadership might be useful to a wide audience, find a space to become a specialist in. Become a resource to that market so clients come to you for advice. No one will ever care more about your thought leadership than you. You have to have passion and conviction in your delivery to get clients to see you.

Today's guest is Sandra Smith, Founder, and President of Smith Publicity a marketing company that focuses on authors and expert promotions. Many things have changed in the last ten years and publicity is no different. Sandra walks us through some of the big changes authors should be conscious of and why their social media presence and what they share are more imperative now than ever before. When it comes to success for an author, selling books seems like the logical focus. We discuss why selling books is great but getting the attention of your industry is even better. Sandra explains why authors don't need to be overly concerned with metrics and how the shelf life of business books is much longer than it used to be. Sandra goes on to explain why authors should start a conversation with a publicist before they start writing. Getting a firm grasp on why you want a narrow audience, how your release date isn't that important and the benefits of hiring a publicist outside of your publisher can save time and money down the road. If you are thinking about writing a business book and want to ensure success this episode is a great place to start! Three Key Takeaways: You need to be sharing your thought leadership content and cultivate your social media presence all the time not just when you have a book coming out. Authors often get fixated with the metrics around the publication date of their book but thought leadership books often do better in their second year than their first. Getting media attention for your thought leadership is good but you have to make sure you have content and systems in place to monetize the spotlight.

Today's guest is Christopher Brace, a global executive successful at building highly effective integrated marketing teams across complex organizations to drive awareness and product sales. We start our conversation off by discussing how you can emotionally bond customers to a brand of consumer product and how these same techniques can be used to create an emotional connection to an idea. Christopher shares how he gets his customers to tell the stories that connect them to a brand, how he is able to fast track focus groups to get to the emotional core, and how that information can be used to tell a story that can inspire and ultimately alter behavior. It takes more than simply getting people emotional to create loyalty, you first have to dislodge customers from old ideas before they'll accept the new ones. Christopher walks us through that process and why you have to be careful to not attempt to change too many behaviors at one time or you risk people digging in and not budging at all. This episode is a fascinating look at how emotion can rule our choices over rational thinking and how thought leaders can use that for a positive change! Three Key Takeaways: Thought leadership that connects on an emotional level allows you to engage people in your brand's story and inspire them to action. Research into what clients like or dislike about your thought leadership content has to move beyond rational thinking and into the emotional realm in which we often make choices. The average person is only capable of changing three behaviors at a time. To avoid clients resisting change ensure your thought leadership does not attempt to change many habits too quickly.

Today's guest is Scott Shute, the Head of Mindfulness and Compassion Programs at Linkedin and the author of the new release book The Full Body Yes. Compassion is the #1 thing you can do to be successful in business and life. That philosophy is something Scott shared with the CEO of Linkedin which allowed him to use his history in customer service combined with his passion for wellness to create a position to introduce mainstream mindfulness and operationalized compassion to the company. Scott explains how internal compassion involves a change from me to we thinking and how if employers care about their employees they need to have the tools and system in place to care for the mental well-being of their employees in the same manner, a gym helps to maintain and grow physical well-being. We discuss with Scott how his recent book The Full Body Yes benefits not only himself but the company he works for and the other employees there. If you have a passion for compassion, Scott suggests you find a way to introduce and practice that at your company, and should your organization not be receptive perhaps you need to find somewhere else that will embrace that passion. If you care for your employees this episode is a trove of information on how to add a gym of compassion and wellness to your company. Three Key Takeaways: Having a real human element of compassion to your thought leadership can help you connect with clients in a deep and meaningful way. Thought leadership bringing compassion to an organization needs to define how to care for employees while still meeting the demands of the job. If you care about your employees find ways to introduce thought leadership to care for the mental well-being of your employees.

Today's guest is Michael F. Schein, the author of The Hype Handbook, founder and CEO of MicroFame Media a company that turns consultants into celebrities. Very few people ever become worldwide famous, but is that really what you need to be a known entity in your field? Michael shares why micro fame is a better goal to seek when you are selling ideas. Michael and Peter discuss how hype is can be more effective than traditional marketing by relying on centuries-old psychological principles you can create a highly emotional reaction that will allow you to move people and create a sense of loyalty to your brand or idea. Last we wrap up by talking about Michael's recently launched book The Hype Handbook, how the book connects to the business, the effects it has had, and even what Charles Mason and Warren Buffet have in common! If you've been struggling to conquer your little corner of the universe this episode has some great advice for hyping your content! Three Key Takeaways: Thought Leaders seeking to be known by everyone need to refocus on only being known by those who would be interested in your ideas. Using hype to work your followers into a frenzy can be a more effective tactic than traditional thought leadership marketing. If you thought leadership agrees with everyone else in your field, you need to rethink what you are bringing to the conversation.

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.

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.

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.