Leveraging Thought Leadership

Today's guest is Jessica Rhodes the leading expert on how to leverage podcast guesting for increased brand awareness, generation of more leads, and how to gain higher profits. She created the podcast booking industry in 2013 when she founded Interview Connections, the first and leading agency of its kind. Plus she is the host of Rock the Podcast, a podcast where you will learn all about podcast guesting and how to leverage podcast interviews to grow your brand awareness. Jessica shares the benefits of committing long term to be a podcast guest and why trying it short term will not have the desired effect. We discuss finding the podcasts that are right for you, narrowing your audience, and perhaps most importantly having systems in place to leverage your episodes after they go live. This is an incredible episode packed with a ton of great advice for anyone looking to increase their positioning by being a guest on podcasts. Three Key Takeaways: · The length of time thought leaders need to commit to being involved in the podcast guest circuit. · Why thought leaders need to be specific about the type of podcast they appear on. · How being a guest as a thought leader can be more than an interview and why you need to take the opportunity to build a relationship.

Today's guest is Scott Ambler, Project Management Institute Vice President and Chief Scientist of Disciplined Agile. Scott is the co-creator of the Disciplined Agile Toolkit, author of Introduction to Disciplined Agile Delivery, and Choose Your WoW. Scott talks with us about the creation and evolution of the Disciplined Agile Toolkit and how businesses can use it to create agile teams capable of responding to various situations properly regardless of their skillset, then adjust in the future as they learn and grow. We discuss the position of Disciplined Agile at PMI and how the two work and learn together to be a stronger single organization and how PMI has allowed stronger creation of communities that include chapters all over the world helping people learn and expand their knowledge. Three Key Takeaways: · How thought leaders can use Agile Discipline to better adjust to any situation. · Why thought leaders should not get stuck in a "best practice" might not be for the best. · Why thought leaders need to focus on creating communities and what can be gained from them.

Today's guest is Bea Wray! Bea has been a speaker for 20 years on the topics of entrepreneurship, leadership, and women in business. She is the co-founder of the Millennial Women Network and author of the upcoming book What an MBA Taught Me…: But My Kids Made Me Learn which is available for pre-order! Bea and Peter dig deep to explore the questions many business authors never ask themselves and why 1/3 of authors writing business books never actually finish them. Bea tells us the Who, What, and Why questions you need to ask before you put pen to paper. Plus we examine not only the financial cost of publishing a book but the opportunity cost which many overlook. Don't miss this incredibly insightful conversation for anyone looking to publish a business book from two people with a ton of real-life experience on the topics. Three Key Takeaways: What questions thought leaders should be asking themselves before starting a book. How can thought leaders figure out the real cost of a book and what can you expect as a return on that investment? What thought leaders can expect from publishers and how to ensure the long term success of your book.

Today we have two guests from FLSmidth, a company that provides global cement and mining industries with factories, machinery, and knowhow. William Leahy is a Senior Marketing/Communications Manager & Strategist for the mining industry. Morten Fløe Knudsen leads Thought Leadership Communication for the cement industry. Together William and Morten explain how they use thought leadership to carry on conversations with customers and make their brand known as the go-to people for an industry with a long buying cycle. They share how FLSmidth is focused on sustainability and how digitization plays a big role in making scarce resources go further than ever before. In this episode, William and Morten give invaluable advice for any thought leader who works in an industry with a sales cycle that measures in years, not months or weeks. Three Key Takeaways: · How thought leadership can be used to influence long sales cycles and keep you relevant. · Why digitization is playing a big part of their thought leadership. · What audience and issues thought leaders need to keep in mind when dealing with long sales cycles.

Today's guest is Lindy Greer, an associate professor of management and organization at the University of Michigan and Faculty Director of the Sanger Leadership Center. She focuses on how to design and lead effective organizational teams, with specific interests in intra-group hierarchy, conflict, diversity, leadership, and emotion. Lindy introduces us to what is being taught to leaders and how science and data are playing a bigger role in the instruction than ever before. We explore what companies are looking for in leadership both from the perspective of older audiences and in the digital world. Lindy spends some time sharing her experience publishing her content beyond the world of academia, how to gain credibility and tips for co-authoring! We wrap the episode up discussing distance working and learning, as well as the best practices being used to create a more efficient and productive workforce for remote working Three Key Takeaways: What traits thought leaders need to consider for good leadership. How thought leaders can gain credibility and get published in various mediums. What thought leaders can do to create a strong team working remotely.

Today's guest is Surya Kolluri, the managing director at Bank of America leading Thought Leadership efforts for retirement and personal wealth business services with a deep strategy background. Surya chats with Bill about how Bank of America is forming partnerships with groups you might not typically associate with banking to create valuable thought leadership to help their clients through various life stages. Surya shares how he is leading the team to act as a bridge between their researchers and the clients looking for solutions to complicated problems. Plus we discuss best practices for delivering your thought leadership so that is not only remembered but used. Three Key Takeaways: · Why organizational thought leaders should seek to form partnerships with other groups to leverage leading thinkers outside of their own company. · How thought leaders can create deeper and emotional connections to their clients. · What methods thought leaders should consider for the delivery of their message to colleagues, associates, and the outside world.

Today's guest is Merit Kahn, the founder of Merit-based Business, co-host of The Smarter Sales Show podcast, author of Myth Shift: Challenging The Truths That Sabotage Success, Certified Professional Speaker, entrepreneur, educator, and even stand-up comedian! Merit explains how she started her sales training business after leaving a radio station as an ad salesperson. She used free speaking as a marketing tool for her sales program but loved speaking so much she started to explore how to make that the business. Merit and Peter discuss the tools used for training and which fall into the professional or personal development bucket and why many methods that were once considered personal are a hard part of the business world now. We wrap up talking about the need to have systems in place to ensure every speaking engagement has the highest possibility of a follow-up conversation and why you can't leave that responsibility to the audience. Three Key Takeaways: How doing thought leaders speaking for free can lead to higher-paying paid gigs. Why thought leaders need to have emotional intelligence and why it is now a business skill. What steps thought leaders can take to follow up with their audience after a speaking engagement.

Today's guest is Cynthia O'Neal, the thought Leadership and content strategist for the intelligent networking division at Verizon professional services with 20 years' experience leading change across marketing, sales, and technology in both the corporate and government sectors. Cynthia walks us through what Intelligent Networking is and how Version is using it to maintain a cutting edge in their industry. Cynthia discussed how she is helping subject matter experts develop and implement thought leadership for use on the marketing side. She shares how they are creating their methodology for use internally before taking it externally, the challenges they've faced and the incredible success they've achieved. Three Key Takeaways: How thought leadership connects to intelligent networking. How to develop organizational thought leadership methodologies and strategies. Why you need to equip people with the right thought leadership tools to ensure they are comfortable talking about the subject.

Today we have a special episode with two guests! Richard Citrin is the president of Citrin Consulting, author of The Resilience Advantage, an international consultant, leadership coach, and organizational psychologist. Michael Couch is the president of Michael Couch and Associates with 30 years of experience as an internal organization effectiveness consultant combined with Business Unit P&L and Operations Management experience. Together they co-authored the book Strategy Driven Leadership. Richard and Michael tell us how they came together to write the book to find matching their background and experience was beneficial to their clients and each other. We learn how they divided the writing duties, had multiple publishers interested, and why they chose their publisher they did. During the interview, we explore their goals, expectations, and the effects of getting their book on the market had on their consulting. Three Key Takeaways: How thought leaders can come together to co-author a book. What thought leaders should ask their publisher before signing with them. What thought leaders can expect from a publisher in terms of marketing and sales support.

Today's guest is Sean Davis, Information Security Advisor, DevSecOps at TransUnion, and former Chief Transformation Evangelist at Equifax. Sean sits down with us to explain the role of an evangelist, the challenges they face, methods of engaging with clients, and how to build trust. We discuss how connecting with employees and helping them understand their value to the mission and vision of the company can increase happiness and uncap the potential client satisfaction. Sean goes into detail on connecting the evangelism in the field to the leadership and management of the company to help define how the overall vision comes to life. We finish off with Sean sharing some great tips for anyone entering the role of evangelist for their organization. Three Key Takeaways: · How to evangelize your thought leadership to build trust. · How thought leaders can improve employee satisfaction by helping them understand their importance to the overall mission. · What hardships thought leaders will face when trying to spread the message of the company.