Leveraging Thought Leadership

Today's guest Elizabeth McCourt, Global Leadership Executive Coach for McCourt Leadership Group, TEDx speaker, consultant, and author of the fiction novel Sin in the Big Easy and soon to be the author of her first business book. Elizabeth has had many roles during her career and she highlights how going from lawyer to headhunter to consultant and coach makes perfect sense! She explores how she gave a TEDx talk, how the creativity used to write her fiction novel has come around to help her clients, and why failure isn't bad it can be the non-linear path to success! Three Key Takeaways: · How thought leaders can use all the experience from previous careers to excel. · Why creativity that isn't part of your billable thought leader hours can be beneficial to your clients. · Why thought leaders should consider the purpose of their book before picking a publishing option.

Today's guest is Matthijs Van den Broek, head of thought leadership and the energy industry at WUA!; a digital research consultancy in Amsterdam that focused on digital experience benchmarking and the customer journey. Matthijs discusses how his work at WUA! moves thought leadership from the role of a small team to the duty for every employee at the organization. We discuss the methods they've used to form guidelines for involvement and the hurdles they face getting people involved. Matthijs shares how they used their thought leadership in 2016 to write the book The Digital Excellent Challenge, what success looks like, and how they are connecting their thought leadership to sales and marketing to fill the sales pipeline while building trust with their clients. Three Key Takeaways: · How thought leadership can be created by an entire organization. · What the biggest obstacles are that prevent people from getting involved in creating thought leadership. · Why connecting your thought leadership with your marketing team can prevent your assets from sitting idle.

Today's guest is Srinivas Rao, the founder of Unmistakable Creative, host of the long-running hugely popular Unmistakable Creative podcast. He is also the author of a number of books such as An Audience of One and The Small Army Strategy. Srinivas has a candid conversation with us about the world of podcasts. We decrypt the imperfect information that is out there regarding podcasting and how it isn't a get rich quick scheme. Srinivas and Peter discuss the levels of digital intimacy that can be created with an audience, and how a scripted conversation can actually be more stilted than a candid one that flows naturally. Three Key Takeaways: Why thought leaders might want a podcast and why it might not be the medium for you. How thought leaders can create a higher level of digital intimacy with their audience. Why telling a great story is the key for thought leaders to grab their audience.

Today's guest is Stan Lepeak. he is the founder and Chief Research Officer at Lepeak LLC. Previously he served as head of marketing research and thought leadership for KPMG consulting and global head of marketing research and thought leadership at EquaTerra. Stan has more than 20 years of experience in developing and researching thought leadership. Stan shares with us the difference between working at the back of the house vs client-facing, as well as what can slow down or speed up the process of moving thought leadership between the two. Stan guides us through what content developers should be thinking about to grab the attention of busy executives and why you are wasting your time if you don't have a next-step build into your conversation. We end the conversation with Stan giving three great pieces of advice for anyone developing thought leadership for their organization. If you are looking to join your organization's thought leadership team this episode is for you! Three Key Takeaways: The key differences between qualitative and quantitative thought leadership. Where to find new voices for your organization's thought leadership team. Why thinking about thought leadership from the view of the consumer is important.

Today's guest is Cassie Solomon, CEO of The New Group and co-author of Leading Successful Change. Cassie shares her experience as a co-author with Gregory Shea and how his academic approach blends perfectly with her case study method. She also discusses revising the book to include more relevant cases from her own experiences. Cassie talks about her next book and the pivot to helping clients navigate an uncertain future and how her expertise in change management fits perfectly into her emerging role as a futurist. Three Key Takeaways: How thought leadership can be used to navigate change in organizations. Why blending two perspectives on the same thought leadership made for an incredible book. What a futurist is and why thought leadership plays an important role.

Today's guest is Nicole Truhe, Director of Thought Leadership at United Health Care Community and State. Nicole sits down with Peter to discuss how she uses her position to educate the space about emerging health and human services policy. We discuss the different effects of internal vs. external Thought Leadership. Why her position isn't part of the marketing team and why the number of followers isn't as important as who your followers are. Three Key Takeaways: How you can use Thought Leadership to influence policy. Why building a network of Thought Leadership is important for your own message. What stats are truly important to the growth of your Thought Leadership on social media

Today's guest is David C. Baker an advisor to entrepreneurial creatives worldwide who has written five books including The Business of Expertise and is the co-host of the podcast 2Bobs. We start with David sharing the importance of positioning yourself as an expert in your field. We discuss having to say no and getting over the fear of lost opportunities. Then the conversation shifts to the practice of giving away your content and why you need to hold back on applied knowledge. Finally, we wrap up with tips on getting through rough times and coming out the other side without giving up the position you've built. Three Key Takeaways: Why Thought Leaders need to narrow their focus to create a better position. How giving away your Thought Leadership can make closing a sale easier. Why you should never water down your focus as a Thought Leader even when times are rough.

Today's guest is Ernie Humphrey, the Vice President of Thought Leadership at Stampli. Ernie was a long time treasury manager before becoming a Thought Leader and community builder for finance professionals. We talk about what it takes to build a community, how to build credibility, what content to use, and whether you should be monetizing the community you are building. Three Key Takeaways: How you can get an audience to take notice of your Thought Leadership? What steps you can take as a Thought Leader to build a trusted community. What you can do to build credibility as a Thought Leader.

Today's guest is Thom Singer, a renowned speaker on growth leadership, author of a dozen books including Batteries Not Included, and host of the podcast Cool Things Entrepreneurs Do. Thom shares his journey from sales and marketing to Thought Leader and how he realized he wanted to be a keynote speaker. Thom details how he gets bookings and the various touchpoints he uses to stay on the radar of potential meeting planners. Peter and Thom discuss the sometimes difficult task of making both audiences and the planner who hired you happy. Three Key Takeaways: How a Thought Leader can follow up with potential clients. The ways Thought Leaders can make the life of a meeting planner easier. Why Thought Leaders doing speaking engagements should involve themselves in the conference beyond their stage time.

Today's guest is Polly Mitchell-Guthrie, Vice President of Industry Outreach and Thought Leadership at Kinaxis - a technology company focused on the supply chain. Polly talks to us about how Kinaxis is earning trust through credible standalone Thought Leader content that comes from not only within the company but from their peers as well. We discuss the difficult task of measuring the success of Thought Leadership and how Kinaxis uses a promoter score as part of their metric. Plus Polly gives some great insight into what anyone looking to bring Thought Leadership to their organization will need and what they should be prepared to do. Three Key Takeaways: How to gain trust with Thought Leadership is more than just speaking about your own organization. Why Thought Leadership needs to be bi-directional. What an up and coming Thought Leader needs to be thinking about before jumping into the role in their organization.