Leveraging Thought Leadership

Ten years ago many people thought the idea of being on Twitter or Facebook was a silly waste of time. Not a serious place for business leaders to be. Now building your social media platform is an essential piece of almost every business out there. Today we offer a wide assortment of advice on getting the most of your social media platform from some of the people that use those mediums best. Andy Molinsky is a Professor at Brandeis University's International Business School, with a joint appointment in the Department of Psychology and author of Global Dexterity and Reach starts us off sharing what it takes to build a platform and how you will need to change and adapt as both content and platform evolve. Then Holly G. Green the CEO of The Human Factor and author of Using your Brain to Win walks us through the rules and protocols of the various social media platforms and what value you should place on metrics. Do likes and shares have a value? Finally, we wrap things up with Rusty Shelton the Founder and CEO of Zilker Media and author of Authority Marketing and Mastering the New Media Landscape. Rusty will help you figure out which platforms to invest in, what channels build relationships and which sustain them and how you can use Twitter as a cocktail party to build relationships with targeted groups. If you want to add an extra punch to your platform take a minute to read the Four Qualities That Make a Platform Powerful!

If you are starting a content-based business you'll need to keep things lean and focused. Are you sure your hypothesis around your content, audience, and marketing are correct? Have you test them or have you starting making content without a lot of research because you have a passion to put the idea out there regardless of who might listen to it. Our guest Steve Blank is the father of modern entrepreneurship and credited with starting the lean startup movement. He is the author of The Four Steps to the Epiphany and The Startup Owner's Manual. We discuss the need to be specific about the problem you are solving and the results that will happen as a result of it. Steve explains why he gives his best ideas away and how that will attract more people to you. We dive deep into creating content, the questions you need to ask yourself and whether you need to reinvent the wheel or if it is okay to stand on the shoulders of others. One major product people are pulled towards is writing a book, but you have to understand the reason for doing it. Here is a short video of Peter talking about Reasons to Write a book that might be helpful.

The art of customer experience can be a difficult thing to master. Determining the content you audience wants, in what format, and even if you should co-create can lead to different end results and different experience journeys for the client. Our guest Claus Raasted is the co-founder and director of the College of Extraordinary Experiences, Senior adviser to McKinsey, author, coach, and host of The Business of Extraordinary Experiences podcast. Claus has a long history of experience design that started in his teens doing Live Action Role Playing. Claus shares with Peter how NOT being a perfectionist allows him to get things done and produce content at an alarming rate. We debate the time and place to bring your A-game and when it's okay to simply get the content out to the world. Plus we explore how to deal with the gap that might exist between your level of content creation and the level at which your audience can consume and comprehend it. Claus has no problem finding his productivity but often it can be a hurdle to get over. TLL has a perspective on how tension can Improve Productivity.

Many authors and content creators try to break into the speaking space to further promote their Thought Leadership and reach new clients. If this is a route you are looking to take then this is a must-listen episode for you! Today we collect advice from some of the best keynote speakers in the industry. Robert "Dusty" Staub is the founder and CEO of Staub Leadership and author of The Heart of Leadership, and The Seven Acts of Courage Robert starts us off talking about the strategic use of speaking and the type of audience you need to seek out. Next up we have Anton Gunn, a keynote speaker and author of The Presidential Principles and The Audacity of Leadership. Anton tells us how to narrow down who you'll serve best and the differences between what the buyer of a keynote and the buyer of consulting services looks like. Nick Morgan, the world-renowned founder of Public Words and the author of Can You Hear Me? and Power Cues brings us home with advice about going from entertainment versus impactful and the pressure speakers are facing today. If you are going to have any hope of achieving a successful keynote you need to keep the audience's attention. Check out our Smart Guide to Audience Engagement.

The average person only reads 18 pages of a non-fiction book. With this in mind is writing a 200+ page business book going to serve you best? Or could you get the content you need down in 50 pages and increase the chances of your book getting read? Our guest Judy Weintraub is the Founder of SkillBites, host of the SkillBites podcast and is helping empower people, inspire them to write and help them get published. Judy talks about helping clients write short-form books that act as a perfect lead generating tool. We cover the clients and industries that this type of book works best for and the advantages that it offers. We also discuss the need for a marketing plan to make the most of the book and ways to pull readers of the book into other modalities and product offerings. Don't get lost making a book and other products, make sure you have a Roadmap!

Receiving coaching can help you find new success but you have to be able to look into the mirror and commit to changes. If you are not willing to change it will be a waste of time for both you and the coach. Oleg Konovalov is on the Thinkers50 Radar, has been recognized as #1 Global Thought Leader on Culture by Thinkers 360 and is #1 Global Leading Coach by Marshall Goldsmith Thinkers50. He is also the author of Leaderology and our guest this week! Oleg talks with us about the differences in coaching in Russia versus other places in the world. He shares how he helps people realize what is new, what is coming, and how to close the gap between them and the people they need to connect with. Plus he shares the word a coach needs to watch out for from potential clients that might signal they are not ready to commit to change. Failure is something we all experience. Oleg discusses finding success in failure and we have some additional thoughts on Failing Forward.

The road to becoming a Thought Leader is seldom a straight one. Our guest this week built a thriving business from a book that was meant to close that chapter of his career. David Friedman is the Founder and CEO of High Performing Culture, author of Fundamentally Different and Culture by Design. Now David is bringing culture to the palm of your hand with the mobile app CultureWise. David and Peter discuss the process of writing a book to leave a legacy and how that turned into speaking gigs, engagements, then a whole new career. We explore the process for turning a speaking hobby into a business model that would not solely rely on having David in the room. Last we finish up by finding the things you do instinctively that need to be codified if you want others to be able to teach your method. David specializes in helping companies design world-class culture. We have some thoughts for Changing a Company's Culture.

It's hard to believe we are celebrating our 200th episode already! We have had the honor of talking to so many amazing authors, speakers, consultants, and even some musicians, comedians, and even an Olympic Athlete! In this episode, we highlight just a few of the guests and insightful stories and advice they have given us. Mitch Joel - Discusses staying true to your voice and needing a platform to get a publishing deal. Corey Blake - Shares going from actor to brand storyteller and gives advice for nailing your content. Rita McGrath - a best-selling author shares her experience writing and publishing with and without a co-author. Joe Nocera - talks about taking a long-discarded story and turning it into a smash hit podcast. Steve Farber - tells us how he uses love in the workplace to forge stronger leaders. We'd like to thank all of our listeners, and ask you to continue tuning in, sharing our content, and sending us your ideas. We look forward to making the next 100 episodes even more successful!

Branding has become a fast-growing market. Everyone and everything wants to become a recognizable brand. With everyone competing in the same fast-moving space, how do you make a brand that stands out and creates a positive emotional connection to your audience? Today's guest is Liz Nickles an award-winning marketer and advertiser. She is the President of Black Label Brand Development a company that specializes in branding, marketing, and strategic vision. She is also the author of 15 books including Brandstorm. Liz joins us to share her years of experience building globally recognized brands. We discuss how branding is an emotional institution and how hitting the wrong emotions can have a destructive effect. In addition, we get into the changes in publishing over the years and what it takes to have a successful collaboration with a publisher. Plus Liz shares what the first thing publishers ask and you might be surprised to learn that it isn't "What is your book about?" In today's business, you only have a few seconds to get your point across, this includes letting potential customers know what your brand is about. Peter shares how a Powerful Manifesto is a great way to achieve this!

We often talk about how once you have found your lane you should stick to it. What if you have a message outside that lane that you just have to get out? Should you do it? Can it be successful? John Jantsch is the Founder of Duct Tape Marketing Consultant Network. He hosts the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, author of Duct Tape Marketing and Duct Tape Selling. His new book The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur takes a step away from the Duct Tape Brand he is best known for focusing on the Entrepreneur mindset. John shares how he made contacts and grew his network doing free speaking, which sped up the sales cycle for his consultant work. John and Peter discuss the risks and rewards of stepping outside the brand you are known for. Then we wrap up by discussing building a network to deliver your message and the investments that must be made to ensure that the message is the same regardless of who delivers it. John's new book provides evergreen content that will simply never go out of style. Do you know what makes an asset evergreen?