Should you try to make your thought leadership relevant to everyone? Or, is being focused the answer? To examine the effectiveness of "going narrow" with your thought leadership, I’ve invited David G Ewing to join me. David is a trailblazer in customer experience innovation, and the CEO of Motiv, the world’s largest Oracle CX exclusive partner allowing clients to manage their customer experience (CX) through every step of their journey. David shares how he uses thought leadership to...

In today’s episode, we showcase some of the best guests from our Organizational Thought Leadership series.  We think their insights will be as useful this year as it was last! Lynette Jackson is the Head of Communications at Siemens.  She shares how thought leadership can act as an umbrella for your brand, bringing all the various disciplines of communication together under it, enabling them to move in the same direction with purpose! Kathy Risch is Senior Vice President, Shopper...

As we ring in the New Year it is always a good idea to take a moment and reflect on the past year.  We continue our tradition of doing so by providing a compilation from a few guests who provided timeless advice. Jenna Fisher is the Co-lead of Global Financial Officer Practice at Russell Reynolds Associates and a Wall Street Journal bestselling author with a new book To the Top: How Women in Corporate Leadership Are Rewriting the Rules for Success.  In this conversation, Jenna shares how...

Thought leaders come from a wide variety of backgrounds and skills. Each unique path leads to inspiration, solutions, and frameworks that can reach niche groups on a personal level. Selena Rezvani is an internationally recognized author, speaker, and consultant on leadership.  Her newest book, a Wall Street Journal bestseller “Quick Confidence: Be Authentic, Boost Connections, and Make Bold Bets on Yourself" is a guide for overcoming the nine most common obstacles that stand in the way of...

You can find an audience for your thought leadership on almost any social media platform. Time is the ultimate commodity - so, how do you break through the noise to get your audience's attention? Today’s guest has a keen understanding of audience, message, and modality! Robert Glazer is the best-selling author of Elevate: Push Beyond Your Limits and Unlock Success in Yourself and Others, a keynote speaker, award-winning executive, and host of The Elevate podcast. Our conversation...

Can you spot a good idea? And when you do, how do you successfully find its best audience? These are just two questions we examine with today's guest, Ward Kampf. Ward is the President of Northwood Retail, which leases, manages, and markets a portfolio of over five million square feet of mixed use and community properties. With retail facing constant technological changes, leaders are always trying to discover the next frontier. Ward shares with us the exciting way content and context...

It can be easy to think “I’m just not a confident person” But confidence isn’t something you have to be born with. Like any other skill, you can practice behaviors to grow that skill. Our guest today is Emily Jaenson, a keynote speaker, host of the hit podcast Leadership is Female, and co-founder of The Assist Group a collective of experienced sports professionals ready to step in and provide sales, marketing & leadership consulting. Emily has an impressive resume in sports...

When the time comes to hire someone new, how can you tell if you have the right candidate?    Plenty of thought leaders can tell you that even the best programs often have knowledge gaps, between what is learned in school and what it takes to do a job from day to day. Our guest today is William Vanderbloemen. William's been a senior pastor for 15 years, and comes from a strong HR background at Fortune 200 companies. He is the founder of the Vanderbloemen Search Group, helping churches,...

Thought leaders know that a sharp eye is the best tool for keeping a sharp mind. In fact, others see abilities in us long before we see them in ourselves, and can support us as we blossom into a new role or skill. Our guest today has found herself asking “Who me?” and “Why me?” at almost every step of her incredible career. Deborah Levine is the Founder and Editor of the American Diversity Report, whose mission is to boost the effort to repair the world and inspire fellow diversity,...

Before anyone shares their ideas, feedback, or concerns they tend to ask themselves two questions:  Am I safe to speak?  And is it worth it? If the answer to either of these questions is no, odds are they will stay silent. So how can leaders, teams, and organizations facilitate an environment where speaking up is celebrated and not ignored or punished? Our guest today is Stephen "Shed" Shedletzky, a speaker, leadership coach and advisor who is using his new book Speak-Up Culture:...

The journey of a thought leader often involves moving from being a subject matter expert inside the house, going from room to room sharpening various skills, to eventually leaving the house and applying all of those skills to the greater neighborhood you’ve always lived in. Kon Apostolopoulos is the Founder and CEO of Fresh Biz Solutions. He's been helping businesses achieve strategic goals for more than 20 years by preparing people for the right leadership roles. In addition, Kon is the...

Topics like climate change can be a hot button issue in discussions.  So how can you deliver thought leadership on controversial topics without disengaging various portions of your audience? In order to thread that difficult needle, I’ve invited Nora DePalma to join me. Nora is the CEO of Dialogue, a modern PR firm that builds value for organizations seeking to advance climate solutions. Nora starts the conversation by sharing how discussing climate solutions instead of climate change...

A lot of thought leaders have written books, eager to get their insights out into the world. Yet many start the task without having a well-defined plan for what comes next!   Our guest today has literally written the book on writing thought leadership books! “Build a Better Business Book: How to Plan, Write and Promote a Book That Matters” is the work of the amazing Josh Bernoff, and we can’t think of a better person to help nonfiction authors succeed. In order to help authors find...

Could poor leadership have a direct impact on workers' insurance claims? Today, we go outside the box by discussing insurance with Clint Tripodi. Clint is a National Practice Leader for The Liberty Company where they are changing the way business leaders look at and think about insurance - through the use of thought leadership. While insurance is often thought of as "mundane," Clint shares what his company found when they tracked leadership's impact on workplace culture, and why they...

If Generative AI is fed all writing on the internet, then when you ask it a question, it can give you a good answer.  Or at least an answer that is good enough. For this reason, good enough is no longer good enough. To discern the role Generative AI can play on the future of thought leadership I’ve invited Mahan Tavakoli to join me.  Mahan is the CEO of Strategic Leadership Ventures which helps people become the sort of leader people want to follow.  He is also the host of the...

Moving from internal thought leadership to being a solo act means having to take on a lot of new roles. Marketing, research, and publishing all fall on your shoulders now. Are you prepared? Today our guest is Dan Pontefract, who, after a long prosperous career at companies like Telus, struck out on his own as a leadership strategist, change expert, keynote speaker, and award-winning author.  His fifth book Work-Life Bloom: How to Nurture a Team that Flourishes will be released in...

What happens when the tools we use to analyze and take control of our environments become the cause of our destruction? Is your company using the tools they have at their disposal? Or are the tools using you? Our guest today is Don Schmincke an explorer, researcher, and partner with The Pacific Institute.  He is also the author of Winners and Losers: Entrepreneurial Lessons from 30,000 CEOs on How to Come Out on Top, which teaches entrepreneurs how to win powerfully! Our...

How does a thought leader get an audience to take notice, remember, and actively use the content you are putting out? To get a firm grasp of exactly what engagement means and how to get your audience there, I’ve invited Scott Gould to join me. Scott is a consultant, speaker, and author of The Shape of Engagement: The Art of Building Enduring Connections with Your Customers, Employees, and Communities. Our conversation begins with Scott not only defining what engagement is but how he has...

The past few years have seen shake-ups in almost every aspect of thought leadership. Big challenges can - and have - pushed a lot of people out of the field. But what some call a "big challenge" is everyday fare to a fighter pilot. Our guest today is Christian " Boo" Boucousis, a former fighter pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force. He's an inspirational keynote speaker, author, and CEO of Afterburner; an org that helps corporate teams execute with the same precision and accuracy as...

Death is a natural part of life, but our ideas and dreams can live beyond us - and be an inspiration for generations to come. Today, our guest is a dear friend and mentor, Dr. Mark Goulston. During his long career, Mark moved from being a psychiatrist and FBI hostage negotiator to being one of the most highly regarded coaches and keynote speakers in the business. He helps companies and individuals gain deeper self-awareness, and grow as leaders. Now Mark is facing his most difficult...

Part of thought leadership is making the invisible, visible. When that happens, it can challenge beliefs and make people uncomfortable and defensive. So, how can you break through feelings, and make change deeply significant to that future? Our guest today is Dr. Suzanne Wertheim, the Founder, and CEO of Worthwhile Research & Consulting, where she uses her expertise to improve hiring, organizational culture, engagement and retention. She is also the author of The Inclusive Language...

Thought leaders are often torn between scale and depth. Scale allows you to reach a large audience, while depth allows you to have massive impact. So, where's the happy medium? Today’s guest is Jennifer Dulski, the CEO and founder at Rising Team which blends experience and science to help leaders ensure people on their teams feel valued, motivated, and connected.  In addition, she is the bestselling author of “Purposeful: Are You A Manager or A Movement Starter?” The book provides...

How do you get people to think about new ideas? And then, how do you move your audience from thinking - to buying? To examine how ideas go from brainstorming to industry-changing, I’ve invited Pete O'Heeron to join me for today's podcast.  Pete is the Founder and CEO of FibroBiologics, a leading biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing fibroblast cell-based therapies. We kick the conversation off discussing how Fibroblast has gone from a few peer reviewed...

An investment in thought leadership - for yourself or your org - compounds over time. Starting earlier in your career will have a greater impact. So what's stopping you from getting started? For today's episode, I've invited Vaishali Dialani to chat with us. Vaishali is a Senior Customer Experience Strategist at Konabos Consulting; a full-service, end-to-end, digital experience solutions agency. Vaishali paints a picture of her earliest journey in thought leadership by participating in...

All right, thoughtleaders – be honest. Have you ever nodded off a little during a presentation? Now imagine a conference filled with rock and roll, choreographed numbers, and comedy. That’s a presentation you’d sit up and pay attention to! Our guest today is Kraig Kleeman, the founder and Executive Producer for Rock the C-Suite a production company that brings electrifying original and relevant musical performances to corporate events.  In addition, he is the author of The Must-React...