Leveraging Thought Leadership

This episode is a companion to the upcoming Thought Leadership Handbook — part of a series where Bill speaks with exemplars featured in the book about how they actually practice thought leadership. There are plenty of books explaining what AI is. This one is about the person who decided to write a book that tells you what to do about it instead — and who's spent 25 years turning disruption into fr...

Most professionals who make the leap from clinical therapy to the corporate world stumble on the same obstacle: they speak the wrong language. They know the science cold. They understand what's happening beneath the surface in any dysfunctional team, toxic culture, or burned-out leadership group. But if they can't connect those insights to the metrics that actually keep executives up at night — re...

What happens when you're wildly successful at a life you didn't consciously choose? Wani Iris Manly, Esq. , grew up groomed for one thing: the law. She did the work, built the firm, drove the Porsche. And then, on New Year's Eve in 2010, she sat alone and took an honest look at the gap between the life she had and the life she actually wanted. What followed was one of the more audacious pivots you...

What does it look like when someone making $10 million a year calls you and says, "Get me out of here"? For Alan Guarino , Vice Chairman of CEO and Board Services at Korn Ferry , it happens more than you'd think — and it's exactly what pushed him to write The Greatness Code: The Formula Behind Unstoppable Success . Alan has spent decades at the intersection of executive search, C-suite coaching, a...

What do you do when you've found a powerful idea — but the market thinks it's silly? Gabrielle Dolan (known to almost everyone as "Ral") noticed something in the corridors of corporate Australia: the leaders who moved people, who made change land, who made ideas stick — they all told stories. The data nerds and slide-deck merchants were losing the room. The storytellers were winning it. So she did...

What if ambition is not the problem—but the way we fuel it is? In this episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership, Peter Winick speaks with Janine Mathó , author of " Live Your Opus ", about the Opus Way : a framework designed to help high achievers build healthy, meaningful careers without lowering their ambition. Janine challenges the old tradeoff between success and sustainability. Her message is...

What if suffering is not a detour from life, but one of the places where meaning begins? In this episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership, Bill Sherman speaks with Dr. Suzan Song , MD, PhD, about instability, agency, and the human search for groundedness when life breaks open. Her work spans clinical care, global systems, conflict zones, and executive leadership. Her core question is simple and ur...

What if the biggest risk in a company is not the strategy, the product, or the market—but the leader's ability to grow fast enough to match the business? In this episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership, Peter Winick sits down with Logan Yonavjak , founder of the Founders Readiness Institute , to explore a bold idea: leadership capacity can be measured, developed, and used to reduce business risk....

What if luck is not random, but designed? In this episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership, Peter Winick sits down with Judd Kessler , Wharton professor and author of " Lucky by Design: The Hidden Economics You Need to Get More of What You Want ." Judd's work brings market design out of the academic journal and into daily life. He studies the hidden systems that determine who gets access, who gets...

What if success is not the hard part? Lisa Broderick , Managing Partner of Conversus Group ,  and co-author of Permanence with Marshall Goldsmith , brings a practical answer to one of leadership's most overlooked problems: how to stay the person you want to be after success arrives. Most leadership advice focuses on achievement. Hit the goal. Grow the company. Build the platform. Scale the impact....

What separates a paid speaker from a true professional in the thought leadership business? In this episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership, Peter Winick sits down with Andy Freed to unpack what it really takes to build a sustainable speaking business. Andy brings the perspective of a speaker bureau veteran, entrepreneur, founder of Virtual Inc , and author of Lead Like the Boss . His lens is prac...

What separates a great speaker from a true thought leadership business? In this episode, Peter Winick sits down with Martin Perelmuter , co-founder of Speakers Spotlight and a longtime leader in the professional speaking industry, to unpack what it really takes to build a sustainable speaking platform. Not just a great talk. Not just a strong stage presence. A real business. Martin makes the case...

What happens when a global executive finally has the freedom to say what matters most? In this episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership, Bill Sherman sits down with Ahmet Bozer , former global business executive and author of Soulgery , to explore what comes after a career of leading at scale. Retirement gave Ahmet something rare: time, perspective, and the freedom to turn decades of leadership ex...

What happens when positivity becomes more than a personality trait—and turns into a business asset? In this episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership, Peter Winick sits down with Ramon Ray , founder of ZoneofGenius.com , author of " The Celebrity CEO", How Entrepreneurs Can Thrive by Building Community and a Strong Personal Brand ", speaker, event producer, business coach, and advisor to small busi...

What makes a thought leader's message impossible to ignore? In this episode, Peter Winick sits down with Kait LeDonne , a personal branding expert who helps aspiring thought leaders sharpen the message behind their work. Kait's view is clear: without radically clear messaging, everything else becomes a house of cards. Content, books, speaking, social media, and sales all weaken when the core idea...

What does it take to turn deep expertise into a scalable thought leadership platform? In this episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership, Peter Winick talks with Paul Falcone , bestselling author and leadership expert, about how practical ideas become powerful market assets. Paul has built his body of work around hiring, performance management, leadership development, and workplace ethics. His edge...

What does it take to turn crisis into a leadership framework others can actually use? In this episode, Bill Sherman talks with John Lentini , Founder and President of BOLD Training Corp and a partner of Crestcom International , about how defining moments can become disciplined thinking, practical models, and a mission that is bigger than one person's story. John's path to thought leadership did no...

What if your book was never meant to make money on the shelf, but to make money in the business? In this episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership, Peter Winick talks with Lucy McCarraher , co-founder of Rethink Press , founder of the Business Book Awards , and author of 17 books, about what business books are really for. Lucy makes a clear case that for entrepreneurs, consultants, and experts, a b...

What happens when success no longer feels like enough? In this episode, Peter Winick sits down with Greg Larkin , author of "This Might Get Me Fired" and founder of Punks and Pinstripes , to explore what it really takes to reinvent yourself when the old rules of work, loyalty, and leadership no longer apply. Greg's thought leadership is centered on a challenge many high achievers face but rarely t...

What does it take to lead when the plan breaks, the pressure spikes, and failure is part of the mission? In this episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership, Peter Winick talks with Colonel (Ret.) Merryl Tengesdal , author of " Shatter the Sky: What going to the stratosphere taught me about self-worth, sacrifice, and discipline" about the ideas that drive her work today: adaptability, resilience, aut...

What does it really take to turn a book into a business asset instead of a vanity project? In this episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership, Peter Winick sits down with Kevin Anderson , CEO of Kevin Anderson & Associates to unpack what authors get wrong about publishing, platform, and the real role a book plays in growing authority. Kevin makes the case that a strong book is not just about writing...

What makes thought leadership actually travel? Not a bigger platform. Not louder marketing. A sharper idea that solves a real problem. In this episode, Peter talks with Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg , coauthor of Innovation as Usual: How to Help Your People Bring Great Ideas to Life and author of What's Your Problem?: To Solve Your Toughest Problems, Change the Problems You Solve. Thomas's work sits a...

What separates average sellers from elite performers? In this episode, Peter Winick sits down with Bob Kocis , author of The President's Club Mindset , to unpack the ideas, behaviors, and disciplines that turn sales expertise into real thought leadership. Drawing from interviews with top performers who have earned more than 150 Presidents Club wins combined, Bob shares a sharper view of what high...

What does it really take to turn expertise into influence that lasts? In this special episode of  Leveraging Thought Leadership , host Peter Winick is joined by Bill Sherman and Naren Aryal to announce their book,  The Thought Leadership Handbook  published by  Amplify Publishing Group . T his is not a conversation about writing a book for the sake of writing a book. It is a conversation about bui...

What if the leadership issue in front of you is not strategy, but an old wound you have never fully resolved?   In this episode, Bill Sherman talks with Kendra Dahlstrom an executive coach and host of " The Unworthy Leader " podcast about the deeply personal path that led her into thought leadership, and why she believes the future of leadership development must go far beyond traditional coaching....