The Thought Leadership Project

Alex Su is back on the pod! Jay, Tom and Alex cover lots of ground in this episode, including a social media content creation deep dive, how to get started with business development, and Alex shares his thought process on creating great memes...and much more.

Episode 113: In this episode, Jay and Tom discuss the need to confront productivity demons this time of year — fixing the broken systems and bad habits that may be hampering your productivity. From time-blocking to startup and shutdown routines, they run through a number of helpful tips and tactics that will help you optimize your productivity systems.

Episode 112: Join Jay for a short episode in which he describes the benefits of taking daily action in the new year, instead of creating a bunch of generic resolutions.

Episode 111: Jay Harrington and Tom Nixon riff on the benefits of becoming the type of person who “gets lucky” in business instead of being beholden to a strict strategy. They review 2022 trends and developments on LinkedIn, including the flood of Twitter creators flocking to LinkedIn and the selfie craze. And they address the importance of becoming known well to a particular audience versus being...

In this episode, BigLaw lawyer turned investor and author Adam Pascarella joins Jay and Tom to discuss his new book Reversed in Part: 15 Law School Grads on Pursuing Non-Traditional Careers.

There is a lot of conventional wisdom out there about every marketing topic, and LinkedIn is no different. In this episode, Jay and Tom give their “hot takes” on some of the most common forms of LinkedIn conventional wisdom. Sometimes they agree with the standard advice, other times they suggest an unconventional approach—and in some instances they disagree with one another. Give this episode a li...

We had our first law school professor join the podcast as a guest, and Jay was worried that he was going to get subjected to the Socratic Method. In this week’s episode, Jonah Perlin, former Williams & Connolly associate and now Georgetown Law professor, talks with Jay and Tom about Twitter, podcasting, and what it takes to become a law professor.

Marketing conventional wisdom: Find the buyers in your market with an immediate need and get them into a “funnel” by using scarcity and urgency tactics. While that approach may work for selling paper towels, it’s no way to sell sophisticated professional services. In this episode, Jay and Tom describe an alternative, known as the 95:5 Rule of marketing. It’s all about building trust with an audien...

Strategy plans, marketing plans, business development plans…they can be useful, but they can also be a form of procrastination. Some people spend so much time planning they never take action. In this episode Jay and Tom discuss a simple framework for marketing and business development.

Jay and Tom intended to talk about some of the newest content creation tools that platforms like LinkedIn have made available (and they do get to that), but this turned into a much more wide-ranging discussion about the emergence of Web 3 and what many people are calling the Golden Age of the creator economy. Tune in to listen to Jay and Tom riff about where we’ve been and what’s coming next for c...

Jay and Tom having been getting more questions from clients, and seeing more posts on LinkedIn, about lower engagement people are experiencing with their content. Is it the algorithm? Do they need to write better posts? Is it simply too noisy to stand out? In this episode, Jay and Tom profess ignorance about any supposed algorithm changes—How could anyone outside of LinkedIn know?—and propose a so...

An important part of creating great thought leadership is consuming great thought leadership. Thought leaders tend to have high-quality information diets. They take in content that intrigues and inspires them to create their own. In this final episode for 2021, Jay and Tom discuss the people and work they found interesting this year, so you can add some new flavor to your diet. Plus, they share th...

Like the proverbial tree that falls in the forest, is there any value in creating content if no one sees it? That’s a bit of a rhetorical question, but it raises an important issue that Jay and Tom address in episode 101: Should you be putting your content on your website and placing it behind “gates,” or sharing it freely on social media and elsewhere? As with most issues, the right answer is pro...

To commemorate our 100th episode, Jay and Tom play a game of 💯. Do we agree 100% with these examples of conventional marketing wisdom? Can each of them get the other to 100% agree with some provocative assertions and unconventional takes? It's all about thought leadership, the modern marketing environment, the future of content marketing, and LinkedIn as a business development platform. Tune in a...

Making new connections, whether on LinkedIn or otherwise, is great. But most professionals want to turn those connections into paying clients or referral sources at some point. In this episode, Jay and Tom discuss how to play the long game and nurture relationships to the point where you’re no longer held at arm’s length - and instead are welcomed with open arms.

In this episode, Jay and Tom give you a behind the scenes listen to some of the insights they share with members of the Thought Leader Collaborative, a training platform and community for LinkedIn thought leaders.

As thought-leadership marketers, Jay and Tom look forward every year to the release of the Thought Leadership Impact Study. In this episode, they have the chance to do a deep-dive into what the study says and why it matters with two of its architects, Joe Kingsbury of Edelman and Tusar Barik of LinkedIn.

We know business development is important. We know a book of business has many benefits. But…we often don’t know where to start. In this episode, Aaron Baer joins us to discuss the what, why, and how of business development for lawyers.

“I just don’t see the value,” is something we often hear from lawyers who aren’t on LinkedIn, or who have a presence but aren’t taking action there. On this episode, Alexis Robertson, Director of Diversity & Inclusion for Foley & Lardner, joins us and makes the LinkedIn value proposition clear.

From what they are taught in law school to what they consume in the popular culture, there are many messages that lawyers receive that lead them to believe that stiff formality is the appropriate professional posture in interactions with clients and colleagues. In this episode, Lewis Kappes partner Scott Oliver joins us to discuss how it’s possible (indeed, advisable) to let your guard down, be yo...

Too much legal writing is too verbose and laden with jargon and legalese. Our guest, Laura Genovich, is on a crusade to change that. Laura is an advocate for clear legal writing and she makes her case frequently on LinkedIn.

Here we go again. Just when we thought we’d be spending the fall taking people to lunch and networking at conferences, we’re back to discussing social distancing and delayed returns to the office. But that doesn’t mean the need to market and develop new business is any less urgent. In this episode, Jay and Tom discuss why it’s important to use the last few weeks of August to plan for the new busin...

Referrals don't happen by luck or happenstance. According to Joshua Baron, lawyers who are "referrable" are purposeful and intentional about how they interact with clients and other professionals in order to generate new opportunities.

There is a reason this is the longest episode ever recorded on this podcast: Alex Su takes us on a deep dive into the strategies and tactics that have helped him grow a large, engaged audience on LinkedIn.

Law firm clients can’t always distinguish between average and excellent work product, but all know whether they’re receiving good or bad client service. In this episode, Jay and Tom discuss the benefits of creating a remarkable experience for your clients, including building a loyal band of advocates in the marketplace singing your praises.