Leveraging Thought Leadership
Welcome to the Leveraging Thought Leadership podcast, a beacon illuminating the paths and possibilities of thought leadership. With your guides, Peter Winick and Bill Sherman, we will embark on a journey into a captivating world where ideas converge with strategy and insight. Where will thought leadership take you? In each episode, we engage with thought leaders from diverse backgrounds. Whether it's professional keynote speaking, writing your own thought leadership book, investigating the niche expertise of specialized consultants, or crossing mental swords with distinguished academics, our guests collectively paint a vivid mosaic of thought leadership's multifaceted potential. Through nuanced perspectives and rich experience, our talented co-hosts aim to offer you views of the ways independent thought leaders navigate success, elevate talent, and change company culture – while simultaneously examining how organizations harness the power of thought leadership to catalyze innovation and nurture sustainable growth. Peter Winick is your guide through the realm of independent thought leadership. For the past two decades, he has helped individuals and organizations build and grow revenue streams through designing and growing their thought leadership platforms as well as acting as a guide and advisor for increasing business to business sales of thought leadership products. Peter is the Founder and CEO of Thought Leadership Leverage. His clients come from a diverse set of backgrounds and specialties. They include New York Times bestselling business book authors, members of the Speakers' Hall of Fame, recipients of the Thinkers50 award, CEOs of public and privately held companies, and academics at prestigious institutions such as Yale, Wharton, Dartmouth, and London School of Business. With a keen eye for detail, he delves into the intricacies of crafting personal brands, fostering genuine engagement with audiences, and expertly monetizing one's expertise. From the artistry of crafting keynote speeches that resonate with audiences to the strategic deployment of bestselling books as conduits for inspiration and insight, Peter's guests offer a treasure trove of strategies for creating value and impact and driving revenue through thought leadership. Bill Sherman specializes in the exploration of organizational thought leadership. He examines how companies conceive, curate, and deploy thought leadership initiatives, and how those initiatives benefit the orgs and the people who work within them. Bill listens to the stories and advice of industry leaders and their triumphs within the competitive business landscape. Whether through the dissemination of white papers that shape industry discourse, webinars that educate and engage, or insightful executive blogs that offer thought leadership at the highest echelons of corporate governance, Bill's guests provide illuminating perspectives on the evolution of organizational thought leadership and its pivotal role in shaping industry paradigms and perceptions. Bill concentrates on organizational consulting and business expertise, investigating organizational thought leadership and its effects, from instructional design and learning product development to marketing strategy and execution, to organizational development and transformational consulting. He enjoys working with business leaders, speakers, authors, academics, and other consultants, connecting their ideas organizational platforms and enterprise-ready product development. As the series unfolds, Peter and Bill will lead us through a nuanced exploration of the latest trends and advancements in thought leadership. From the transformative impact of technology on communication and collaboration to the evolving preferences of consumers in an increasingly digital marketplace, they will dissect the shifting landscape with precision and insight. Moreover, they will shine a spotlight on emerging modalities that are reshaping the contours of thought leadership, from the ascendance of virtual events as a cornerstone of engagement to the growing influence of social media platforms as conduits for thought dissemination and audience interaction. Through their discerning analysis, they will reveal how thought leaders can adeptly harness these trends to amplify their reach, captivate new audiences, and maximize their influence in an ever-evolving business environment. Whether you find yourself at the height of your career as a seasoned thought leader, or whether you stand at the threshold of possibility as an aspiring entrepreneur, the Leveraging Thought Leadership podcast offers an enriching voyage of discovery. Join us as we unravel the enigmatic secrets to success in the vibrant realm of thought leadership, where ideas have the power to shape perceptions, drive change, and inspire action. Together, let us explore how you, too, can engineer value, evoke impact, and cultivate revenue through the sheer power of your ideas and expertise. Welcome aboard.
Episodes
What happens when a keynote doesn't just inspire your people…but actually changes how they show up at work and at home?
In this episode, Peter Winick sits down with Tara Renze—author, keynote speaker, podcaster, and an emotional intelligence + positive intelligence practitioner—whose message is as simple as it is disruptive: "Be who you came to be."
This conversation is about more than motivation. It's about the business case for h...
What does it look like when a leadership legend actually lives the principles he teaches?
In this episode, Peter Winick sits down with Martha Lawrence, author of the new biography "Catch People Doing Things Right", and longtime collaborator with Ken Blanchard—the leadership icon behind "The One Minute Manager". Martha offers a rare behind-the-scenes view of how Blanchard's ideas became timeless, scalable, and globally adoptable.
...
What if "thriving" isn't a soft concept—but a measurable performance advantage?
In this episode, Peter Winick sits down with Jon Rosemberg, Founding Partner of Anther and author of "A Guide to Thriving: The Science Behind Breaking Old Patterns, Reclaiming Your Agency, and Finding Meaning", to break down what thriving really is, what it is not, and why leaders should care right now.
Jon draws a sharp line between thriving and "succe...
What if the real leadership advantage isn't another tactic—but the way you lead yourself when nobody's watching?
In this episode, Peter talks with executive coach and facilitator Nina Urman about her core framework found in her book: "Lead From Within." She reframes "mindset" as heartset—getting crystal-clear on what you're saying yes to, what you're saying no to, and why that decision discipline matters at the top.
Nina's though...
What did the best thought leaders do differently in 2025—and what can you learn for your own work in 2026?
This "Best of 2025" episode looked back at standout moments from prior conversations and pulled one clear thread through them: ideas don't scale by accident. They scaled when leaders treated communication, authorship, and development as skills to build—not traits you either "had" or didn't.
What did "great thought leadership" look like when the market wouldn't sit still, the C-suite couldn't sleep, and yesterday's playbook was already obsolete? In this Best of 2025 compilation, we pulled together four standout conversations that got brutally practical about relevance, differentiation, and turning ideas into outcomes.
Keith Ferrazzi broke down the real challenge behind "evergreen" ideas:
What if the real growth problem isn't strategy… but misalignment?
In this episode, Frankie Russo, the Founder of The Growth Co and bestselling author of "Breaking Why", breaks down what it takes to create growth that compounds—without relying on charisma, hustle, or a one-time "big moment" on stage.
Frankie makes a clean distinction: a book is a platform, not the mission. Thought leadership is the movement behind the platforms—a...
Are your top performers actually holding back your organization's growth?
Today on Leveraging Thought Leadership, Peter Winick talks with Eduardo Briceño, global keynote speaker, CEO of Growth.How, and author of "The Performance Paradox". Eduardo is one of the leading voices on growth mindset in organizations, building on 16+ years of work with Carol Dweck as co-founder of Mindset Works and two TEDx talks that have each passed 4 m...
What if every hard-earned lesson in your business came with a simple mandate: how dare you do nothing with what's been given to you?
In this episode, Bill Sherman talks with serial entrepreneur and systems strategist Apple Levy, author of "The Apple Effect". Apple has spent decades in construction, manufacturing, home flipping, and retail. She combines operational grit with financial discipline to help entrepreneurs stop firefight...
What if innovation wasn't reserved for a handful of "geniuses" in hoodies and turtlenecks? What if every person in your organization could solve real problems in bold new ways?
Today's episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership, I'm joined by Richard Braden to explore how to democratize innovation inside the enterprise. We dig into his practical framework from "Innovation-ish: How Anyone Can Create Breakthrough Solutions to Real Pro...
What if your thought leadership wasn't just inspiring for 40 minutes on stage, but life-changing for years after the keynote?
In this episode, Peter Winick talks with Tom Ziglar, CEO of Ziglar, Inc., about how he's evolving his father Zig Ziglar legacy into a modern, scalable thought leadership business. They dig into how to turn big ideas into programs, tools, and revenue streams that deliver real behavior change for clients, not ...
What if your most valuable business asset isn't your product, but the way you think?
In this episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership, Peter Winick sits down with Alisa Cohn—one of the world's top startup coaches, Thinkers50 and Marshall Goldsmith award winner, author of "From Startup to Grown Up", and host of a podcast by the same name. Together, they unpack what it really takes to turn expertise into a scalable thought leadershi...
What happens when pressure—not power—shapes the way leaders show up?
That's the question at the heart of this conversation with executive advisor, keynote speaker, and bestselling author Sabina Nawaz.
Sabina's thought leadership centers on a bold idea: pressure can squeeze the humanity out of even the best leaders. And in today's high-velocity business environment, every manager—from first-line supervisors to CEOs—is at risk. Her w...
What does it take to transform leadership into a calling — and build a business that transforms others?
Today, Peter Winick sits down with Daniel Harkavy, founder and CEO of Building Champions, a pioneer in executive coaching and leadership development. Daniel shares how he turned the lessons from his early career in mortgage banking into a structured, scalable system for growing leaders — and why his success is rooted in helping ...
What if you could stop running on empty—and still perform at your best?
That's the question Erin Coupe, author of "I Can Fit That In" (and host of a podcast by the same name), invites leaders to ask. She challenges the old "time management" mindset that rewards burnout and box-checking, replacing it with a human-centered strategy of presence, choice, and renewal. Her message? Productivity doesn't come from cramming more into your ...
What happens when life forces you to stop—and that pause changes everything?
Melissa Gonzalez, Principal at MG2 Design and author of "The Purpose Pivot: How Dynamic Leaders Put Vulnerability and Intuition into Action", knows firsthand. A medical crisis made her rethink what success truly means. Once a Wall Street professional turned retail design expert and author of "The Pop-Up Paradigm", Melissa built a thriving business helping...
What happens when life-and-death decision-making meets the boardroom?
Today our guest is Dr. Geoffrey Mount Varner—a physician, author of "FAST DECISIONS: Think Fast. Be Bold. Be Fearless", and leadership expert—shares how his experience in emergency medicine led him to develop a powerful framework for decision-making under pressure. As the former head of Washington D.C.'s emergency Ebola response, Dr. Varner learned that hesitati...
What happens when a storyteller from Microsoft turns her lens on the women shaping technology's past, present, and future?
Today on Leveraging Thought Leadership, Peter Winick sits down with Miri Rodriguez, CEO of Empressa AI, best-selling author, storyteller at Microsoft, and co-author of "The Women of Microsoft" (Wiley). Miri reveals how a simple Teams message from a colleague in Poland sparked a global collaboration — uniting 5...
What's the real ROI of a book?
That's the question Peter Winick poses to Chief Imaginative Officer of Emerson Consulting, author of "The Expert's Edge: Become the Go-To Authority People Turn to Every Time" and publishing expert Ken Lizotte, in this episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership.
Ken has helped more than 350 thought leaders turn their ideas into published works—books, blogs, and articles that position them as authoritie...
What makes a podcast truly powerful — and worth your time?
In this episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership, Peter Winick sits down with Ryan Estes, co-founder of Wildcast and Kitcaster, to unpack what separates a great podcast guest — and host — from the rest. Ryan's work connects CEOs, founders, and thought leaders to the right audiences through strategic podcast placement. His mission: to turn conversations into meaningful dist...
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