Bill Sherman

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 building a body of work that creates value, sharpens thinking, and expands impact. Drawing on hundreds of podcast conversations, client engagements, and years inside the thought leadership space, Peter, Bill, and Naren explore the patterns that separate real thought leadership from noise. They dig into what makes ideas useful, why strong frameworks matter, and how leaders can turn lived experience into practical tools others can apply. The focus is not on hype. It is on clarity, utility, and long-term relevance. The episode also challenges one of the most common myths in the market: that sharing your best ideas weakens your business. Peter, Bill, and Naren make the opposite case. Generosity builds trust. Trust builds platform. And platform creates opportunity across books, speaking, consulting, advisory work, and beyond. Thought leadership works best when it is designed to help first and monetize with integrity over time. What makes this discussion especially valuable is the candor around the real work. The book is positioned not as a magic formula, but as a handbook. A practical asset. A centerpiece of a broader platform. The conversation shows how strong thought leadership is built through process, pattern recognition, disciplined thinking, and a willingness to put useful ideas into the world before they are perfect. For leaders, authors, experts, and advisors, this episode offers a grounded look at how big ideas become scalable assets. It is about frameworks that hold up in the real world. It is about creating impact in service of others. And it is about why the best thought leadership does more than elevate a brand. It moves people, opens doors, and creates meaningful commercial value. If you want to understand how experts elevate their ideas, extend their reach, and turn insight into lasting business value, this episode is the place to start. Three Key Takeaways: • Thought leadership only works when it creates real value for others. The conversation keeps returning to service, generosity, and usefulness. The point is not to protect your "secret sauce." It is to share ideas in a way that helps people, builds trust, and creates impact. • A book is not the whole platform. It is a strategic asset within it. Bill, Peter, and Naren frame the book as a centerpiece, not the end game. The real power comes from the broader platform around it: the podcast, the frameworks, the body of work, the audience trust, and the conversations the book can spark over time. • Strong thought leadership comes from disciplined thinking, not shortcuts. The transcript makes clear that writing the book forced them to sharpen their models, clarify their frameworks, and trust the process. The message is simple: do the hard work, make the ideas cleaner and more useful, and ship something valuable rather than waiting for perfection. Stay close to the conversation by subscribing to Leveraging Thought Leadership and joining our newsletter . You'll be the first to know when The Thought Leadership Handbook is available for preorder, plus get the latest updates, insights, and behind-the-

Sherman and Tingle have a story about a guy who has eaten 2 Big Macs a day for decades, and Bill Sherman enters the thread. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Bill Sherman is already at a St. Patrick's Day rager in Tomah and it's only 8AM! He might even be drunk enough to tell Sherman he loves him for the first time! Drink up!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

In this year-end highlight episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership with Bill Sherman, we revisit the journeys of six incredible thought leaders from diverse fields. They share insights into their evolving work, the hurdles they've faced, and the laser focus needed to connect deeply with their audiences. From startup leadership and immigrant entrepreneurship to innovation management and clarity in communication, this compilation reveals the powerful interplay of passion, precision, and perseverance. Martin Gonzalez explores the role of data in refining startup strategies, pushing past biases to uncover actionable truths. Neri Karra Sillaman underscores how personal experiences, such as her journey as an immigrant entrepreneur, shape impactful ideas and groundbreaking research. These leaders remind us that the questions we dare to ask often define the value we create. Clemence Sop takes us into the luxury industry, where understanding your audience at a granular level transforms social selling into a high-touch art form. Peter Boatwright and Jon Cagan, authors of Managing the Unmanageable, dive into managing chaos in innovation, using experiments to show how structured management enhances creative output without stifling originality. Finally, Ann Latham shares her journey to mastering clarity—an elusive yet essential skill in thought leadership. Her unique framework transforms abstract ideas into actionable insights, proving clarity is both an art and a discipline. Each story offers lessons for those aspiring to lead through ideas.

What does it take to grab your audience's attention in the first few seconds? Bill Sherman explores the art of pitching with Joanne Tombrakos , storyteller, marketing strategist, NYU professor , podcaster and writer . and expert in crafting powerful messages. Joanne breaks down the misconception that pitching is just about selling. Whether you're selling a product or an idea, the goal is the same: persuasion. It's about getting your audience to stop, listen, and invest time in your idea. Joanne shares the importance of setting the hook early and keeping people engaged by delivering value quickly and clearly. Joanne emphasizes that pitching is not just for salespeople—it's a skill everyone needs. In business, you're constantly pitching yourself, your ideas, or your projects. She compares pitching to a form of storytelling, where your narrative must not only catch attention but also build trust. Joanne also touches on the fine line between pitching and selling, explaining that while every pitch has an underlying goal of persuading, the real focus is on creating a connection. Through storytelling and strategic messaging, you can build a relationship that makes people want to listen longer. The conversation also delves into modern challenges, like competing with digital distractions. Joanne stresses that grabbing attention isn't enough—you need to hold it. Like a Netflix series that hooks viewers in the first few minutes, your pitch needs to pull the audience in right away and deliver substance, not just flash. For leaders, entrepreneurs, and marketers, her advice is clear: simplify your message, make it relatable, and always lead with value. Three Key Takeaways : • Pitching is about persuasion, not just selling : Whether you're pitching a product, idea, or project, the goal is to persuade your audience and capture their attention. It's not just about making a sale—it's about getting them to care. • Hook your audience quickly : Joanne stresses the importance of grabbing attention within the first few seconds. Like a great story, your pitch needs to engage right away, offering value and building trust so your audience wants to stick around. • Simplicity wins : Don't overcomplicate your message. The most effective pitches are clear and concise. Distilling your idea into one sentence can help you stay focused and make a more powerful impact. Joanne helps us understand how the Pitch needs to move beyond persuasion and into a relationship. If you want to understand how those relationships can help ideas reach scale be sure to check out this video by Thought Leadership Leverage COO Bill Sherman.

What's the ROI of a business book? Peter Winick and Bill Sherman dive into this game-changing question in the latest episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership. Partnering with industry giants like Gotham Ghostwriters , Amplify Publishing Group , and Smith Publicity , they've launched the most comprehensive study on the ROI of business books to date. Over 350 authors participated, and the results are eye-opening. The data shows 64% of business books turn a profit, with a median of $11,350 for books that have been out for at least six months. But here's where it gets interesting—authors with a clear strategy saw a median profit of $96,000. The key takeaway? Profit is more about strategy than sales alone. Books with a robust launch plan, PR efforts, or even ghostwriting support outperform those without. For every dollar spent, the average book generates $1.24 in revenue—not just from book sales but from lucrative add-ons like speaking engagements, consulting, and workshops. Another intriguing finding? Authors with weak strategies ended up spending more than those with a focused approach. And when it comes to satisfaction with publishers, hybrid models shine. 70% of authors using traditional or hybrid publishing were satisfied, but hybrid authors were twice as likely to be enthusiastic about their experience. Catch the full episode and dive into the data at www.authorroi.com . Three Key Takeaways: • Strategic planning drives profits: Authors with a clear strategy around their book—like PR, launch plans, and ghostwriting—saw a median profit of $96,000, significantly higher than those without a plan. • Revenue extends beyond book sales: For every $1 spent on a business book, authors generated $1.24 in revenue, with most of the profit coming from related services like speaking, consulting, and workshops, not just book sales. • Hybrid publishing leads to higher satisfaction: Hybrid authors were twice as likely to express strong satisfaction with their publishing experience compared to traditional or self-published authors.

What happens when your toughest challenges become your biggest opportunities? On this episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership, host Bill Sherman dives deep with Neri Karra Sillaman —an Entrepreneurship Expert , TEDx Speaker , and Professor at ESCP Business School —about how her early life as a refugee set her on a path to becoming a thought leader and entrepreneur. Neri shares the story of her childhood, growing up as part of a Turkish minority in Bulgaria during the 1980s, facing forced assimilation, and eventually being expelled from the country. With only two suitcases, her family fled to Turkey. From those humble beginnings in refugee camps, Neri realized education was her key to changing her life. This powerful experience laid the foundation for her future work in entrepreneurship and academia. But how does a life of survival translate into thought leadership? Neri discusses how her research took her on a journey to understand why immigrants create businesses—and more importantly, why some of those businesses endure. Her "ah-ha" moment came when she found that many studies focused on the why of immigrant entrepreneurship but few explored how these businesses achieve longevity. This insight sparked her upcoming book, which distills the strategies of immigrant founders that any entrepreneur can apply. Her message is clear: business longevity isn't just for immigrant entrepreneurs. It's for anyone who wants to build something that lasts. Neri is working to bridge the gap between startup challenges and the principles that help businesses thrive over the long term. When asked how she moved beyond academia to practice thought leadership, Neri explains how she transitioned from writing academic papers to producing content for HBR , Fast Company , and other platforms that directly impact business leaders. She challenges thought leaders to think about how they can make their work accessible and actionable. Three Key Takeaways: • Adversity can shape success – Neri's experience as a refugee shaped her drive and resilience, which became the foundation for her entrepreneurial journey and thought leadership. • Immigrant entrepreneurship holds key lessons for all – The principles that help immigrant businesses endure are applicable to any entrepreneur looking to achieve long-term success. • Practical thought leadership matters – Moving beyond academic research, Neri emphasizes the importance of creating accessible, actionable content that resonates with business owners and drives real impact. Neri has spent her life seeking success in academia and entrepreneurship. If you want to find that same success in Thought Leadership take a moment to watch this short video from Thought Leadership Leverage COO Bill Sherman on successfully launching a thought leadership team .

Sherman and Tingle talk about Tingle's Mom and her Hollywood adventures and Bill Sherman calls in with his celebrity stories... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Thought Leadership is one of those terms that gets thrown around a lot - often with no clear definition. Today’s guest not only clarifies what that means, he also explains what he calls the four elements of a thought leadership practice. Bill Sherman is the COO of Thought Leadership Leverage where he works with business leaders and CEOs to translate thought leadership into growth strategies that produce tangible business results What is particularly interesting in this conversation are the parallels to core marketing principles and the importance of making a good argument for a good pitch. This episode is loaded with practical and often inspirational tips for anyone who is trying to get their ideas heard in an increasingly noisy world. Follow Bill Sherman on LinkedIn More about Thought Leverage Leadership here . Listen to the Leveraging Thought Leadership Podcast with Peter Winick and Bill Sherman on Apple Podcasts Marketing, Mindfulness, and Martinis - an unfiltered look at what’s changing and what’s not - in business and life - is hosted by Joanne Tombrakos . Each week Joanne offers a mixture of diverse and real-life conversations with industry leaders navigating the changes in their business and their lives in these challenging and uncertain times and occasional rants from her on timely topics that she just can’t keep quiet about. For more about Joanne, visit joannetombrakos.com Crafting Your Pitch, A Storytelling Framework is available on Amazon , Audible , Barnes and Noble , Indie Bound , and other online booksellers. Learn more about Joanne's other books here . Follow Joanne on Linkedin , Instagram and Threads This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit joannetombrakos.substack.com

In this riveting episode of the Thought Leadership Leverage podcast, host Bill Sherman engages with Martin Gonzalez , the co-author of the best-selling book " The Bonfire Moment " and the visionary behind Google's " The Effective Founders Project ." Dive into the fascinating journey of Martin, who transformed a personal passion into a global initiative that has reshaped the landscape of startup success. Martin Gonzalez's journey at Google began a decade ago at their Singapore campus. Embracing Google's culture of innovation and autonomy, Martin seized the opportunity to embark on a passion project that aligned with Google's business goals. His fascination with startup founders and the early stages of company development led him to partner with Joshua Yellin , who was leading Google's Startup Accelerator Program . This program, with its focus on machine learning, globalization, and growth hacking, provided a fertile ground for Martin's innovative ideas, despite his initial lack of expertise in these areas. Martin's breakthrough came when he uncovered a Harvard study indicating that 65% of startups fail due to people issues. Armed with this insight, he proposed a two-day workshop aimed at addressing these challenges. The workshop, first tested in Jakarta and then in Bangalore, received overwhelmingly positive feedback. Their success was not a one-time anomaly; the workshops continued to garner high ratings worldwide, eventually impacting founders across 70 countries. In this episode, Bill and Martin explore the journey of understanding why startups succeed or fail. Martin highlights the pitfalls of relying solely on data from successful founders, which often leads to "Survivor's Bias." He stresses the importance of comprehensive data that includes insights from failed ventures to paint a realistic picture of startup dynamics. Martin also shares the genesis of their book "The Bonfire Moment." Initially hesitant to commit to writing, Martin was eventually convinced by Joshua Yellin, who saw the immense value their workshops offered. The book became a natural extension of their workshops, providing an open-source toolkit for startup founders. This approach, rooted in Google's ethos of sharing and collaboration, aimed to empower others with the tools and knowledge to replicate their success. The conversation also touches on Martin's unique role as an "Enlightened Practitioner." He bridges the gap between academic research and practical application, translating complex research findings into actionable insights for leaders and managers. This ability to synthesize and communicate evidence-based advice makes Martin a pivotal figure in the startup ecosystem. The episode concludes with a discussion on the development of a validated measure for assessing founders. Through years of collecting 360-degree feedback surveys and analyzing thousands of data points, Martin and his team published the "Effective Founders Report." This report, which garnered significant attention from their publisher, laid the foundation for their influential book. Join Bill Sherman and Martin Gonzalez for an illuminating discussion on the intricacies of startup success, the power of data-driven insights, and the transformative potential of open-source tools. This episode is a must-listen for thought leaders, authors, and speakers who are passionate about innovation and leadership in the startup world. Three Key Takeawa

In this podcast episode, Thought Leadership Leverage Founder and CEO Peter Winick and COO Bill Sherman engage in an extensive exploration of the realm of enterprise thought leadership, drawing from their wealth of experience in the field. They dissect the crucial frameworks and models required to seamlessly integrate thought leadership into large organizations. Highlighting the evolving demand for meticulously researched and validated content over mere opinion-based insights, they stress the importance of aligning thought leadership endeavors with the strategic objectives of the enterprise. Moving beyond theoretical discussions, Winick and Sherman explore the practicalities of scaling thought leadership within corporate landscapes. They underscore the fundamental distinction between catering to end-users and economic buyers, emphasizing the imperative of delivering actionable and measurable ideas tailored to meet the diverse needs of large organizations. Their insights shed light on the necessity of adapting thought leadership strategies to accommodate high-volume, low-ticket sales approaches, are crucial for penetrating vast enterprises and ensuring widespread adoption of transformative ideas. The conversation culminates in an exploration of emerging trends reshaping enterprise buying behaviors and presenting new opportunities for thought leaders. From the advent of "train-the-trainer" models to the integration of additional needs into core programs, Winick and Sherman dissect the complexities of these trends and offer strategic insights into navigating integration deals effectively. They underscore the critical importance of aligning thought leadership initiatives with tangible business outcomes, highlighting the need to demonstrate how intellectual property can directly contribute to revenue growth, customer satisfaction, and overall organizational success. Three Key Takeaways: * Thought Leadership has to be validated when taking it to large organizations. More and more companies are seeing the importance of consistency and credibility that are found in validated models. * When scaling our thought leadership for the enterprise level don't get fixated with the end-user. Remember the needs of the economic buyer can be very different and when dealing with the organization the pains of the economic buyer have to be your focus. * Trends in frameworks and models don't change as fast as fashion but you still need to be aware of where the industry is going and move with it.

It's celebration time! The Leveraging Thought Leadership podcast is celebrating our 500th episode with our co-hosts, Peter Winick and Bill Sherman . In this special episode, Bill and Peter share news about their most recent white paper, " The OrgTL Canvas , " and walk us through the deep insights they've gained by spending more than 20 years working with thought leaders, from Fortune 500 and Global 100 successes to new, single-shingle startups - all looking to get their remarkable insights out into the world. Over the past four years, Peter and Bill have spoken with more than 250 heads of thought leadership, many of them on this very podcast. Those conversations have given them incredible insight into the pain points that organizations face when creating, curating, and sustaining thought leadership initiatives. The OrgTL Canvas synthesizes their acumen into actionable steps that help organizations use thought leadership to gain higher visibility, greater success, and a strong, loyal following. In today's conversation, Bill and Peter share how organizations are changing the way they interact with consumers (and potential clients), and how thought leadership can bridge the gap that leads to "next steps" for their audience. They discuss thought leadership strategy (and how to create one), as well as the baseline criteria and metrics you should use, the warning signals that your strategy isn't working, and the importance of alignment across the organization. The OrgTL Canvas is a framework that can help your ideas spread beyond the walls of your organization, and create real impact. We're pleased to share it, and to join with our listeners in celebrating an amazing 500 episodes of Leveraging Thought Leadership . Thank you for listening to our podcast, and here's to 500 more! Three Key Takeaways: * Strategy does not happen by accident. It has to be purposeful. * You only need 3 - 5 core provocative ideas to bang the drum on. More isn't always better. * Thought leadership works to facilitate awareness, provoke curiosity, and serve as a call to education.