Learn to Transform Yourself from an Expert to Thought Leader - Mitchell Levy

http://mitchelllevy.com – page 1 Copyright© 2013 Mitchell Levy , All Rights Reserved.

TRANSFORMING YOURSELF FROM EXPERT TO THOUGHT LEADER

Mitchell Levy, Thought Leader Architect & CEO,

THiNKaha

Mitchell Levy [email protected]

(408) 257-3000

http://mitchelllevy.com/

http://mitchelllevy.com – page 2 Copyright© 2013 Mitchell Levy , All Rights Reserved. http://mitchelllevy.com – page 2 Copyright© 2013 Mitchell Levy , All Rights Reserved.

Today’s Speaker

Mitchell Levy




Mitchell Levy’s Background

Running the e-Commerce

component of Sun’s supply chain

($3.5b).

Phase 1: Corporate (’84-’97)

Consulted 100’s of corporations,

touched tens of thousands of

people.

Phase 2: E-Commerce Guru(’97-’04)

Published over 225 books under

multiple brands. Have helped create numerous experts.

Phase 3: Publisher /

Coach / Mentor (’05-’12)

Turning Experts into

Thought Leaders.

Phase 4: Thought Leader

Architect (’13-Present)




Creating Strong Thought Leadership in an Organization Should be Equated to Creating a Building that Changes Shape Over Time

Architect the Blueprint (Plan to Win)

• Brainstorm desired outcomes. • Consider various approaches. • Paint a picture of the future. • Define toolsets to utilize and

experiment with.

Build to the Blueprint (Win the Plan)

• Analyze the plan. • Put a foundation in place. • Find outside resources or do it all

internally. • Run experiments. • Continued inspections and checks to

ensure that you’re building to existing and continually changing code.




Our Agenda:

• Let’s define Expert and Thought Leader 1

• How can you Transform into a Thought Leader / Guru? 2

• What Steps can you Take to Start? 3




1) Textbook Definitions:

What is an Expert?

• Defined as a person who has a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge of or skill in a particular area. (Oxford Dictionaries)

• Experts have a prolonged or intense experience through practice and education in a particular field. (Wikipedia)

What is a Thought Leader / Guru?

• A trusted counselor and adviser; a mentor. *

• A recognized leader in a field: the guru of high finance. *

• An acknowledged and influential advocate, as of a movement or idea.*

(*The Free Dictionary)



Mitchell Levy’s Definition

• You are a thought leader when others recognize you as an expert in your space and seek you out for help…

• You are one of the key “go-to” people in your space.



2) Poll Question

• Assuming you are ok with that Definition, then how can you be the “go-to” person in your space? a) Be a Thought Leader? b) Heavy Social Media Activity? c) Write Case Studies/White Papers? d) Write a Book(s)? e) Be on TV/Radio, quoted in the press? f) Be Omnipresent?



2) Poll Question

• Assuming you are ok with that Definition, then how can you be the “go-to” person in your space? a) Be a Thought Leader? b) Heavy Social Media Activity? c) Write Case Studies/White Papers? d) Write a Book(s)? e) Be on TV/Radio, quoted in the press? f) Be Omnipresent in your defined space!!!



The Four Legged Stool of Your Thought Leadership Blueprint

Books, Webinars, Seminars, White Papers

Education, Creation & Distribution

Social Media -Traditional -Experimental

Create a Blueprint that addresses these four elements.




What Makes a Thought Leader Audience by Content

To be a thought leader, one must be recognized as an expert with good compelling content and an audience to share it with. Expert content can be

created (originated), curated, or even expertly aggregated. The audience is typically not

a generic audience, but one that is associated with a specific industry or set of industries.

Unknown

Evangelist “Waiting for

great content”

Aud

ienc

e

Content

Thought Leader

Expert “Waiting to be discovered”

Originated Curated

Expertly Aggregated




Let’s start with what NOT to do!

• Doing one thing and expecting it to be all you have to be known in your field. – Pay a publicist a hefty retainer of

$5-10K/mth to make you an expert. – Writing a book and expecting it to

be a New York Times Bestseller. • Talking more about yourself instead

of the benefits you bring to your clients.





To Transform from Expert to Guru You Need HELP

is for a Healthy following.

is about Execution, you need to Execute well.

is for Leadership.

is Proven Platform.



= Healthy Following

• You need to be an expert and have a following who know that you are an expert and seek you out.



= Executing Well

• Every time you interact, whether it is speaking or delivering a promise, you need to execute well.

• Deliver on your promises and ensure you deliver on the implied benefit of your brand.

Jason Alba



= Leadership

• Grow and deliver your brand, then share that wisdom with others. • Think about becoming a book author, and exploring media such as TV,

radio, blogging, webinars, social media, and more.

Pam Fox Rollin



= Proven Platform

• Need a robust platform – inside and outside your organization – to share your leadership, knowledge and continuous learning.

• Stoke the fire and grow your network of followers.



3) Getting Started Today (or Tomorrow)



What are Three Things You can do to Start your Journey?



Clearly define and articulate your market. Know who is in it and what services you can deliver to reach and affect that market.

What are Three Things You can do to Start Your Journey Today (or Tomorrow)?



Identify and start making friends with the thought leaders in your space and try your best to do favors for them. Comment on their blogs, re-tweet their tweets, introduce them, and share their thought leadership with others (build up your Klout score).




Define and put a plan in place to give yourself month-to-month HELP. That plan should include:

a. Setting up media engagements. b. Writing/ Crowdsourcing one or more books. c. Allocating time each day to touch key folks in your field.




• What are you expert in? • What are you being hired for? • What do you want to be hired for?

How do You Pick the Topic To Write on?



• Decide if you want to originate, aggregate or curate the content.

• Answer the six questions at: http://thinkaha.com/6questions

• Check out: http://www.thinkaha.com/write-a-book/how-to-crowdsource-your-book/

NY

Publisher

42 Rules / Happy About

Originate

42 Rules / Happy About Crowdsource

THiNKaha Originate

THiNKaha

Crowdsource

Time to Write

1,000 hrs 120 hrs 60 hrs 60 hrs 20 hrs

Time to Market

9-24 mths 2-4 mths 2-4 mths 1-2 mths 3-5 wks

Time Required to Author Your Book?


http://thinkaha.com/6questions

http://www.thinkaha.com/write-a-book/how-to-crowdsource-your-book/

http://www.thinkaha.com/write-a-book/how-to-crowdsource-your-book/


1. Clearly define and articulate your market. Know who is in it and what services you can deliver to reach and affect that market.

2. Identify and start making friends with the thought leaders in your space and try your best to do favors for them. Comment on their blogs, re-tweet their tweets, introduce them, and share thought leadership with others.

3. Define and put a plan in place to give yourself month-to-month HELP. That plan should include:

a. Setting up media engagements. b. Writing/ Crowdsourcing one or more books. c. Allocating time each day to touch key folks in

your field.

What are Three Things You can do to Start the Journey Today (or Tomorrow)?



Is This Journey for You?

• Do you want customers coming to you or do you want to work hard to get them?

• Are you ready to put the time, energy and resources necessary to be a “thought leader”?

• When you get there, do you want to grow your organization or do you want to be a “solo” practitioner?



Turning Experts into Thought Leaders….

Wayne Turmel



Tools THiNKaha Offers to Help Experts and Organizations with Their Transformation

• Thought Leadership Mentoring/Coaching • Thought Leadership Creation

– Quick & Easy Books (Series) • THiNKaha app in the iTunes App Store

– Custom Books Created for Your Clients Needs – Thought Leader (Content Curator) of a Subscription Service with lots of

relevant content (www.thinkaha.com/thoughtleader) – Webinar Quality Enhancement/Production Service – Training Course/Curriculum Development

• Getting Your Brand in the Market Place – Social Media Support via Vetted Partners (www.socialcomplement.com) – Getting Press through Gurus4Media (www.gurus4media.com)


http://www.thinkaha.com/thoughtleader

http://www.socialcomplement.com/

http://www.gurus4media.com/


Our Gifts to You for Your Transformation...

http://happyabout.com/ 42rules/books-drive-success.php

http://thinkaha.com/crowdsourcing-tweet-book01 http://thinkaha.com/creating-thought-leaders-tweet-book01/

To download:

• Go to the book URLs and click on “Purchase eBook”

• In the coupon code field, type in “Author”.

• This will zero out the cost. Or

• Go to: http://mitchelllevy.com/books

• Click on Download Copies…

• Three eBooks (at no charge)


http://happyabout.com/42rules/books-drive-success.php







http://thinkaha.com/crowdsourcing-tweet-book01





http://thinkaha.com/creating-thought-leaders-tweet-book01/









http://mitchelllevy.com/books


OPEN DISCUSSION! GOT QUESTIONS?


(408) 257-3000

Speaking/Mentoring/Coaching www.mitchelllevy.com Thought Leadership Services www.thinkaha.com/thougthleaderservices Getting the Word Out www.socialcomplement.com www.gurus4media.com Publishing Arms THiNKaha iPhone App www.thinkaha.com/books www.42rules.com www.happyabout.com


http://www.mitchelllevy.com/

http://www.thinkaha.com/thougthleaderservices

http://www.socialcomplement.com/

http://www.gurus4media.com/

http://www.thinkaha.com/books

http://www.42rules.com/


http://www.happyabout.com/





THINKAHA THOUGHT LEADERSHIP SERVICES

Reasons to play in our playground

www.thinkaha.com/thoughtleaderservices


http://www.thinkaha.com/thoughtleaderservices


GOT QUESTIONS?


(408) 257-3000

We turn Corporate Leaders and Experts into Recognized Thought Leaders



Increase Engagement with Prospects & Customers

New/Existing Media Platforms

E n g a g e m e n t

We turn corporate experts into thought leaders by helping corporations that are active involved in social media

leverage those activities to reach their audience and increase their business.




THiNKaha Helps You Execute Your Thought Leadership Blueprint

Execute against the Blueprint.




Your Book

THiNKaha® www.thinkaha.com Happy About® www.happyabout.com 42 Rules™ www.42rules.com

Some of our brands…



http://www.thinkaha.com/

http://happyabout.info/


http://www.happyabout.com/images/42Rules_ApplyingGoogleAnalytics-big.jpg

http://www.happyabout.com/images/42rules-ColdCalling-big.jpg

http://www.happyabout.com/images/42Rules_IncreaseSalesEffectiveness-big.jpg


Is Our Brand Known?

• Depends on the circles. In many its very widely known, in others, you'll need to let them know that we've published over 225 books: – Some of our authors are Marshall Goldsmith, Jason Alba, Kimberly Wiefling,

Judith Glaser, Pam Fox Rollin, Mindy Roberts, Chris Edmonds, Ronnie Lott, Kevin Eikenberry, etc.

– Some of the companies we’ve worked with are Synopsys, Cisco, Microsoft, HP, SAP, Kodak, Walmart.com, etc.

– Some of the folks that have written forewords include Paul McCartney, Ken Blanchard, Guy Kawasaki, Steve Wozniak, Joe Pulizzi, Mark Stelzner, Jeffrey Hayzlett, Sean Payton, Dan Schwabel, etc.



Where We Distribute

• Please look at this url for a listing of what we do: http://www.happyabout.com/distribution.php – Amazon (US, Canada, UK, Germany, France and Japan) – BN.com and Nook Book Store – 50+ other eTailers, including, but not limited to (iBook Store, Amazon Inside,

Amazon Kindle, Ingram Digital, Google Books, Mobipocket, Sales Gravy, Kobo and Books24x7)

– Up to 15,000 libraries through NetLibrary and Content Reserve – Ingram and Baker & Taylor (the distributors to ~95% of bookstores in the US) – The THiNKaha family of web sites including, but not limited to

(THiNkaha.com, HappyAbout.com, 42Rules.com, NowWhatBookSeries.com, Quick2Publish.com, ListenersPress.com, ScrappyAbout.com, and AuthorThoughtLeadership.com)


http://www.happyabout.com/distribution.php


Expert Thought Leader Services

We help our experts become thought leaders through a number of different services, here’s detail on books and training.

All of our team is available to support and help our experts become thought leaders…

Copy Edit

Experts Publishing a

Book

Experts Delivering Training

Content Layout

Cover Design

Distribution

Block and Tackle Marketing

Reviewing Content

Polishing Style

Coaching on Virtual Delivery

Delivering a Quality User Experience

Following up After the Webinars

Managing Details and Logistics

We Make it Easy to Publish Quality Books, Webinars, etc.




Create one or a Set of Books in the THiNKaha Actionable Business Summary Series

You have questions, these books have answers!

The books in the #SUCCESSFUL CORPORATE LEARNING series focus on a variety of components of corporate learning. Each book is comprised of 140 bite-sized ideas that will get you thinking about and remind you of things you need to do. Please share other topics you’d like to work on.

*** This represents an example of a series of books we can help you create!

#SUCCESSFUL CORPORATE LEARNING Book Series

NOTE: All books in this series are written by corporate learning experts and co-authored with Mitchell Levy, CEO of THiNKaha®. In line with the THiNKaha book series, the titles are all the same and the subtitle describes the focus of the book.

Subtitle Co-Author • Profitable Training by Optimizing your Customer and Partner Education Organization

Terry Lydon, VP, Rainmaker Systems

* Critical Skills Learning Professionals Need Now Bill Cushard, Director of T&D, Allonhill

* Instructional Design for Today’s Employees Vickey Halsey, Chris Edmonds, The Ken Blanchard Company

* Career Transition Training and Services Barbara Safani, Career Solvers

* Knowledge Management Michael Prevou, Strategic Knowledge Solutions

Creating a Learning Culture Kevin Eikenberry

Communities of Practice Mike Hower, Strategic Knowledge Solutinos

Creating Powerful High-Quality Webinars Sharyn Fitzpatrick, THiNKaha

Collaboration Tools and Techniques David Coleman, Collaborative Strategies

Making Training Stick John Moxley, Cricket Communications

* Already Published

Subtitle Co-Author On-boarding that Works in Today's Environment Open

Sustainability of L&D Programs Open

Successfully Using Coaching & Mentoring Programs Open

Blended Learning Open

Compliance Training that’s Current, Fun & Useful Open

Effective Mobile Learning Open

Engineering Performance, Driving ROI and Orchestrating Corporate Sustainability

Open

Video’s Role in Learning Open

Testing to Drive Performance Open

Buying the Right L&D Assets Open

Creating & Maintaining the Right L&D Assets Open

Maximizing Effectiveness of the Employee Lifecycle Open

Train-the-Trainer Open

Exploring Social & Informal Learning Open

Using Social Media Tools Open

Search and Learn, the Google Effect on a Learning Culture

Open




Insert your personalized letter inside the book Make a statement that will be heard and remembered inside your company Enable “aha” moments for your employees

Organizational psychologists, S. Chris Edmonds and Lisa Zigarmi believe that work is a vital and

ready means to well-being. In an age where people live for the weekends, they show readers

that work can fulfill their individual needs for autonomy, connection, and impact while helping

their organizations thrive.

S. Chris Edmonds

Lisa Zigarmi

www.thinkaha.com/positivity-at-work-tweet-book01

Prices for customized (starburst and/or logo on jacket, letter inside) books: 51-100* - $15.96/book 101-200** - $14.96/book 201-499 - $13.96/book 500-2,499 - $12.97/book 2,500+ - $ 9.98/book 10,000-99,000 - $ 6.99/book 100,000-999,999 - $ 3.99/book 1,000,000+ - $ 1.1/book

eBooks: 1-10* - $11.95/book 10-999* - $ 7.50/book 1,000+ - $ 3.50/book

* $500 customization charge ** $350 customization charge Note: Will add shipping (and tax in CA)

Deliver Customized Versions of Your Book to Key Customers or Partners

This examples shows Walmart.com’s CEO customizing #POSITIVITY at WORK tweet.




Thought Leadership Mentoring

We turn your corporate leaders and experts into

recognized thought leaders in their “space”.

You get a customized program consisting of

mentoring, coaching and services designed to help

your experts be successful.

This program delivers




THiNKaha can make some or all of our books, plus other assets from yours and other experts available to your audience. Great way to educate an audience on a key topic.

Be the Thought Leader Powering a Subscription Service to Larger Set of Your Client’s Employees

Curation Expert: Now the great part. You will be the recognized “Branded” thought leader owning the selection and ongoing addition of content to this service!




Webinar Quality: We Transform Webinars from Basic, Engaging or Expert into Guru

Basic

Engaging Guru

Expert

Cont

ent D

eliv

ery

Content Quality

When it comes to Webinars, everyone would like to have a “Guru” presentation. It is, however, not necessary for every presenter to spend the time and money necessary to create such a Webinar. In in order to measure the perceived impact of a Webinar, we look at both the quality of the content presented and the way it was delivered.

Content quality is the evaluation of the presenters understanding of the subject for the audience they are presenting to.

Content delivery involves the notion of delivering the content in the form that the audience wants to process it: auditorilly, visually and kinesthetically.

Focusing on both content quality and content delivery will allow the presenter to bring their Webinars from “Basic” to “Guru”.

Basic

Engaging

Expert

Guru

A “Basic” webinar has OK delivery and OK quality. A “talking head” presentation typically falls in this category. There is nothing wrong with a “Basic” Webinar as speed of delivery allows the message to be communicated quickly.

An “Engaging” webinar does all forms of content delivery well, but needs help fine-tuning the quality of the content to the audience. This is a webinar that really captures the attendee, but doesn’t deliver a strong content quality punch. For a typical business audience, one can argue that an “Engaging” webinar is better than an “Expert” one.

An “Expert” webinar has great quality of content, but only uses one form of delivery well (e.g. a business audience may find it boring). For a technical audience, having “Expert” content quality is much better than an “Engaging” person that appears salesy.

A “Guru” webinar utilizes all three forms of content delivery and great content quality. In short, an “Engaging” “Expert” delivers a “Guru” performance.




We Help You be a Thought Leader

Offered by Patrick Reilly and Tony Deblauwe • Managing Up Webinar

Cost: $75 per person In this one hour webinar, you will learn the key concepts for managing up effectively. Managing up has always been a critical business skill but is essential for today’s global and distributed workforce. Gallup surveys repeatedly show that the relationship between employee and supervisor is the most important relationship in the workplace and a key ingredient to successful communication. • Take aways from the webinar include:

Why connection and relationship is more important than completing tasks How to partner with your boss to enhance alignment and efficiency

Creating the mindset of stepping into your boss’ shoes Developing your leadership point of view

Crafting accountability



Mo. Guru Webinar (In-Person) Sessions Complementary Book 1 Effective Relationship with Your Boss #MANAGING UP tweet

2 Engaging Your Staff 42 Rules of Employee Engagement

3 Effective Coaching #COACHING tweet

4 Effective Teamwork #TEAMWORK tweet

5

Effective Project Management

#PROJECT MANAGEMENT tweet Scrappy Project Management

6 Effective Leadership #LEADERSHIP tweet

7 Managing Millennials #MILLENNIAL tweet

8 Managing Sales People

42 Rules to Increase Sales Effectiveness Management Sales People

9 Managing Diversity #DIVERSITY tweet

10 ***Your Choice of Topic ‐‐You Suggest the Author



Leadership Training (Use as is or modify to meet your needs)

THiNKaha offers cost-effective, ongoing employee development that is customizable and flexible for the learner and the organization. The content needs to be engaging, actionable and applicable to their job immediately. This program will continually foster “aha” moments!

Use Your Book/Webinar and Others to Customize a Program for Your Clients/Audience




Use one of the aggregation tools to sort through and curate content for reading or demonstrating thought leadership. THiNKaha can quickly

train you (or outsource) you to be a “curation expert.”

Show Your Thought Leadership Easily

Using an Aggregation Service

