Leveraging Thought Leadership With Peter Winick – Episode 2 – Nadia Bilchik

Peter Winick

Peter Winick of Thought Leadership Leverage speaks with Nadia Bilchik

Great thought leaders know how to manage an audience and communicate their content in an impassioned and critically clear manner. Can you?

Our guest is Nadia Bilchik, president of Greater Impact Communications, professional speaker, and Editorial Producer at CNN. Her uniquely dynamic, entertaining and substantive approach to communication skills training, comes from her extensive experience in conducting training workshops, coaching business professionals and delivering keynote addresses.

Peter and Nadia Bilchik discuss the essential skills thought leaders need, from communication to managing an online presence. Nadia also shares her expertise in building a strong personal brand. She explains that a great personal brand must be based on authentic relationships and offers tips on being a valued connection within your network. Listen in!

If you need a strategy to bring your thought leadership to market, Thought Leadership Leverage can assist you! Contact us for more information. In addition, we can help you implement marketing, research, and sales. Let us help you so you can devote yourself to what you do best.

Peter Winick And welcome. This is Peter Winick with Leveraging Thought Leadership Podcast. I am the founder and CEO of Thought Leadership Leverage and today my guest is Nadia Bilchik.

Nadia Bilchik Thank you, Peter. Peter Lovely to be with you as we initiated your podcast.

Peter Winick There we go. This is actually episode number two, so let me to share with everybody Nadia’s official bio here, because she’s an impressive woman on many levels. So not even the president of Greater Impact Communications. She is an internationally renowned television personality, communication and professional development training expert, author and keynote speaker. She’s currently the editorial producer for CNN’s WEEKEND Morning program. She’s a sought after moderator and she’s hosted events at places like Coca-Cola and WITF Connect. She’s the author of three books. The Little Book of Big Networking Ideas is the latest. I’ve had the pleasure of working with her a couple of times over the years, and she is someone that could share some insight with us. So, again, welcome and hope we’ve done your bio justice to. So here we are, it’s 2018 and certain things have changed and certain things haven’t changed. So tell me a little bit about the business side of your content, the business side of your thought leadership and things that you’re doing differently and things that you’re doing.

Nadia Bilchik The point of saying 2018 and we all know that this is the age and stage of multi-platforms, which means we don’t just have a website and expect that people are going to find us on our website. If I could say the biggest change as somebody who wants to get my message out and wants to impact more and more people is the ability to share content. And you do that so well, Peter, with your newsletter and your videos. So I would say I make a lot more videos and I do it in a multitude of ways. And what I say to the speakers and people who are trying to do this, as you know, is you have to be able to be searchable and credible online. So that would be my first bit of advice is and it can’t just be one thing. So for me, I’m spending more time than ever on making sure my Web site is FCO friendly. And that takes a lot of time and a lot of research and really assessing. What are your keywords? What do you offer? And it’s not an instant process, as you know.

Peter Winick This isn’t a get rich quick business. So you put a lot out there. Let me unpack some of those gems because there’s a lot there. So let’s start with multiplatform. So I believe and I want you to clarify what you mean by multi-platform. It’s not necessarily that you’re selling your thoughts and ideas across multiple platforms. It’s that you’re available to be found. That is I think that’s put very well.

Nadia Bilchik And also, we’re not sure where we impact people. So as professionals, because as people in professional development, what is our goal? Our goal is that we reach as many people as possible. So ultimately, yes, we do want to be hired as speakers and as trainers. So just to, as you say, unpack, the vast majority of my work is keynote addresses and then training and development that follows. So do I want to capture more audiences? Yes. But how do I get people to know that I’m an expert in the area of networking or maximizing your presence or branding, personal branding, which is my key areas. So I have to make sure that people find me on YouTube, on my Linked-In, on my Facebook, on my Twitter, on my Instagram, and just being aware of which platforms people are looking at and not being attached. I think that’s a thing, Peter, is that you’re never quite sure where people find you. You know, there’s a random nature to myself. Media is. So I want to try and crystallize it for your audience who are potential speakers and current speakers and thought leaders is. You obviously want to establish yourself. So can I step back and say, as a producer at CNN, when I’m looking for somebody who’s an expert in an area, the first thing that I’m going to do is I’m going to search them online. Right. And when he comes up. That really says this person is a thought leader and is an expert, so I often get asked, I get asked, I want to be a speaker I’m really good at. I’ve been in business for years. I’ve managed companies. I want to be a speaker. And I say this to you. I say, if I as a producer at CNN, I’m going to recommend Peter Winick as an expert in the area of lead Leveraging Thought Leadership. It’s very easy for me if I pitch you because I might pitch you as a guest, but then I’m going to five other people to say why you should have this guy. And it’s no different if you’re hiring a speaker. Right? One person hears me speak or hear them speak or hears any of the people who are listening to the speaker and says, I’ve got this great speaker. I’d love to bring them in for this event. Well, the first thing everyone else is gonna do a search because it’s usually not up to one individual.

Peter Winick Correct. So it’s really about you need to validate the brand and have the goods so that the person that brings you in the door can share that with somebody else and that other there are other folks involved in making the decision could understand why they chose A over B. So that’s great. And just for the folks listening, again, this is CNN producer. So I’m sure you get pitched with.

Nadia Bilchik I get pitched all day and night. Now, I’ll give you an example of somebody who is very good on air. And I wanted him to talk about entertainment. He had a radio show and he’s great on air. So the same analogy is your great speak up. And I recommended him to talk about the Grammys that he has to go through five other people who say, let’s have it. Well, they searched him and there was nothing that came up online that said this person is a thought leader in that area. That’s a bright point. Well, listening is and that’s to all of us is to constantly say not I get people who say to me, somebody recommended you. Then I went on to Nadia, speak Starcom. Then I saw X video. And it’s often not the same video that they saw sometimes. Who will hire me from a YouTube video? I’ve got a YouTube video, nerves with Nadia. Somebody saw that video the other day and called me to do a session. Sometimes it’ll be directly from the Web site. Sometimes it will be from a newsletter, a video blog that I’ve sent out that someone’s passed on to someone else. So what I’m saying to all of your audience and I know I mean, this is what you so definitely do for your clients. And you do it so well, PETA, which understands that our audience often comes from places we don’t expect and always establishing the kind of online credibility that says this person is a true authority on this topic.

Peter Winick Excellent. So a couple of thoughts here. So the multi-platform piece, I can tell you from me personally six, seven years ago when people started saying what you need to be on Twitter, and I said, you know, I don’t really get Twitter. People are tweeting. I just had a turkey sandwich for lunch or, you know, go match or whatever. It just seemed like an order noise to me. And then I realized, wait a minute, my personal preference and my personal biases or opinions on that are irrelevant. Let me put my marketing hat back on and think if there are a subset of the market that could use my services that are out there on Twitter, what would they want to hear and where would they want to hear it and how would they want to hear it? And, you know, fast forward six, seven, eight years, whatever. We’ve got a pretty strong following on Twitter, 80 something thousand followers. But more importantly, because I’ve yet to meet anyone that can pay their bills with a retweet. We land, you know, consistently half a dozen net new clients a year whose first entree exposure point to us was something they saw on Twitter that probably led them to a blog or a YouTube or something like that. So I love the multi-platform piece. I love the searchable and credible because if you are searchable but not credible or credible but not searchable, and I find people are often in one of those camps, you’re doing yourself a disservice. And then you touched on a couple of times and I want to spend a moment or two here. Video. I mean, video is is is one of the hottest things right now. And it used to be one of the barriers to entry for many was the high costs and the high fluency in technology and such. To produce video was a thing where you’re at CNN and, you know, it takes to do. Right now I see, you know, everyday folks thought leaders and such that are putting stuff out there, that they’re putting it out at high frequency, high relevancy. It obviously needs to be professional, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t put out little nuggets and tidbits on your iPhone here and there. There’s a professional way to do that. So tell me about video in terms of frequency and messaging and the difference between professional and sort of casual. Give me your sort of a couple of thoughts on how to effectively use video and how to get up the courage to actually make a commitment to putting video out there.

Nadia Bilchik It’s so interesting you say that because as someone who’s been on television for most of my career, it took me a moment to go from perfect lighting. Perfect mate. And. That’s the one. Because if I look at some of the videos I’ve done on CNN over the years, it’s accepting that when I’m doing it on my new and good iPhone, it’s still not going to look like that because of lighting and makeup. So one tidbit, if you do wear glasses to any of you, you don’t wear glasses. Peter, do you?

Peter Winick I do. But I’m at an age now where half the time they’re on top of my head and I can’t find them.

Nadia Bilchik But I spoke with women. If you don’t have perfect makeup and you’ve got a good pair of glasses, it gives you symmetry. So if I don’t have perfect makeup, by the way, I wear my glasses and it just gives me a good framing of the face. But I’ve definitely let go of. Action. And it’s circumstantial. So if I’m giving a talk and there are fifteen hundred people in the audience and it’s a prop, a beautifully videoed, beautifully lit talk, then I’ll take the best of that video and use it. Unfortunately, we don’t always have the luxury of that. So if it’s a small talk, I might literally sit where there’s some light and get somebody video me saying, no, I’m here at this event. Here’s what I’m going to be speaking about. And then I make Facebook like the first few minutes of it always. And this is something you do again so well, which is always offering value. And I think that’s what’s changed so much. Some so shifted. People get so scared of saying, if I give you my Tippett’s, I’m giving you my intellectual, my eye. And what it’s doing right now is we are openly sharing what makes us successful and saying that’s where things have shifted. And it’s so interesting because my husband actually manages my listeners and he sometimes has me giving too much away. And I go, no, that’s what’s shifted is we’re living in an age of content-sharing where people are sharing that content so and are generously sharing their content lives.

Peter Winick Let me touch on that because I get a lot of feedback from my clients on that as well. And my answer to them is, listen. You know, when Stephen Covey published The Seven Habits of highly successful people, you spend $20 dollars or whatever it was on the book and they weren’t for the habits in there. And you didn’t say call me up and give me more money for the other three. So I think there’s a fear that people have that if I put it all out, what’s left. But the reality is you need to be putting it out in multiple formats to multiple people because there’s more that you have to offer. And the more that they can become exposed to you and understanding what you’re about. There’ll be plenty of opportunities for you to monetize that. And I think, you know, today we’re living in an age where it’s information overload. You know, there’s too much coming at me. And I want, you know, my scarcest resource personally, which probably some of the most folks in my time. So I will invest my time in things, but it better be good. I don’t time to waste right now. And I want to see something. If you’re if I’m watching one of your many videos, you’re going to give me an insight or a tip or new ones. I don’t want to feel that you’re holding back. I want to take some value directly later.

Nadia Bilchik And then you said something else powerful earlier. Peter, you said you know, your marketing hat. If we go back to branding one or one, Beezus said so articulately that a brand for a company or product is like a reputation for a person. In my personal branding sessions, I talk about branding is how you show up in people’s minds, right? If I were to say when I think of Peter Winick, I think of credible, I think of integrity. You’ve always delivered what you’ve said. I think of you as a solid individual, which is why when you say not, you come on my podcast. It’s my pleasure. Because the way you show up in my mind is as a collaborative partner. So if we think about what do you want as a speaker as a trainer, as a facilitator, when people are talking about whatever your topic is. When I think about somebody who’s going to talk about do you come top of mind and what makes you an expert in that area? Because we know that the professional speaking thought leadership facilitation space is crowded and awful. People are put off by that. But the reality is, how do you craft your niche by coming and making sure that you’re top of mind when I think about it.

Peter Winick Excellent. It’s not. Not only is it crowded, but let me sort of Segway this into another area that you’re an expert in, which is sort of the relationship piece. Many people come to this in a transactional way. And the reality is this is not a transactional-based business. Thought leadership, content, authorship, etc. is not transactional. You need to build and you have a responsibility to build an ongoing rapport and relationship with your followers, with your audience, with whoever. And one of the best ways to do that is by being generous and giving away your thoughts right, too. You’ve also written on that subject and are an expert in networking and relationship development, which people usually tend to mean face to face. Right. But tell me a little bit about how you build that relationship digitally and that scale.

Nadia Bilchik So Peter I have a little book of big networking ideas, a guide to expert networking. And I am just republishing it’s just been republishing as own your network in person and online. So what we’re seeing more and more is the ability to go from an in-person interaction and then transition that to online, which is critical because if you endorse somebody on LinkedIn, that’s a wonderful way of being. Go give that right. But equally important is the ability to go from online to in-person. So to see it, I think the key to all of this is that there isn’t one way we do know that relationship building is collaboration. Simply put, it’s a connection conversation and a collaboration. But we need to be able to do it in person and online and understand that each situation demands different nuances. So, you know, tip whoever you meet. Even I was at a dinner on Friday night and I met someone who’s an executive coach. Well, I don’t do one on ones. I speak to large groups. She’d be a great person. We can also knowledge share. I immediately left the dinner, looked her up, sent her a lovely note. Great to meet you. Put on my Linked-In, because that way we know that she’s responsible for keeping her contacts and credentials updated. But just the simplest of making better habits.

Peter Winick Yeah.

Nadia Bilchik You know, we forget to do what I call the BLO’s the blinding lights of the idea.

Peter Winick How many times I talk to people. Tell me about a conference that they went to. And then six months later, they find a stack of business cards in their pocket. And I’m like, well, shame on you. You made an investment of your time, your money, your effort, and now you took somebody’s card. You probably meant you had some sort of engaging conversation with them. You probably made either a blatant commitment or an implied commitment that there’ll be some sort of follow up. And now you’ve got a ding against your brand because you’re almost embarrassed to say, oh, I met you at this conference seven months ago and it was lovely having cocktails with you. That seems kind of weird because you’re not going to do that unless you’re at a point now where you’re asking for something, which is, you know, everybody’s got that ick factor up now. But if you did the proper hygiene of networking and the follow up in a timely manner, when and if the time came down the road where you wanted to, you know, reconnect with that person, you’re starting from a nice place. So I agree with that.

Nadia Bilchik That’s very well put. It’s just the maintenance. And you know, the two things of really nurturing your existing network and the ability to expand in-person and online. I can’t tell you how many times I’ll have a meeting with somebody and they’ll want to meet and they haven’t. Just looked you up at your Web site. You know, it was its simple things. But again, what do you know in your world? The people we’re talking to right now are people have tremendous potential and they have a lot to offer. The question is, how do you distinguish yourself not just as having something to offer but being the go to person, being the quintessential or an expert in that area. And it takes a long time to create that credibility. And, you know, we famously say, you know, visibility is credibility and credibility leads to profitability. And it does spark authentic knowledge.

Peter Winick I also think, tell me about consistency, because one of the things that that I believe is, is being consistent in terms of what you do, how you’re gonna do it, etc. So if you’re consistently putting out good vibes, good content, good thought into the world, that’s also if you’re somebody that I never hear from. But every time I see a name, you know your name pop up in my e-mail box or on my phone immediately, my brain is going. That person is asking for something. That’s not a good thing because I’m putting you in a totally different place in my mind. Like, you know, that person to take. You’re not a giver. That person they only call when they won something. And it’s not. Nobody wants that. But I think sometimes people do that not by design, but they don’t know how to sort of fill in the blanks between the needs.

Nadia Bilchik It’s so interesting, so in my networking workshops I speak about, you have to be able to give. And people are very comfortable giving. It’s easier to be a good giver than a go-getter. And you should be. But you’ve got to be able to ask, too. But there’s really a finessed way in how you ask. You know, if I go p.d.a., you have a great database of potential clients. You can have access where you’re going to say that’s lovely or not. But if I go, Peter, you’ve been very successful in navigating your way in the square. Do you have any advice or guidance for me? Right. People are very happy to give advice or guidance. So much is all you actually ask. And you know, we have so many things. I wish we were talking for an hour, not 20 minutes. Exact network most when you need, at least when you’re in. Oh, and comfort and just a way of looking at relationships. I have the section in my programs where I say, you know, what stops you networking? And it’s so interesting because it’s different things to different people and what’s stopping us. There’s the fear of rejection, which we know there’s discomfort. There’s the don’t know how to do it. There’s the time. There are so many things that stop us from being better at it than we need to be. And certainly in the worlds of becoming an authority, you have to be a skillful networker. But I think an authentic networker.

Peter Winick You can’t fake authenticity. Let me just in the interest of time here, ask you to share with the audience two or three things for them to ponder, tips, things to consider so that they can better scale and leverage their content and their thought leadership. Did it help the more folks more often.

Nadia Bilchik The first thing is to own your headspace. So I have a new book called O’Neale Space and the first chapters on your headspace, give yourself permission. If you feel that you are skilled in an area, give yourself permission to be the expert and be the person speaking on that. Don’t let the fact that there are five hundred other people talking about what you’re talking about. You’ve got your unique got a capability and your own unique view of it to share. So number one, you won’t be daunted by others. Give yourself permission. Once you’ve done that, really do the work to do so.

So do the work. So this is the part where a lot of people. That’s not the fun part. Right. But this is not a get rich, quick business. The folks that do best here are grinding every day to put out great stuff and thinking about how to get to their audience and thinking about how to differentiate and provide value but put in the work. One tweet does not content make it right.

Nadia Bilchik It’s what you know what I say to speakers that I’m coaching. I say, what nuggets do you have? What is unique that you’ve shared in your life journey that can help me and become a good story? You know, the reality is and it’s a very simple technique, which we call the pie. So what point do I want to make? Be it that’s resilience is critical during times of change. Illustrated with a personal story. That’s part B. If you can’t do part C, which is to emphasize what’s in it for your audience, you lose me. So what I see is lots of people with great ideas. How is this going to impact on that? So start thinking about how is my life, my experiences, my wisdom, my crisis, my pain? What have I learned from it that I can share with you the audience in any final tips? Final Tips is to enjoy the process and to. Educate yourself, you as far as all the platforms and the more you can do your self, the better. The belief that someone else will make it happen for you. And I know that we’re talking to different age groups because there are certain age groups like mine. I was born in 1964. We’re terrified of social media and doing these things. And my overwhelming desire is to say to people, emancipate yourself and do it. It’s a lot easier than you think. And it’s critical for business success.

Peter Winick I love that. So before we just sort of wrap up here, where can people get in touch with you, find you? Who are the best types of folks for you to be of service to? Give me a sense of where to find you and how to get to you.

Nadia Bilchik I do a lot of speaking coaching, so if anybody has a great idea and they want somebody to help them come up with a really good keynote. Focusing on content and delivery. That’s my expertise. And it’s Nadia speaks dot com. And once they’ve got a fabulous, fabulous 45-minute compelling keynote, I send them to you because you will help them leverage that.

Peter Winick Well, thank you so much for joining us today. I’m grateful to you. And I’m so glad that you’ve spent the time and you shared so much with us here today. So I appreciate that so much. Thank you.

Nadia Bilchik Own Your Space and the networking books are available on Amazon dot com.

Peter Winick To learn more about Thought Leadership Leverage, please visit our Web site at ThoughtLeadershipLeverage.com to reach me directly. Feel free to e-mail me at Peter at ThoughtLeadershipLeverage.com. And please subscribe to Leveraging Thought Leadership on iTunes or your favorite podcast app to get your weekly episode automatic.