In 2020, I stepped out from behind the consulting curtain and in front of the microphone for the first time as co-host of the show. Beyond simply conducting interviews, I recruited guests, uncovered stories worth telling, and developed my own interviewing style—experience that let me spot thought leadership challenges recurring far beyond the clients we served directly. That vantage point would prove foundational years later.
Rather than treating the role as just showing up to ask questions, I took on the task of shaping the show's format and thinking strategically about its editorial calendar. I introduced themed series, refined the interview structure, and—most importantly—made a deliberate choice to transform the podcast from a simple content stream into a structured data asset for our organization, tagging and organizing episodes around consistent themes over time.
That decision compounded. The tagged, themed archive grew to more than 730 interviews and became the research backbone for The Thought Leadership Handbook, published in 2026. Without the groundwork laid as co-host starting in 2020, I doubt the book would have been as strong or as useful. Beyond fueling the book, the effort tripled our monthly audience, strengthened our brand within the industry, and demonstrated—through action rather than just words—that we practice the same generous creation and sharing we preach to clients and colleagues.
