2020 Agenda

DAY ONE — 11/16/2020
Making Thought Leadership a Priority

thought leadership marketers response to the pandemic (10:00 – 10:30 ET)

In their opening keynote talk, PTL co-producers Jason Mlicki of Rattleback and Bob Buday of Buday Thought Leadership Partners will discuss the findings of their latest research on thought leadership best practices at 300 companies. They will explain why the best B2B firms at thought leadership have seen the pandemic as a unique time to produce content that creates clarity amidst the chaos. Finally, we’ll set the stage for all 5 days with an overview of the seven capabilities of the most successful thought leadership marketers that we’ve derived from our multi-year research initiatives.

establishing A GLOBAL THOUGHT LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE IN SHORT ORDER (10:30 – 11:00 ET)

Infosys is a $12 billion digital and consulting services company that has nearly tripled in revenue over the last decade. As the global lead for thought leadership at Infosys, Jeff Kavanaugh oversees many of the firm’s research programs and management publication, and hosts its podcast. At PTL 2020, Jeff will talk about his 24-month journey to establish a global knowledge institute for one of the world’s leading IT services firms.

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP-LED DISRUPTION OF THE STRATEGY CONSULTING BUSINESS (11:00 – 11:30 ET)

Founded in 2000 by legendary Harvard Business School Prof. Clayton Christensen (who pioneered the concept of “disruptive innovation”) and Mark Johnson, Innosight has been a highly disruptive force itself in the management consulting industry. The firm’s research, Harvard Business Review articles, books and other intellectual capital have changed the way its clients think about strategy and innovation. And since becoming part of Huron Consulting Group in 2017, Innosight continues to bring compelling ideas on strategy and innovation to market.

As CMO, Cathy Olofson has led Innosight’s thought leadership development, digital marketing strategy, and public relations for 10 years. She will explain how the firm’s culture of thought leadership has enabled it to thrive in a world of much bigger competitors.

ALIGNING BUSINESS AND EDITORIAL STRATEGY (11:30 – 12:00 ET)

One of the key capabilities that emerged from our 2018 research — Disciplined Navigators receive buy-in by aligning editorial strategies against business growth priorities, staying narrowly within their lanes, and being uncompromising on quality. To close day one, Jason Mlicki of Rattleback will present on how to align editorial plans against corporate growth agendas.

---

DAY TWO — 11/17/2020
Leveraging Research and Building an Audience

conducting thought leadership research that generates client inquiries (10:00 – 11:00 ET)

To open this session, Binayak Choudhury of research firm Phronesis Partners will lead a “voice of the customer” panel discussion with senior executives on what they’re looking for from thought leadership when it comes to making informed business decisions and what studies and concepts have made them think differently and why. Panel members include:

• Federico Bonelli, Deputy EVP, Roberto Cavalli
• Tom Buday, former Global Chief Marketing Officer, Nestle

Binayak will then explain how to design thought leadership studies that are far more likely to generate insights that resonate. Following the panel, attendees will be split into small groups for 20-minute discussions on what they heard.

turning thought leadership into revenue (11:00 – 11:30 ET)

Truth Seekers are after the truth, even if it doesn’t come from their firm. They see their work as a relentless pursuit to uncover new ways to solve clients’ most pressing business problems. Following the break-out session, Ajit Kambil, Global Research Director for Deloitte’s CFO program, will explain how the program has opened new doors and strengthened existing relationships with chief financial officers across the globe. He will also discuss how the firm has turned its research into client training services – the firm’s Executive Transition Lab service – delivering great value to both clients and Deloitte.

Aligning thought Leadership and Brand Strategy (11:30 – 12:00 ET)

To close out the day, we’ll hear from Francis Hintermann and Jill Kramer of Accenture on how the $43 billion (revenue) company aligned activities with its brand strategy over the last two years, and the outcome of that: deeper, groundbreaking insights that are helping drive brand value and company growth.

---

DAY THREE — 11/18/2020
Shaping Compelling, Unassailable Arguments

avoiding article hell (10:00 – 10:15 ET)

Argument Shapers care more about helping their subject matter experts shape a compelling point-of-view than simply turning their loose thoughts into prose. PTL’s latest research shows that the most effective content development approach is the least likely to be used: structured outlines that help subject experts shape persuasive arguments before the prose-writing begins. To start the session, Bob Buday will explain why these outlines work, the biggest objections to using them (from both subject experts and content developers) and how to overcome them.

making experts’ ideas memorable (10:15 – 10:45 ET)

In this session, we’ll hear from Eben Harrell, Senior Editor at Harvard Business Review. Over the last five years, Eben has worked extensively with multiple authors on articles in the print edition of the world’s most influential management journal. In his talk, he will explain how to turn expert/editor working relationships into highly effective and collegial collaborations. With over 15 years’ experience as a content expert in journalism, corporate marketing and publishing, Eben ghostwrites and edits articles by global management thinkers at HBR.

The Rejuvenation of Thought Leadership Journals (10:45 – 11:30 ET)

In the third session of the day, Bob Buday will talk about the digital rejuvenation of the thought leadership journal and argue that branded thought leadership journals will become more important to B2B firms in this new decade. Professors James Wetherbe and David Deeds, Founding Editor and Executive Editor of the Entrepreneur & Innovation Exchange (EIX), an online academic journal that broke all the rules, will explain the key lessons from making EIX a major success over the last six years – lessons for every B2B company that wants to create an online thought leadership journal.

Growing a Corporate Publication (11:30 – 12:00 ET)

To close day three, Serge Perignon, Global Head of the Thought Leadership Institute at Tata Consultancy Services, will share his learnings from 10+ years building, developing and growing the firm’s management journal, Perspectives, and how he’s gotten the company’s leaders to author stimulating articles for the journal that capture the interest of clients and prospects.

---

DAY FOUR — 11/19/2020
Driving Your Digital Publishing Agenda

BUILDING YOUR AUDIENCE WITH DIGITAL STRATEGIES (10:00 – 10:30 ET)

Audience Builders know how to get their message out there and connect with their audience, no matter what medium they’re using to do so. In this session, Sean Brown of McKinsey & Company, will share his experience developing Inside the Strategy Room, a podcast for the firm’s Strategy and Corporate Finance practice, running virtual events, and leveraging webinars to connect the practice’s thought leadership with senior decision-makers.

data visualization: the indispendable marketing tool (10:30 – 11:00 ET)

In the second session, Bill Shander, CEO of Beehive Media, will explain why now is the time to make data visualization a core thought leadership competency and what B2B firms can learn from the early adopters: The New York Times, Washington Post, Bloomberg and other media companies. He will discuss key skills that editorial and marketing people need to gain including data literacy and also lead attendees through an interactive session that will help them think along the lines that the best data visualization experts think.

using “data viz” to bring insights to life (11:30 – 12:00 ET)

Jason Forrest, Director of Interactives at McKinsey & Company, will examine the topic of “information empowerment,” and how it has helped him and McKinsey combine data literacy, subject expertise and design thinking to use data visualization techniques and technologies on such topics as managing people and pandemics.

---

DAY FIVE — 11/20/2020
Finding Great Talent, Accelerating Sales, and Creating Big Ideas

finding and attracting top-tier content people (10:00 – 10:30 ET)

As an executive search professional specializing in thought leadership, editorial, and digital marketing positions for nearly 25 years, Sara Noble is in a unique position to share what it takes to build a successful career in thought leadership. To open day five, Sara will explain where B2B companies can find top-notch thought leadership editorial talent and how to retain them. She will unveil her new research on the backgrounds of the top 150 editors she’s tracked in her business – their previous careers, college majors, and tenures in thought leadership.

ACCELERATING SALES WITH THOUGHT LEADERSHIP (10:30 – 11:00 ET)

In the second session, we’ll hear from Mark Marone, Director of Research and Thought Leadership for Dale Carnegie & Associates. Most executives know of Dale Carnegie for the founder’s legendary book, How to Win Friends and Influence People first published in 1936. But what many don’t know is today the company is a franchise-driven, global company that delivers training programs around the world. Mark will share his experience leveraging thought leadership research to drive sales success through a network of global, independent sales-driven franchises.

the dna of Breakthrough Ideas (11:00 – 11:30 ET)

Next, we’ll hear from Sarah Cliffe, Executive Editor at Harvard Business Review. Sarah will review the most influential HBR articles of the last 20 years and point out the qualities they had in common that made their ideas pathbreaking. For companies that want their thought leadership content to change the market conversation, the commonalities of the most important HBR articles will be highly instructive.

2020 research findings: taking thought leadership to the Next level  (11:30 – 12:00 ET)

To close the virtual conference, Jason Mlicki and Bob Buday will share the findings of their 2020 thought leadership research study. Specifically, we compare the findings of our 2020 study with those of our 2018 research surrounding the mindsets, characteristics, and behaviors of the world’s most successful thought leadership teams and programs.