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.

What if the way we approach change is broken? Would you try something new? Or stick to what you know?

In this episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership, host Peter Winick sits down with Heather Hiscox, founder and CEO of Pause for Change and author of No More Status Quo: A Proven Framework to Change the Way We Change the World. Heather shares her journey of transforming frustration into a groundbreaking approach that’s helping changemakers address tough challenges in the nonprofit, government, and philanthropic sectors.

Heather’s insights began with a simple yet powerful question: "Why aren’t we working differently?" Years of seeing wasted efforts and weak results in the social sector pushed her to experiment. The result? The Pause framework—a tool for disrupting the status quo and creating meaningful impact. Her approach focuses on relationships, active listening, and rapid iteration, all built on a foundation of empathy and learning.

Heather discusses how entrepreneurs often miss key listening skills, and how fear of "not being ready" keeps leaders from publishing ideas and moving forward. Instead, she encourages taking risks, learning in real-time, and embracing new methods to achieve different outcomes.

Her clients—nonprofits, local governments, and philanthropic organizations—typically approach her for one of two reasons: something’s broken, or they’re unsure what’s possible next. Heather uses her framework to guide them through the uncertainties, asking the right questions and driving real change.

When it comes to marketing, Heather’s strategy is driven by relationships and word of mouth. She’s not just waiting for clients to find her—she’s actively engaging them through LinkedIn, her online show The Possibility Project, and by knowing when to walk away from those who aren’t ready to embrace her message.

Heather’s work is a call to action for leaders ready to stop settling for the status quo and start making the impact they’ve always envisioned.

Three Key Takeaways:

• Embrace new methods to create change: Heather emphasizes that traditional approaches in the social sector often fall short. To make real impact, leaders must ask different questions and take risks with new methods, like her Pause framework.

• Relationships and listening are essential: Success hinges on building strong relationships and honing active listening skills. Whether in business or social change, empathetic listening and rapid iteration are key to solving complex problems.

• Don’t fear imperfection: Many leaders hesitate to publish content or make moves because it "isn't ready." Heather advocates for moving forward despite uncertainty, learning in real-time, and refining as you go.

Heather has years of helping clients change how they think and work. If you are a thought leader, speaker, or author is your work creating sustainable change? Explore the topic more in this article by Peter Winick.

How do you turn technical expertise into a story that captures
everyone’s attention?

Today, host Bill Sherman sits down with Chantal Roberts, an insurance expert and professor at The Bureau of Manhattan Community College in New York., to discuss her unique journey as an author of two distinct books. One caters to insurance professionals, and the other takes a creative approach to educate the general public.

Chantal’s first book, The Art of Adjusting, targets mid-career
insurance adjusters, offering them insights into the unwritten rules of claims handling. With remote work reducing informal
knowledge-sharing, she aimed to bridge that gap. This book also
strengthened her credentials as an expert witness in insurance
litigation.

Her second book, Once Upon a Claim: Fairytales to Protect Your Assets, was a complete pivot. Inspired by her experience teaching, Chantal decided to use fairy tales like Rapunzel and Goldilocks to explain complex insurance concepts to consumers. The goal? To help people understand the claims process better and avoid feeling blindsided.

Chantal shares how her passion led her to write in ways that even
surprised her. She also discusses her grassroots marketing efforts,
sending postcards to agents as a way to spread the word about her second book—ensuring it doesn’t get lost in the spam folder.

If you’re wondering how to write for different audiences without
losing your authentic voice, Chantal’s journey is full of insights.

Three Key Takeaways:

• Tailor your message to the audience: Chantal’s books serve two very different audiences—insurance professionals and general consumers—requiring her to adjust both her tone and content to suit their needs.

• Passion drives engagement: If you don’t love what you’re writing, neither will your readers. Chantal’s pivot from a technical rewrite to storytelling with fairy tales made her second book more engaging and enjoyable for everyone.

• Creative marketing matters: Chantal’s approach to promoting Once Upon a Claim through physical postcards demonstrates the power of thinking outside the box to avoid digital clutter and create a personal touch.

Chantal uses a different approach to finding her audience, but are you still using mass market techniques with your niche audience? If so, this article by Thought Leadership Leverage found and CEO Peter Winick might be helpful.