0:00 Welcome to own your impact. The podcast designed to help you transform your expertise into a platform of purpose and influence. I'm your host, Macy Robison, and I'm here to help you uncover your authentic voice, create actionable frameworks and build a scalable platform that turns your ideas into meaningful impact. I am so excited to continue our exploration of thought leadership archetypes. Over the past few episodes, we've been diving into these distinct patterns of expression that help shape how successful thought leaders naturally communicate their expertise. So far, we've talked about the resident orator who sorry she's speaking, the wisdom writer who creates impact through thoughtful written content, the Digital Learning architect who builds comprehensive educational journeys and the experienced facilitator who creates transformative group experiences. Now today, we're going to keep exploring those archetypes by leaning into the next two the transformational guide and the strategic advisor. These two archetypes represent completely different approaches to creating impact. One of them thrives through deep personal connection, while the other excels at analytical problem solving for organizations. So if you've ever wondered whether your natural strengths lie in guiding individuals through profound personal shifts, or in helping leaders solve complex challenges, this episode is going to help you discover where your authentic genius might lie. So we can then personalize from there. Give you a place to start. Let's begin by talking about the transformational guide. This archetypes primary expression, which remember your core resonance, is the product of your essence, who you are multiplied by your expression, how you share your ideas most in flow, most effectively that primary expression for this archetype comes through deep personal connection and individualized guidance. They use intuitive processes, and they are able to create profound personal shifts for the people that they work with. When I think about the core resonance of a transformational guide, there are several things that stand out. First, they possess this natural ability for deep interpersonal connection. They have very highly attuned listening and perception skills. They're the kind of people that can hear not just what you're saying, but the things that you're not saying. They have this intuitive understanding of your individual needs. They can sense what you need in the moment. And they're the kind of people that have a presence that they're able to beautifully balance support, like when you're with them, you feel supported in what you're trying to work through, but they're also able to lean in and challenge you to do more. So I had a client who came to me that was completely stuck in her thought leadership journey. She had been trying to build a platform, and was doing what a lot of folks that I see do, which is create online courses. Because you just get the impression from the marketplace sometimes in order to create passive income, you just have to do that. You have to create an online course, because that's what all the successful thought leaders do, which isn't true, by the way, we'll get to that later. And this client of mine felt drained every time she sat down to map out modules or record those videos. And she knew that her processes and systems, she walked people through, from a transformational standpoint, worked, but trying to put them in a course just was draining all the life from her. So we took a look at those natural strengths, and it became clear it really was about delivery. She was not a digital learning architect at all. She truly was a transformational guide, and the magic happened when she was able to get herself in one on one conversations where she could really understand what was blocking someone and help them move through it. And she was able to shift her approach and focus on those deep coaching relationships, a few small group intensives and everything for her change, her energy returned. Her clients got better results. Her business became not just sustainable, but truly energizing when she stopped fighting against her natural tendencies and started leveraging all of them. And before you think like one on one coaching, that's not scalable. That's not true. It absolutely is. It just depends on how the business is structured, and we can talk about that later in this episode or in another episode. But I've seen plenty of folks as executive coaches who make a really substantial living by doing this type of transformational guide work. So if you're wondering if you might be a transformational guide, ask yourself this, do you naturally sense what people need to hear in the moment? Do you feel energized after really deep one on one conversations? Can you create safety for vulnerability within minutes when you meet someone? Can you intuitively understand what's blocking someone's growth even when they can't see it themselves? So if you're nodding along, if you're listening to me ask these questions, this might be your home base. You might be a transformational guide. And so that's the core resonance. Let's talk about how they develop their content, or their transformational IP. This is the second component of the resident thought leadership system, and this is how it comes to life for this archetype. So for the transformational guide, this intellectual property comes from their deep understanding about how people grow and change the principles that they teach. 5:00 Teach, whether in sessions or, you know, on social media or however they decide to connect with other people, those principles are foundational truths, usually about personal development. Practices are personalized approaches to help people individually transform and their processes or coaching methodologies that really shape a clear progression from where they are to where they want to be, and if they have frameworks, they're models or conceptual maps for really understanding personal growth dynamics. So Martha Beck is a really powerful, transformational guide. She has been a coach for quite some time. She really became known from a platform standpoint by working with Oprah, being on her show back in the day, being a columnist in her magazine, and she has a coaching methodology that she has developed based on her personal practice. It's called the way finding coaching methodology, and it's not built on abstract theory. It's built on her intimate understanding of how people get stuck and what actually creates meaningful change as she walks people through it. Or rich Litvin, he has a deep coaching approach that centers on creating profound shifts through creating presence instead of specific coaching techniques. The thing to remember for transformational guides about IP is that the things you teach and share should support deep personal connection. There's not going to be a one size fits all solution as I think about methodologies and approaches that different coaches have, there's a process in place often, but your personal interaction with each step in that process often depends on your personal story. I'm thinking about Brooke Castillo at The Life Coach School. She has a framework that she walks people through, and it's all about transformation. So that's the type of IP and content that's usually associated with this archetype. And your genius with this archetype lies in your ability to take that framework, to take that process and customize your approach for each individual while you still work inside a coherent methodology. Now your central platform as a transformational guide, it should be relationship centered like the website. Should emphasize your personal approach, client stories, transformation testimonials, maybe a selective application process for working with individuals, resources that support self discovery and communication systems to help personalize engagement. Connection. When you think of connection strategies, they really leverage high conversion referral systems from past clients. There are some transformational guides who coach for their primary business model that I know, who don't even accept new clients without a referral, really in depth content that reveals your authentic approach. You might do selective podcast and interview appearances. Demonstrate your sessions on a very small scale, or build strategic partnerships with people who are aligned with your approach. As far as commercialization goes, transformational guides typically build their businesses around premium one to one coaching relationships or small group intensive experiences or a combination of both. Sometimes they might have digital programs that support the content you're going to learn or you're going to walk through in those one on one sessions. You might have books, you might have other types of written products that support that. And eventually, most of the transformational guides that I have studied or worked with eventually license their methodology to other practitioners. That is the way you scale. You either license your intellectual property and your approach to other people. Brooke Castillo is a good example of that with Life Coach School. Martha Beck trains coaches. I was at brand builders group for a time, and was a strategist with them for a while. They were licensing their methodology. Another thing that they did to scale. And they have a premium one to one coaching model. They have some group transformational experiences. But you meet one on one with a strategist, and they just have several strategists in house, of which I was one for a while, that work with clients, working through the methodologies that they have created. The thing that is the difference maker for a transformational guide from the other archetypes. Like the difference in the other archetypes, and this one is that deep, really interpersonal connection and the customized guidance. It isn't just one service that they offer. It really is how they connect. It's the heart of their thought leadership work. Some people like to be on a stage and really make that transformation happen, one to many, but a transformational guide. The way I usually know the difference is they really love to see the progress the transformation up close, and that that one on one, interpersonal connection and customization is what makes the difference. Okay, so now let's shift to something completely different, the strategic advisor. This archetypes primary expression comes through analytical problem solving for leaders. This uses proprietary frameworks and processes that address high value organizational challenges. The core resonance of a strategic advisor really includes a natural analytical ability with practical application. The practicality. 10:00 Of what they're figuring out is key. They have a clear, direct communication style with executives and with teams. They project a credible presence that really instills confidence, and they have this remarkable ability to synthesize complex information into actionable insights. So you might be wondering, if you're a strategic advisor, some questions to ask yourself, do you naturally see patterns in complex situations? Do you are you able to discern the patterns from one complex situation to another and can bring them together? Do you feel energized when you're solving organizational challenges or challenges that are just too big for people to get their arms around? Are you easily able to translate complicated concepts into very clear action steps. And do executives or high influential, like high impact influential people seek you out for your perspective on thorny problems. If these questions resonate, if these are things that you have been brought in to solve, you might resonate most as a strategic advisor. These people are often consultants. Write thought leadership books may do some some coaching, but they really thrive in a room where there are problems that need to be untangled. They often have frameworks they can bring to the table, which we'll talk about in a minute, but a strategic advisor is someone who can zoom up with you and see what's going on, find the patterns, figure out what is happening and explain it in a very, very clear way. As that relates to transformational IP strategic advisors develop their content around principles that are fundamentals for organizational success, typically, while some of the organizational frameworks they have can apply to the individual, as far as a starting place, it's typically organizational success. The practices that they develop from those principles are high leverage interventions with measurable results. The processes that they walk people through can focus on decision making, implementation, giving people a process to walk through when they're no longer there in house, answering questions and frameworks are usually diagnostic models for organizational assessment. So for me, Patrick Lencioni is a perfect, perfect example of this. For years, the table group has dealt with organizational development, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team model, his organizational health methodologies that IP is not about personal transformation. It's about diagnosing and solving organizational challenges. And I would say the working genius framework, which is one that I really loved, that started out as an interpersonal methodology in terms of looking at the self awareness people need in order to work well on a team, in order to lean into their zone of genius. I also happen to find it works well as at an individual level, but it started out as more of a way to diagnose and solve organizational challenges with people working together. Marshall Goldsmith has a different approach. He has the stakeholder centered coaching. It is more focused on the individual, but it very much follows the strategic advisor pattern. He has very specific diagnostic tools. He has a very specific feedback process. When he goes into work with the CEO, he's working with the individual, but it's not about the personal transformation of that CEO. It's about how that CEO interacts with the organization as a whole, which is why I would say that even though Marshall is a coach, it's more the strategic advisor approach. So for their central platform, strategic advisors need something that will appeal to executives, to corporate there's a little bit more sophisticated positioning that's needed. Usually. Case studies matter quite a bit, because you want to demonstrate tangible results. Thought leadership content that traditionally what you would think of thought leadership content, whether book or white pages, having that kind of strategic depth somewhere on your central platform does matter. Having an assessment tool of some kind is usually kind of table stakes for this type of thought leadership. Archetype diagnostics really exclusive access systems for qualified clients, where they can log into a dashboard and and see how things are going, all of those things, I would say a strategic advisor is most aligned with this kind of academic, organizational, corporate approach that you would traditionally think of for thought leadership, connection strategies, This typically involves networking with executives, building relationships there, leaning into high level referrals, strategic content, placement and business publications to become known. Books are huge, speaking at exclusive industry events, forums, round tables, direct outreach to client organizations. They don't usually love to be on social media. Don't usually have to be that referral piece is really strong. As for commercialization, strategic advisors typically build their business model around high value consulting, advisory services, retainers, executive team development programs, organizational diagnostic tools and licenses. Sometimes they have board positions. Sometimes they take a. 15:00 A more strategic role, but those are all the ways that they generate revenue. So looking again at table group, Pat lencione, his organization, he goes out and is a strategist and a consultant and works with organizations. He has folks on his team who are, you know, if they, if they don't want to bring Pat in, they bring in junior strategists to work with folks at an organizational level. They have tools, they have diagnostics, they have all kinds of different monetization strategies that are part of their overall business model. And if you look across the board at different strategic advisors, it's some combination of those things, consulting, advisory, speaking books, board positions, for sure, all of that in a different mix. You usually don't see things like the one on one really transformational coaching unless it's an executive and it's going to have an impact on the organization. One of the things that really, really distinguishes the strategic advisor from the other archetypes is that high impact organizational problem solving isn't just the one service they offer, it's really how they think, how they express the foundation of what they do and how they look at the world. When I look at these two archetypes side by side, they really have a different approach to resonant thought leadership, but there is a similar underlying pattern. They both create transformation by leveraging their natural strengths. Those strengths are just different. The transformational guide creates impacts through deep personal connection, intuitive understanding, very individualized approaches. And the strategic advisor creates impact through analytical thinking, pattern recognition and organizational problem solving. That does filter down and help individuals, but it happens at the organizational level. So trying to force a transformational guide to focus on organizational systems is going to lead to frustration and a strategic advisor who is working at an organizational level, and asking them to center on deep personal transformation isn't going to feel authentic, and that's why understanding your archetype is powerful. It gives you permission to embrace your natural strengths instead of fighting against them. It helps you align and gives you a place to start with all five components of the resident thought leadership system, your core resonance, your content, your central platform, your connection strategies and your commercialization model. And when everything in your thought leadership business flows from those natural strengths and connections, you create impact that feels effortless rather than exhausting, and you naturally attract the right people. It feels easy. I was talking to someone yesterday who had started to walk through this process and had aligned some things on their website. Were expressing to me that, like it was so easy to sign someone up for the program that they had kind of realigned and reworded the marketing around it didn't feel effortful at all that was just, yeah, this is right and the right fit. They felt like they had magnetized the right person. And that's what it feels like. You really just do attract the right people, you create the right content, and you build business models that feel energizing rather than draining. And I'm not trying to say that it's easy to build this. It's It sounds simple. It's not. It takes time, it takes introspection, it takes guidance and thinking through all of these things. But man, when you've got it in place, it it feels like a magnet. You attract the right people, you repel the wrong people, and all of it feels more energetic and fun. So as we think about and wrap up this exploration of these two archetypes, I want to emphasize something important. I've said this before, but understanding your archetype is not about putting yourself in a box. It's about finding the home base, the starting point from which you strategically expand. A transformational guide can certainly address organizational issues, and a strategic advisor can help individuals grow. There's often a secondary archetype at play, but the key is building your foundation around your natural strengths and then expanding thoughtfully from there. So if you've been feeling stuck in your thought leadership journey, in your impact journey, or if you've been pushing yourself into models that leave you feeling drained rather than energized, pay attention and reflect on some of these archetypes and how the five components of the thought leadership system express themselves through these archetypes. Which ones feel most natural to you? Where do your authentic strengths lie? In our next episode, we're going to explore two more of the archetypes in our system. We're almost done, but four more to go. The next two are the visual thought architect and the research innovator. So if you love translating complex ideas into visual frameworks, which I know some people who like that springs to mind who they are instantly. Or if you love investigating and translating evidence into practical applications, you'll want to be here for this next episode. And we've got an assessment where you can just take the assessment. It'll give you a place to start coming really soon. So stay tuned for that, and in the meantime, until that quiz is ready. If you want to get started on understanding how you show up as a resident thought leader, go to Macy robison.com, M, A, C, y, r, O, B, i, s o, n.com, 19:51 and at the top or near the bottom of the home page, you can download the resident thought leader kit that will get you started with some exercises. 20:00 Some things to think about in all five parts of this resident thought leadership system, so you can start to take a look at how you can best show up to help others and have an impact on them. Thank you so much for being here. We'll see you next time. 20:14 Thank you for joining me on own. Your impact. Remember, there are people out there right now who need exactly what you know, exactly how you'll say it. Your voice matters, your expertise matters, and most importantly, the transformation you can help others create matters. If today's episode resonated with you, I'd love for you to become part of our growing community of thought leaders who are committed to creating meaningful impact. Subscribe to the podcast, leave a review and share this episode with someone you know who is ready to amplify their voice. And if you're ready to dive deeper, visit Macy robison.com for additional resources, frameworks and tools to help you build your thought leadership platform with intention and purpose, and remember your ideas don't need more luck. Your ideas don't need more volume. Your ideas need a system. And I'm here every week to help you build it. I'm Macy Robison, and this is own. Your impact. You.