Making an Impact on Lives | Amanda Morin | 372

How do you help people see new truths, change their behaviors, and rekindle the spark of insight in their everyday life? Through thought leadership! At its best, thought leadership is incredibly empowering. By sharing our experiences, great thought leadership practitioners can help their audiences elevate their lives - day by day. Our guest on today's podcast understands that process better than anyone. Amanda Morin is the Director of Thought Leadership and Expertise at Understood, a nonprofit organization that is a leader in the fields of education and disability inclusion. Amanda helps those who learn and think differently discover their potential, take control of their education, and find community.  Amanda explains Understood's mission, and explains how she leads the org's efforts to build knowledge about learning and thinking differences. Amanda walks us through Understood's humble beginnings in 2014, focusing on empowering school-age children and their teachers. Through the years, the strategy shifted to include helping individuals take charge of their lives and find strength in their differences. We discuss the various modalities used to reach a broad audience. Amanda discusses the need for a diverse team, and adapting her thought leadership to be used with websites, the mobile app Wunder, and the podcast she co-hosts, In It, where Amanda gives advice for parents, teachers, and even kids who are "in it" with those who learn and think differently. We also discuss other social media platforms she's used for her thought leadership, and the types of content that work best on each (and why!). Amanda draws from a full team of researchers, experts, and content creators, to create the perfect team for any task. By maintaining a pool of talented people, she's sure to have the right skills for any project. She explains why her job isn't simply to lead the team, but also to help team members find their distinct voices, lift them up so their ideas are heard, and know when to help them change direction when a project isn't hitting the mark. This is a wonderful conversation about deploying thought leadership to help those who might otherwise never be given the chance to unlock their full potential. Three Key Takeaways: * When deploying thought leadership, you need to find your audience - and put your insights where they already spend their time. * Not everyone will have the same entry point (or end goal) for thought leadership. It is important for your audience to have different points of entry, and to consider their disparate objectives. * When leading a thought leadership team, ensure you are giving a platform to each distinct voice. By raising them up, you elevate the whole team.