IT services has become the largest sector in the $5.4 trillion global IT industry. But it’s also become a highly competitive sector. In the U.S. alone, the number of IT services firms increased 37% between 2002 and 2022 (Census Bureau).

The result? The companies that hire IT services firms have more trouble determining which ones to use. That's why many IT services firms are turning to thought leadership. They see the need to demonstrate their unique expertise.

On this episode, Bob Buday, Alan Alper and Manish Bahl walk you through a study they conducted in 2025 that has huge implications for IT services firms that must differentiate themselves to grow faster. The trio discuss key findings from the research, which included a survey of 300 IT services firms, a survey of 200 executives who decide on which IT services firms to use, and 20 interviews with thought leadership professionals in the industry, their clients and others.

Read the full study at: https://itthoughtleadership.com/

Alan is an affiliate of Buday Thought Leadership Partners, and Manish is founder and director of market researcher Curious Insights. Both worked in thought leadership at Cognizant, whose thought leadership and marketing investments helped increase revenue 7-fold between 2007 and 2021.

Everything Thought Leadership is a video and podcast series from Buday TLP for thought leaders and thought leadership professionals; the people who help experts get recognized as thought leaders. Episodes release monthly, preceded by trailers and followed with short snippets of wisdom from the interviews.

Steve Jobs, the McDonalds brothers, and Henry Ford changed the world through innovations that disrupted industries and ways of living. But how does disruption actually work for innovations of such great magnitude? ​With AI and other innovations shaping the future of work as we speak, it's once again important for thought leadership professionals to understand what drives epic disruptions—so they can help their clients stand out as visionaries in these new frontiers.

Our 50th episode of Everything Thought Leadership has invited Scott D. Anthony, professor at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business, and senior advisor at consultancy Innosight, to talk about his new book, "Epic Disruptions." The book is a deep-dive into 11 innovations that disrupted our world and the driving forces behind them. Think: the printing press, the iPhone, fast food, the assembly line, and other world-changing ideas.

Scott offers a glimpse into the biggest lessons in his book and his predictions on the disruption of the thought leadership profession.

Everything Thought Leadership is a video and podcast series from Buday TLP for thought leaders and thought leadership professionals; the people who help experts get recognized as thought leaders. Episodes release monthly, preceded by trailers and followed with short snippets of wisdom from the interviews.

Thought leadership has become a game-changer in the tech services industry for standing out amongst competitors. In the 49th episode of “Everything Thought Leadership," we will be joined by Euan Davis, who has studied the global IT services industry for 14 years at IDC, Yankee Group, Forrester and HfS. And since 2013, he has headed thought leadership research programs at two IT services firms: first Cognizant and now Virtusa, where he is VP of growth markets.

Euan has joined Bob Buday to discuss his career path and Virtusa’s thought leadership strategy. And he offers advice to thought leadership professionals on how to grow in this dynamic profession.

Everything Thought Leadership is a video and podcast series from Buday TLP for thought leaders and thought leadership professionals; the people who help experts get recognized as thought leaders. Episodes release monthly, preceded by trailers and followed with short snippets of wisdom from the interviews.

Music by AudioCoffee: https://www.audiocoffee.net/

It's harder than ever to convince customers to buy your products and services. Thanks in part to the explosion of “thought leadership” content, the marketplace is crowded with often helpful insights on how to solve business problems. Enter: the co-founders of A to B Insight, a firm with deep insights to help B2B sellers win over buyers. Brent Adamson is a bestselling author, speaker, and advisor to B2B sales executives worldwide. Karl Schmidt is an expert in strategy consulting and best-practice research and a colleague of Brent’s in their days at CEB and Gartner.

In this episode, Brent and Karl discuss their new book, "The Framemaking Sale." They walk us through the core idea: it's not B2B customers' confidence in you—the seller—that makes them hesitant to buy your firm’s offerings. It's their confidence in themselves.

"The Framemaking Sale" was released on September 9th, before the airing of this episode. It is out now: https://www.theframemakingsale.com/

Everything Thought Leadership is a video and podcast series from Buday TLP for thought leaders and thought leadership professionals; the people who help experts get recognized as thought leaders. Episodes release monthly, preceded by trailers and followed with short snippets of wisdom from the interviews.

Music by AudioCoffee: https://www.audiocoffee.net/

It can feel tempting to avoid questioning a thought leader's vision when you're the professional executing on their value offering. But that fear of confrontation can lead to bigger problems if you don't discover what the thought leader actually needs from the get-go.

Enter Bill Shander, information designer and author of "Stakeholder Whispering," a new book on how to work with stakeholders to uncover and deliver the products and services they actually need, not think they need.

On this episode of Everything Thought Leadership, Bill talks about the main ideas within the book: using the Socratic method to ask important questions and helping stakeholders truly understand the problems they're facing.

Everything Thought Leadership is a video and podcast series from Buday TLP for thought leaders and thought leadership professionals; the people who help experts get recognized as thought leaders. Episodes release monthly, preceded by trailers and followed with short snippets of wisdom from the interviews.

Music by AudioCoffee: https://www.audiocoffee.net/

How can you build a firm that is a standout player in software for architecture firms? Chris Parsons is a great person to ask. The founder and CEO of Knowledge Architecture has achieved positive results through a focus on building a customer community. And he has helped his firm stand out through their signature AEC product: an AI search system called Synthesis.

Today on Everything Thought Leadership, Chris joins us to discuss how Knowledge Architecture serves its customers, what makes Synthesis special and how the firm has evolved over the years.

Everything Thought Leadership is a video and podcast series from Buday TLP for thought leaders and thought leadership professionals; the people who help experts get recognized as thought leaders. Episodes release monthly, preceded by trailers and followed with short snippets of wisdom from the interviews.

Specialist firms have carved out niches in the thought leadership industry in tech, real estate, asset management and other sectors. One stand-out in the legal industry is Harrington Communications, a thought leadership PR firm founded by Jay and Heather Harrington. Their motto: Deep and narrowly focused expertise is more valuable than vague and undifferentiated knowhow.

In this episode of Everything Thought Leadership, Bob Buday speaks with Jay Harrington about the appeal of thought leadership marketing for law firms, how he and Heather built a firm that serves law firms, the current state of thought leadership in law and where it's going next.

Everything Thought Leadership is a video and podcast series from Buday TLP for thought leaders and thought leadership professionals; the people who help experts get recognized as thought leaders. Episodes release monthly, preceded by trailers and followed with short snippets of wisdom from the interviews.

What is it about Korn Ferry's video-podcast series, the Briefings Podcast, that has attracted more than 16,000 email subscribers just one year after launch and as many as 120,000 views per episode?

In this episode, Bob Buday speaks with returning guest Jonathan Dahl, Korn Ferry vice president and chief content officer, about the strategy behind the Briefings Podcast, the key lessons he has learned about podcasting, and the surprisingly low cost of producing a podcast.

With $1.9 billion in revenue and a global presence in more than 100 countries, Gensler is the world’s largest architecture and design firm. It is also a pioneer in that industry in using thought leadership to promote its expertise – and develop new expertise.

As global editorial director, Sam Martin oversees the firm’s key channels: Dialogue magazine, Design Forecast, the Gensler blog, and Gensler’s social media accounts. He is the perfect person to dive into why thought leadership has become important to Gensler, and its innovative approaches to research, publishing and marketing the firm’s expertise.

Everything Thought Leadership is a video and podcast series from Buday TLP for thought leaders and thought leadership professionals; the people who help experts get recognized as thought leaders. Episodes release monthly, preceded by trailers and followed with short snippets of wisdom from the interviews.

Harvard Business Review (HBR) is the world’s most important journal on management, for managers. But how has the 103-year-old publication increased readership and influence amidst the explosion of free management advice published B2B companies? Amy Bernstein, recently promoted to HBR editor in chief, explains HBR’s strategy.

Previously the No. 2 editor, Amy has been at HBR for over 13 years. Before HBR, she served in research and editing positions at Time Inc., consultancy Booz Allen Hamilton, staffing giant ManpowerGroup, CBS News, and other organizations.

With 25 million social media followers and 300,000+ paid subscribers to its print and online editions, HBR is the envy of management journal and business media publishers everywhere.

On this episode “Everything Thought Leadership," Amy explains HBR’s formula for thought leadership success and its plan to become even more relevant to executives in the future.

Everything Thought Leadership is a video and podcast series from Buday TLP for thought leaders and thought leadership professionals; the people who help experts get recognized as thought leaders. Episodes release monthly, preceded by trailers and followed with short snippets of wisdom from the interviews.

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