The 10 Types of Thought Leadership Podcast Episodes You Should Be Creating

Dr. Jeremy Weisz is the Co-founder of Rise25. He has been involved in podcasting for 11 years and was a Senior Producer for one of the early business podcasts; he assisted in putting all of their systems in place and helped them add volume, feature, and edify various business leaders.

Dr. Weisz has also been running his podcast, Inspired Insider, since 2011. He has featured top entrepreneurs, founders, and CEOs of P90X, Atari, Einstein Bagels, Mattel, the Orlando Magic, and many more.

In addition to running Rise25, Dr. Weisz owns a nutritional supplement business and runs his chiropractic and massage facility, Chiropractic Solutions & Massage.

John Corcoran is a recovering attorney, an author, and was a former White House writer and speechwriter to the Governor of California. Throughout his career, John has worked in Hollywood, the heart of Silicon Valley, and has run his boutique law firm in the San Francisco Bay Area catering to small business owners and entrepreneurs.

John has been the host of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast since 2012. He has interviewed hundreds of CEOs, founders, authors, and entrepreneurs, from Peter Diamandis and Adam Grant to Gary Vaynerchuk and Marie Forleo.

John is also the Co-founder of Rise25 Media, a company that connects B2B businesses with their ideal clients, referral partners, and strategic partners and generates ROI through their done-for-you podcast service.

In this episode…

What Is Thought Leadership?

Thought leadership is podcast content where podcast hosts share wisdom on a topic. If done correctly, thought leadership provides the answers to the most asked questions of the members of your organization and audience.

Many amateur podcasters struggle with this form of content simply because they don’t understand the benefits of this type of content. Additionally, inexperienced podcasters are unaware of the various types of podcasts. As a result, hosts become frustrated with the process, give up, and the podcast fails.

If you are new to podcasting and struggle to create content, consider recording these 10 types of thought leadership content.

10 Types of Thought Leadership Episodes

1. Origin Thought Leadership
   Origin thought leadership is a great way to inform your audience about why you started or what inspired you to start your company. You can discuss your educational and career background, the idea or ideas behind the company, and the evolution of the company’s services. Additionally, there are many different conversations of origin thought leadership. You could discuss them in one episode or break them up into several episodes. Other origins thought leadership to consider are mentors and the “secret sauce.”
2. Mentor Thought Leadership

   Mentorship falls under the origin of thought leadership because the motivation or inspiration behind a company could result from someone taking you under their wing. Perhaps it was a high school teacher, a college professor, or a work mentor. These podcasts create great conversation because, as a host, you can discuss how this person or persons instilled wisdom in you and the outcome of the lessons you learned.

3. “Secret Sauce” Thought Leadership

   Many times, “what’s the secret sauce behind your success,” is a question of interest for aspiring entrepreneurs and inquiring minds. Essentially, the audience wants to know what differentiates them from the competition. In these types of thought leadership podcasts, the host or guest can break down the steps they took. They can explain the procedures they implemented. Or, they can share the strategies behind the company’s success.

4. Tear-Down Thought Leadership

   Tear-down thought leadership is when you invite an expert in a field or industry as a guest. The guest can offer three types of tear-downs: audit, critique, or review. The guest will consent to tear down a product or service and then offer free feedback, advice, or consultation.

5. Audit Thought Leadership

   What is an audit? An expert evaluates or assesses the risks of the product or service. The expert also may choose to ask a series of questions to reach the answers needed.

6. Critique Thought Leadership
   Critique is another type of tear-down thought leadership. It would be your choice to do this for someone you know or do not know. An example of this type of tear-down is to have someone submit their website. If the guest is an SEO expert, the expert would give an honest critique of the website and then offer a free consultation to the website owner on how it can rank higher on Google.
7. Review Thought Leadership

   A review thought leadership is where you invite an expert in a certain field or industry to review their experience using a product or service and then offer feedback. Additionally, the expert could discuss their experience working for a certain company. Topics the expert could touch upon are leadership, culture, and the tasks associated with the job role. They would give an honest review of the company, which could help career techies decide if they want to work for that company. Whether the guest expert decides to do an audit, critique, or review thought leadership, the episode will give them credibility because it highlights their skills and knowledge.

8. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) 

   These types of thought leadership episodes are just that: Answers to the most frequently asked questions you receive about a subject. Think of the types of questions you receive on a daily basis from staff, clients, potential clients, and your audience. Configure it into a list and create several episodes based on it. Furthermore, you can discuss misconceptions and mistakes you’ve made in these FAQ thought leadership podcasts. These types of episodes are designed to save you and your team time. Instead of spending 10 to 20 minutes explaining the same topic, now you can refer your audience to the episode.

9. Case Study Thought Leadership

   A case study thought leadership is where you invite your client as a guest to talk about their product or service. In discussing this, they will go into detail about their experience, and many times that leads them to discuss a case study. If your client is reluctant to do this type of interview because they do not want to mention a company or person’s name, explain that do not have to. Instead, they can generalize. An example of this is, “there was this manufacturing company,” “there was this healthcare company,” and then you can walk your guest through their journey.

10. Give-Loop Thought Leadership 

    Give-loop thought leadership is a list of the top companies, people, or thought leaders in a particular space. Examples of these lists are:

    • The top 30 under 30
    • The 10 most influential B2B podcasts
    • The top B2B SaaS tools

    It is easier or quicker to list top performers in conversation than write articles. These lists become an accolade for companies and individuals who have had the honor of landing on them. Some go as far as adding it to their email signatures.

    Also, a benefit of these thought leadership episodes is that they can convert into potential clients or guests on your podcast.

    Listen to this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast with Dr. Jeremy Weisz featuring John Corcoran, Co-founder of Rise25. They discuss the 10 types of thought leadership podcast episodes you should be creating, break down the steps for creating successful thought leadership content, and share why this style could be a great lead generator.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• [6:04] Ryan Redding explains the reason entrepreneurs hit plateaus and burnout
• [11:40] The pivotal moment that forced Ryan to finally let go
• [15:21] Why grinding harder won’t create freedom, and the shift founders must make
• [18:04] Ryan’s blueprint for escaping endless work and reclaiming life
• [21:29] How finding the right integrator can change everything
• [27:59] The power of healthy debate in business partnerships
• [36:07] Why most mergers fail and how to avoid disaster
• [44:37] The hidden pitfalls and importance of cultural due diligence
• [52:55] Why Ryan became a certified Bloom Growth coach

In this episode…

Entrepreneurs can easily get trapped in 60- to 90-hour workweeks — juggling clients, managing teams, and putting out constant fires. Profits shrink, growth stalls, and personal freedom disappears. Is it possible to escape the grind without losing control of the business?

Growth coach and advisor Ryan Redding shares how his fast-growing agency left him exhausted until he “fired himself” from daily operations and empowered his team. By hiring a strong operational leader and adopting systems like EOS, he transformed the business and his life — moving from 90-hour weeks to true autonomy. His story highlights the power of trust, healthy conflict, and culture in overcoming burnout and building sustainable growth.

In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, Dr. Jeremy Weisz sits down with Ryan Redding, Founder of Eightfold Advantage, to talk about scaling businesses without chaos. They discuss the shift from being a doer to a leader, the value of finding the right operational partner, and lessons learned from selling a business. With insights on culture, EOS, and Bloom Growth, Ryan offers practical advice and real-world stories for entrepreneurs ready to scale without sacrificing their lives.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• What is a thought leadership podcast episode?
• The story-type content
• Why a teardown episode is important
• The value of an FAQs episode
• Case study style thought leadership
• The give loop episode — and why it works

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Rise25
• Smart Business Revolution
• Dr. Jeremy Weisz on LinkedIn
• John Corcoran on LinkedIn
• Predictable Podcast Profits course

Related Episode(s): 

• “How to Create Great Content in a Podcast with John Corcoran and Jeremy Weisz of Rise25” on the Inspired Insider Podcast
• “5 Types of Content You Should Be Creating Now (But Probably Aren’t)” on the Inspired Insider Podcast
• “The Pixar Story: The Letter of a lifetime That Started Everything With Alvy Ray Smith, Co-Founder of Pixar” on the Inspired Insider Podcast

Episode Transcript

Intro 0:15

You are listening to Inspired Insider with your host Dr. Jeremy Weisz.

John Corcoran 0:22

All right. Welcome, everybody. John Corcoran here. I’m the host of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast and this is a live episode I’m here with Dr. Weisz How you doing Dr. Weisz?

Jeremy Weisz 0:32

Thanks for having me.

John Corcoran 0:34

And this will also go live or will go as a recording on the Inspired Insider Podcast you may be listening to it there as well. And you know on my show, it’s such a great privilege to talk to great CEOs, founders and entrepreneurs of all kinds of different companies I’ve had you know, we interviewed recently the founder of Kinkos, we have Netflix we have YPO EO Activision Blizzard lending tree Open Table many more. Jeremy, who have you had, you’ve had a few few and phenomenal guests.

Jeremy Weisz 1:02

Yeah, P90x, Atari. I just had the Co-founder of Pixar on that was awesome. So you know, Steve, you know, talking about Steve Jobs, and George Lucas, and just some amazing stories.

John Corcoran 1:14

Go to Inspired Insider, subscribe in your favorite podcasting app, if you are listening to this on Smart Busines Revolution, and vice versa. So we are here today we’re going to be talking about thought leadership episode, which is very native, because that’s what we’re talking about. We’re doing here today. So a thought leadership episode is a style of content that you put out on your podcast, which is sharing your own wisdom. So as opposed to sharing someone else’s wisdom. So when it comes on sharing your own wisdom, because what we say to our clients all the time is you have a phenomenal amount of experience and wisdom in your brain, and you should share it and you should share it with your own audience. And so we’re gonna be talking about the different types of thought leadership episodes that you should be creating, of course, this episode is brought to you by Rise25 Media where we help b2b businesses to get clients referrals and strategic partnerships with done few podcasts and content marketing. And if you’ve ever been curious about starting a podcast, whether it’s right thing for you, Jeremy and I have been doing it for about 24 years between the two of us. And I tell everyone I need that you just started podcast because it will bring if you do it right, it will bring tremendous value to your life, you will build better relationships meet amazing people, and uplevel your life. And so I tell everyone that they should do it. And we encourage everyone to do it. So let’s launch into it. Jeremy, so thought types of thought leaders. So first of all, you know,

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