From Zero Influence to Systematic Influence: The Leverage Blueprint

The business landscape is changing quickly, and influence has become a key ingredient for success. In B2B, it’s not just about what your company offers, but the personal influence you create and nurture. This week, we’re diving into how to build and sustain that influence using The Leverage Blueprint. This simple framework ties together your personal brand, media presence, and business into a cohesive force that grows stronger over time. We’ll also talk about how AI can help amplify that influence and why Meta’s $15B AI investment could make a real difference for small businesses.

Today’s issue:

• The rise of personal influence in business

• The Leverage Blueprint: Three brands that work in harmony to build influence

• Leveraging AI to boost your impact

AI Leverage

This week’s article emphasizes the shifting landscape of B2B influence, asserting that personal influence is becoming essential for business success rather than a supplementary tool. Through hardships and insights gained from practical experience, the author introduces The Leverage Blueprint, a comprehensive framework for leaders to systematically build their influence alongside their business growth.

Key Points:

• Personal influence is now a critical currency in B2B markets, with evidence suggesting that 85% of B2B marketers now use influencer marketing.

• The Leverage Blueprint consists of three essential brands: Personal Brand (your why), Media Brand (your how), and Business Brand (your what), all of which work together to form a cohesive influence engine.

• AI serves as a powerful multiplier for influence, enhancing the effectiveness of personal and business brands when they are clearly defined and aligned.

• Regularly measure your influence's effectiveness using the T.A.P. framework: Time, Attention, and Profit to ensure continuous growth and alignment of your influence efforts.
   
  

Key Takeaway: The deeper implication here is that as B2B landscapes evolve, leaders must prioritize building their influence strategically to remain competitive. By grounding their efforts in a robust brand framework and leveraging AI effectively, they can ensure sustainable growth and enhanced market reach in an increasingly complex environment.

AI Copilots

🤖 ATTENTION Theme Prompt

Purpose 

• Objective: Generate a month’s worth of SEO-optimized blog post ideas.

• SMB Relevance: Enhances online presence and drives traffic through targeted content.

• Timeliness/Context: Help plan content in advance for cohesive marketing efforts.

Core Functionality 

• Copilot Actions: Analyze current trends and keywords to suggest relevant blog topics.

• Key Capabilities to Leverage: Content generation, SEO analysis, trend monitoring.

Interaction Style

• Copilot Persona/Tone: Creative and insightful, encouraging exploration of new ideas.

• Guidance Level: In-depth suggestions with explanations for each topic.

Typical User Inputs 

• Information Required: Target keywords, preferred topics, and audience insights.

• Format of Input: Keywords in a list format along with specific interests for ideas.

Expected Outputs

• Deliverables: A document containing 10-15 blog post ideas along with SEO keywords.

• Format/Structure of Output: A formatted document or spreadsheet with topics, keywords, and suggested titles.

• Success Criteria: Ideas align with current trends and meet targeting criteria specified by the user.

AI News

➔ Featured Story

🤖 Meta's Massive Investment in AI Innovation

Meta invested nearly $15 billion in Scale AI to establish a superintelligence lab, aiming to enhance AI capabilities and stimulate innovation for various sectors, especially small and medium-sized businesses.

Key Points:

• Meta's $15 billion investment in Scale AI aims to boost its AI capabilities amid competitive pressures.

• The funding will establish a superintelligence lab for developing advanced AI models and tools.

• Scale AI's data infrastructure will enhance Meta's resources for creating robust AI applications.

• This investment may significantly benefit SMBs by improving their operational efficiencies with advanced AI technologies.
  
  

Key Takeaway: Meta's investment positions it as a leader in the AI race, potentially transforming various sectors and enhancing productivity for small and medium-sized businesses, while intensifying competition among tech giants pursuing AI advancement.

➔ Other Notable AI News

• AI Revolutionizes Online Shopping
  AI is transforming e-commerce with virtual try-ons, personalized recommendations, and smarter shopping experiences.

  👉 Read more
  
  

• CEO Discusses AI Replacing Jobs
  Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi weighs in on AI automation and its impact on the workforce.
  👉 Full story
  
  

• Disney Faces AI Art Lawsuit
  Disney is sued for using MidJourney AI to generate promotional art without proper rights, sparking IP debates.
  👉 Read more
  
  

• AMD Enhances AI Data Centers
  AMD’s new Instinct and Helios products promise major performance gains for AI in data centers.
  👉 Full article
  
  

• Mattel + OpenAI: AI-Powered Toys
  Mattel partners with OpenAI to create smarter, AI-driven toys and games for children.
  👉 Read more
  
  

• AI in Play: Mattel’s New Venture
  Mattel teams up with OpenAI to bring AI to toys, enhancing interactivity and personalization.
  👉 Read more
  
  

• Amazon Partners with Mississippi Universities
  Amazon and Mississippi collaborate to support AI research and development in local universities.
  👉 Full story

 AI Economy

Big Picture: Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East escalated this week as Israel conducted significant airstrikes on Iranian targets, leading to an almost 5% surge in oil prices amid fears of supply disruptions. The U.S. economy faces uncertainties from domestic policy changes and a tight labor market, with expectations of no shifts in interest rates until September, as indicated by analysts. Meanwhile, the Eurozone grapples with the effects of lower consumer spending and rising inflationary pressures, which could hinder growth prospects. (Financial Times, Bloomberg)

What to Watch

• U.S. corporate profit margins are reportedly robust enough to cushion the economy against the impact of rising tariffs, even as consumer spending shows signs of decline.

• Eurozone inflation remains stubborn, leading to decreased household confidence as average inflation expectations climbed prior to April's consumer price indices.

• The European automotive sector continues to struggle as companies adjust to decreased consumer demand and increased regulatory burdens, a trend likely to worsen amid rising oil prices.

• Agentic AI technology is poised to revolutionize software development by shifting roles from manual coding to strategic orchestration, significantly impacting workforce dynamics within the tech industry.
  
  

Key Takeaway: As the global economy faces escalating geopolitical tensions and rising inflationary concerns, strategic pivots are essential for businesses. With AI adoption accelerating, especially in roles traditionally reliant on manual processes, organizations should prioritize investment in AI technologies to enhance operational efficiency and agility. Recent findings indicate that firms integrating AI tools can improve productivity amidst these uncertain economic conditions and stabilize their market positions.

AI Community

💬 Q&A of the Week

Q1: As a small business owner looking to automate weekly reporting and streamline content planning, how could Meta’s $15B investment in AI help enhance tools like TIME and ATTENTION for SMBs?

Answer (from newsletter team):

Great question! Meta’s substantial investment in Scale AI is likely to accelerate the development of more sophisticated and accessible AI tools tailored for small and medium-sized businesses. For tools like TIME (automated weekly reporting), we can expect faster data processing, more accurate task recognition, and smarter report customization, all driven by advanced AI models. For ATTENTION (blog ideation and SEO optimization), Meta’s enhanced AI capabilities could lead to more nuanced content suggestions, improved keyword targeting, and trend forecasting. Overall, this innovation should translate into AI tools that are more predictive, intuitive, and aligned with SMB operational needs, helping you save time, amplify your reach, and scale more efficiently.

That's it for today!

Before you go we’d love to know what you thought of today's newsletter to help us improve The Leaders Leverage experience for you.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Awesome 

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Average

⭐️ Awful

See you soon,

James Brooks—The Leader’s Leverage editorial team