Creating an organizational assessment isn't as simple as you might think. It's more than a list of questions with multiple-choice answers like you might find in a magazine's "personality quiz."   Reliable assessments take careful research, which must be validated in order to prove the results are accurate and actionable. To discuss the intricacies of creating strong thought leadership assessments, I’ve invited Tony Alessandra to join me. Tony Alessandra is the Founder and CEO of Assessments 24x7, the global leader in assessment technology.  He is also a prolific author of more than 30 books, including What Makes Humans Tick?: Exploring the Best Validated Assessments and The Ten Qualities of the World's Greatest Communicators. Plus, he is a Hall of Fame speaker and the World’s Top Communication Guru. We start our conversation by getting an understanding of the difference between an assessment and a validated assessment. Tony explains how a validated assessment meets the requirements of the American Psychological Association, getting a minimum score on a statistical measurement to ensure the results are reliable. That means clients will trust your results, and that means more business. Often, thought leaders want to take their speaking (or book) and monetize it as an assessment, but to make that work, you need to do a lot of work, validation, and statistical design. Tony gives tips for must-haves, if you want your assessment to find financial success. We’d be remiss to have a Hall of Fame speaker on without discussing the speaking industry! We close out the conversation by discussing the slow decline of speaking since the early 2000s, and the rise of virtual events. Tony shares the pros of speaking engagements using online technology, and the cons of not being in person. If you are thinking about creating an assessment for your thought leadership, this episode is essential.   Three Key Takeaways: * When creating an assessment, have it validated by a third party to avoid any possible bias in the results. * If you’re thinking of creating an assessment, having a mobile app for it is crucial. The more steps involved in taking an assessment, the fewer people will finish it. * Technology allows us to do speaking engagements remotely, adding slides, video, and interactive elements that can actually deliver more value than being in person.