The Lab Breakdown: Sallie Krawcheck & Ellevest

Nothing bad happens when women have more money.

That's the tagline for Ellevest , Sallie Krawkchek's incredible company that's dedicated to closing the gender wealth gap and empowering women around all things money.

Want to talk about building fandom without being campy? Sallie and her team at Ellevest have nailed it. Let's break down why her thought leadership is so successful and why the intersection of her personal voice and her company brand work so well together.

Purpose

Sallie and Ellevest are on a mission. Early on, Sallie identified a very important and problematic gap: women weren't investing enough. They were left behind in all of the traditional discourse about wealth, investing and money management...and it pissed her off.

So she built a company—one that's built by and for women—to dismantle all of it. Neither she nor Ellevest are trying to be anything they're not; they're unapologetic about what they exist to do: get more money in the hands of women.

That's clear in their messaging, their content, and how they talk about the causes of the wealth gap and gender issues when it comes to empowering women. I particularly loved this piece last week on Sallie's newsletter, What the Elle titled simply "Stop Hiring Women As Crisis Managers " where she shines a light on how often women are hired to do the impossible and then characterized as failures when they can't deliver (otherwise knowns as the "glass cliff").

Belonging

Because of Ellevest and Sallie's laser focus on women, there is a built-in sense of community and belonging. If you're a woman and you care about building wealth (or even just learning more about managing finances more wisely), you instantly know that the brand, community, and products and services are for you.

You've probably heard the marketing adage "if you're for everyone, you're for no one" and Ellevest really gets that right. Not only do they know the power of women as a consumer base, they understand that building something specifically for an identity group means they're creating connection within the community itself, connecting women to each other, too.

Relatability

If you read Sallie's writing, her voice is clear, credible, and intensely human.

She not only brings her knowledge to bear via her own content and that of Ellevest, but she tackles topics that are often avoided like the plague in traditional financial management circles in favor of a lot of suit-and-tie content that only talks markets, returns, and strategy.

For example, Sallie wrote this post showcasing her Inc. interview about how lonely and hard it can be working from home as a leader and how things like burnout and insomina impact mental health.

She's also talked about her own divorce and what women need to know about managing their money and financial affairs in the wake of one.

Humanizing hard topics and relating them back to the gender wealth gap not only lends credibility to things like the research Ellevest puts out , it makes the community of women Ellevest and Sallie are speaking to much less afraid to think about and talk about those things amongst themselves.

Integration

Can you feel and see the difference between Sallie's content and the official Ellevest content?

There's a very clear but harmonious venn diagram where Sallie's stuff—her LinkedIn newsletter, her social media channel s, and her media appearances—dovetail seamlessly with Ellevest but have their own, more personal flavor even if she's the voice and face of her company.

Not every thought leader is the CEO of their own firm, but there's a symbiotic relationship where an individual and a brand voice can work together. Ellevest has it's own independent flavor to their content too, everything from the more informal TikTok channel they have to their website resources which they frame as a magazine (which I love, brands as media entities ftw). The brand channels share Sallie's content, she shares the brand content, and it feels intentional and organic because there is a deep common thread between the two even while they each have independent purpose.

That gives space for Sallie to have her own personal voice and connection with her audience and to elevate her own personal brand while the Ellevest brand can stand on its own—and that's how you future proof a brand-led thought leadership strategy as the company scales or for the day when Sallie may hand over the reins to someone else.

To Sum It Up...

There's no question that Sallie is an expert in her field. Being the former head of Bank of America's Global Wealth and Investment Management division and one of the most powerful women on Wall Street will do that.

But you don't have to be a lioness to learn from what Sallie and Ellevest are doing.

The key to high-impact thought leadership isn't just a C-suite title. It's finding the common denominators between your expertise, your audience's identity and sense of belonging, and drawing a line between the two with a voice and content that doesn't just convey authority but highlights shared human experiences, too.

Thought Leadership Lab is a newsletter by Amber Naslund dedicated to helping individuals and brands create thought leadership that people actually want to consume. Subscribe to the Newsletter and share it with others so together we can reclaim thought leadership from the clutches of bad marketing.

Have a great thought leader or brand you'd like to see on the Lab Breakdown? Leave a comment or send Amber a message here on LinkedIn.