Turning 20 Years of Harvard Research Into Category Authority on LinkedIn

The Problem

Julia Minson had spent more than two decades studying one of the most misunderstood aspects of human behavior: disagreement.

After studying under leading social psychologists and building an academic career that took her through Stanford, Penn, and Harvard, Julia had become a recognized expert in how people navigate conflict, persuasion, and difficult conversations.

As her first book, How to Disagree Better, approached publication with Penguin, Julia wanted to build visibility, grow her audience, generate thoughtful conversation, and become the authoritative voice in her field ahead of the launch.

It was Triangle’s job then to help her translate decades of academic research into content that could reach a broad audience without sacrificing nuance, credibility, or intellectual rigor. 

Just as importantly, it was our job to engage her ideal audience: senior HR, People and Talent leaders inside enterprise organizations who were grappling with the very challenges her research helps solve. 

Our Solution

Triangle built a thought leadership ecosystem around Julia's expertise, research, and unique perspective on disagreement.

We started with the Triangle Market Authority Matrix™.

Julia already had deep expertise and credibility. The challenge was translating that academic authority into LinkedIn-first, audience-first content that could actually engage people, build visibility and grow her audience.

We focused on three areas:

• Expertise: distilling 20 years of research into clear, repeatable thought leadership.
• Authority: positioning Julia as the leading voice on productive disagreement.
• Growth: ensuring those ideas reached a broader audience and generated meaningful engagement.

This gave us a strategic framework for turning academic depth into market visibility.

Next, we needed to clarify exactly what Julia should be known for and where her work sat within the broader conversation around communication, persuasion, and conflict.

Rather than competing in generic self-improvement or leadership discussions, we positioned Julia around a category she could credibly own: positive disagreement.

Using Triangle's Strategic Ideation Sessions™, we worked closely with Julia to extract years of research, teaching experience, case studies, and practical observations from her work with diplomats, surgeons, executives, and students. We built interviews around big topics and used the Triangle Thought Matrix™ to extract ideas that otherwise would have gone unnoticed.

We developed a content system built around:

• Research-led insights translated into practical lessons.
• Contrarian perspectives that challenged common assumptions about disagreement.
• Real-world examples drawn from leadership, politics, business, and everyday life.
• Book-led content designed to create anticipation ahead of launch.
• Commentary that connected academic findings to current events and cultural conversations.

To make the process scalable, we built a repeatable Thought Leadership Content Engine™ around Julia's expertise.

The result was a system that could continually turn research, teaching, media appearances, and book insights into meaningful audience growth and ICP engagement. Leading to speaking engagements, workshop opportunities, corporate conversations, and a stronger pipeline of enterprise opportunities. With only 2 hours of her time per month. 

The Results

Over the last 8 months, Julia's content generated more than 1,200,000 organic impressions.

Her audience grew from approximately 5,000 followers to more than 10,000, creating a significantly larger platform for her ideas, research, and book launch.

More importantly, the content attracted the right audience.

Executives, academics, policymakers, business leaders, and intellectually curious professionals engaged with the work, creating meaningful conversations around topics that rarely generate attention at scale.

The success of the content also created opportunities beyond LinkedIn.

As Julia's visibility increased, Triangle's scope expanded to include PR support and newsletter strategy, helping create a broader ecosystem around her growing authority.

The Outcome

Julia now has a scalable platform for sharing ideas that previously lived primarily inside academic journals, classrooms, and conference rooms.

She also now has an ecosystem that builds trust, engages ideal decision-makers and drives booked conversations for keynotes & workshops. 

What began as a book-launch initiative evolved into a long-term authority & commercial strategy.

By turning complex research into accessible thought leadership, Triangle helped position Julia as the leading public voice on disagreement & decision-making. 

Congratulations to Julia on the publication of How to Disagree Better.

After 20 years of research, it's exciting to see these ideas reaching a global audience and shaping conversations far beyond academia.

You can get your copy of her book here: https://disagreeingbetter.com/order/the-book