The YOU edit
How should you edit your thought leadership? How can you shape and simplify your ideas? Consider your perspective the YOU edit — your unique way of carving a big idea into your singular perspective. As a ghostwriter, I think of every project like a jigsaw puzzle. I have a box full of pieces — some of […]
Put More of Yourself in It
Thought leadership is about authentically sharing what you know. But what if you’re out of time and want AI to pinch hit? Here’s what I learned from a recent experience where I tried to sub in AI for my own care, intention, and reflection. A couple of weeks ago, I was out of time. […]
Find Something Specific to Say
A note on context: I’ve been watching the headlines, reading about what’s happening in Minneapolis, in Davos, and points between…and woof, what a moment we’re living in. It’s all too much to understand/process/react coherently to. But. We can try. And I think we can do a little better using our words to describe the state of the […]
My Word of the Year for 2026: BOOKS
This year, I’m finally ready to make a big pivot. I’ve been ghostwriting for B2B leaders since 2012. I’ve worked as a full-time freelance ghostwriter since 2019. And through those years, I’ve worked on all kinds of projects: books, magazine articles, LinkedIn posts, podcasts, videos, web copy, speeches, internal communications, award applications, ebooks, research reports, […]
Collaboration Makes Thought Leadership Better
Think about a big-name thought leader you follow and trust. Who are you picturing? I’d bet you’re thinking of just ONE person. One person’s name. One profile picture on LinkedIn. A single face on a book jacket. A splashy headshot on an event agenda. But in my career collaborating with thought leaders, I’ve learned that […]
AI for Ghostwriters: Who’s Eating Your Words?
I spent the beginning of this week in New York at the second-annual Gathering of the Ghosts, a unique event that gathers ghostwriters, book publishers, and agents to compare notes about how we help people tell (and sell) their stories. If I had to choose one word to describe ghostwriters as a group, it’s “curious.” Writing […]
How to Find the Right Words
I tell my fifth-grade daughter all the time: “Use words!” She’ll ask me to pass her “you know, that thing” or she’ll tell me about “stuff” that happened at school. But those words don’t do much to help me understand what she’s talking about. When she forces herself to slooooow down and actually find the […]
What Matters Most
It happens every year. A project leaves me completely, totally, helplessly stuck. This time around, the word I’d use was worse than stuck: I was stymied. This is not a good feeling, since my job is to help people get unstuck. If I’m slogging through thick mud myself, I can’t exactly pull someone else out of it. […]
What’s Good?
For the past year, I’ve been meeting regularly with a little group of like-minded business owners. We call ourselves The Greater Good, and our shared conviction is simple: We believe that business can be a force for the greater good. We started the group as a direct reaction to Trump’s reelection. Specifically, I saw business […]
Our Shared Context
A friend asked recently: How do we acknowledge that these are really tough times…and at the same time keep living our lives (and promoting our businesses)? In other words: How do we keep sharing our thoughts and updates and Great News! even when the world feels heavy and the headlines get bleaker every day? How does one […]