Sorry to Tell You, But…

Sorry to tell you, but most of what you hear about content has little to do with what you need to do to do thought leadership. Sweeping statements about what content is may sometimes contain a kernel of utility. But for the most part, they are positioning without much standing behind them.

Partnership and Expertise

A hired writer asks questions and documents the answers. A thinking partner works entirely differently.

Open and Curious

When I write for other people, a huge part of my job is being open and curious. And prepared. I’m not here to squeeze people into whatever little box my small mind has brought to the conversation.

Lessons from a Skeptical Prospect

I followed the link in an obviously paid-placement article to the lead magnet. It was on a page that wouldn’t load because of my ad blocker and VPN. I used my burner browser to access the page. The landing page demanded my contact info. I used a burner name and address to fill out the […]

Harvesting Strawberries with a Lawnmower

Here’s what causes things in business go awry. Organizations are status machines. Companies are economic value machines. When you try to make one kind of machine do the work of another kind of machine, you get messy results. It’s like trying to use a lawnmower to harvest strawberries. Organizational dynamics cause people to save face, […]

From Order-Takers to Strategic Partners

Marketers in complex industries like institutional finance have many inner demons to wrestle. Here’s what I mean. The conventional expectation is that marketers need to straddle the line between the client and the industry. They aspire to bring relevant trends, client insights, and industry knowledge to the table. But the reality is more nuanced than […]

Writing for the World You Want

Are you serious enough about thought leadership to take your topic seriously? Once upon a time, writing gurus used to say we should write for people at a 10th-grade reading level. Then it went down to 8th. Then 6th-grade reading became the threshold. Recently, I’ve seen people seriously proposing 5th and even 3rd-grade reading levels […]

Why Your ‘Why’ Matters

Founders, innovators, product managers: When you’re building something new, it’s easy to start ignoring the why. It’s even more likely that you forget to be vocal about why. Then you finally have something ready for investors or the market—but you feel like you’re starting at zero again. Your idea of what is new and better […]

Naked Truths and Skin-Tight Lies

It’s not just that you’re not supposed to point at the emperor’s new clothes. It’s that emperors eventually don’t care if they are running around naked because they have enough of an entourage that will let it happen. It’s that everyone around the emperor ends up wearing skin-colored skin-tight clothing to blend in. And that’s […]

One Week to Mastery

Become a better fintech leader/marketer/writer in just one week. Three steps. Here’s how.

Ideas-Led Growth

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