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The power of writing (and how to get started)

The value of writing

While many people encourage daily posting on LinkedIn to boost your followers, the type of writing I have found particularly valuable is longer-form articles.


I believe writing is a great unlock for people’s careers and often advise folks who report to me or I mentor to start writing because it can:

  • Create and catalyze dialogs with others who share your passion for a topic

  • Think through ideas around a topic in a more structured way

  • You share knowledge with others (in a scalable way)

  • Establish you as a someone knowledgeable on the topic

  • Build your reputation/personal brand


My process

People often struggle to create content.  Sitting down to create an article feels intimidating and often you don’t know where to start, so they just don’t do it.


I have discovered that breaking it up into stages works well.  I use the following process

1. Inspiration: Have an idea, add it to my board with a quick sentence

  • Often when I am on a call, I will write down ideas to come back to later

  • Podcasting is a great way to push yourself to articulate ideas in your head.  When your podcast is published listen to it and you’ll find a few great ideas

  • Take a walk and listen to great podcasts while walking. It is a great way to clear your mind and get inspiration

  • LinkedIn is a great source of ideas.  Read others’ posts and share a comment.  That comment could be an article

2. Ideation:  Create a google doc and add a few more ideas in adhoc way

3. Outline:  When the doc has enough content, set aside 30-60 mins to outline.  No pressure to actually write coherently, just structure my ideas


"If you are going to write, make yourself a writing session. How long are you going to write? Don't just sit down with an open-ended session. You've got to control what your brain can take. You've got to know when it is going to end. You have to have an end time to your writing session." Jerry Seinfeld on creating a system for writing (see full discussion on Tim Ferris' Podcast)

4. Draft:  Set aside another 30 mins to write a rough draft

5. Post (Optional):  Share a short version of your article in a LinkedIn post.  The comments can provide new insights and also generate people for the next step

6. Refine with Input: Engage a few people knowledgeable on this topic for feedback.  This provides a few benefits:

  • Improve your article with input from experts

  • Source great terrific quotes (makes articles more engaging)

  • Reinforce your relationship with these people

7. Publish: Publish the article (don’t forget to tag the people from the step above;). I don't have a strong view on where to publish (medium, linkedin....). I don't write frequently enough or on a single topic to do substack. Personally I like publishing long-term articles on LinkedIn 


💡Tip:  I have found that AI is a powerful tool when you are drafting.  If you are having trouble wording something, try asking Chat GPT for suggestions. 


Ways to leverage your writing

I write articles on topics I speak about frequently and therefore regularly share these links with people including:

  • People I advise:  Give a clear playbook they can build on

  • Peers:  To continue to pressure test and refine my thinking

  • People you manage/mentor:  Make advice on the soft-skills actionable

  • Podcasts:  Frame the topics we can talk about


Other Tactics

  • Link between your different writings. That way when a person finds one of them, they can self discover the depth of your content

  • Distribute through a newsletter / substack. It helps increase how many people see your content


Other inspiring pieces on writing


Do you know how to build your brand?



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