Why I write

I write a lot. Always have.

You might not be aware of it, but so do you.

Each day brings new emails to craft. Texts to send. Slack chats to join.

Most see these as tasks to clear.

I see them as chances to grow.

Kevin Kelly puts it well: “I don’t think to write, I write to think.”

When I write, my mind clears up.

Take this newsletter.

It let’s me share ideas.

But more than that, it let’s me have ideas.

The draft I wrote on Wednesday often has a very different topic from the finished newsletter that goes out on Friday.

Writing sharpens my thinking.

Every sentence a stroke against the grindstone.

Why write in public?

Writing in public turns thoughts into conversations.

The feedback shapes I get shape my thoughts. And my writing.

It builds bridges to minds I’d never meet in person.

It it also crafts an image of myself.

An image that arrives before I do.

You have one of me right now.

I’ve shaped it, word by word.

Not by pretending something that I’m not, but by sharing both wins and stumbles.

Being real attracts real people.

That’s why you should write in public too.

You can start small, if it feels scary.

A Tweet. A post.

An experiment.

Which thought do you want to turn into a conversation?

Why write as a leader?

Leading is about clarity.

Good writing is clear.

In other words, becoming a better writer will make you a better leader.

Bezos knew this.

He made his leaders write memos, not slides.

You can hide fuzzy thinking in fancy presentations.

You can’t hide it in plain text.

Written words last longer than spoken ones.

A great talk moves the room, but written words move through time!

Think of Bezos’ shareholder letters.

Each year, they lit the path ahead.

Or Warren Buffet’s memos.

Still quoted, still taught.

There is a lesson in that.

When written and shared, your thoughts will keep leading long after you’ve left the room.

That’s the magic of writing as a leader.

Wrap up

Clear writing takes work.

And that’s the point!

I have to justify every sentence. Every word.

You might not be aware of it, but when you subscribed to this newsletter we entered an agreement.

And our agreement is this:

You’ll read if I deliver value to you.

If I don’t, you unsubscribe.

That is as it should be.

Because delivering forces me to sharpen my thinking.

One word at a time.