REPLAY ON-DEMAND -- "WRITE YOUR BOOK" WITH DONALD THOMPSON & BOB BATCHELOR

Get Your Book Project Started (or Finished) with Help From Experts!

Watch the on-demand replay of “Write Your Book,” which outlines the steps from brainstorming through publication.

For more information, check out the conversation I had with EY Entrepreneur of the Year honoree Donald Thompson. Then, see the recent livestream we recorded at https://youtu.be/tGiNRqWGh4Q?si=1wOaFvbLm4dV2KBe

We share expert insights for leaders, entrepreneurs, and executives ready to turn their ideas into a published book. Whether you’re starting with a spark of inspiration or a rough outline, you’ll gain practical advice, motivation, and the tools you need to take the first step toward authorship.

DOUBT, FEAR, AND CONFUSION FOR MOST PEOPLE WHO WANT TO WRITE A BOOK

Roadblocks and Challenges Keep Many People from Writing Books. Overcome these Doubts and Get Your Project Off the Ground

Despite the clear benefits, many executives and senior leaders hesitate to write a book. The resistance is rarely about skill. The real challenge is often focused on fear, time, and clarity.

Photo by Tom Hermans on Unsplash

These mental roadblocks often present themselves in familiar refrains:

  • “I’m not a writer.”

  • “I don’t have time.”

  • “What if no one reads it?”

  • “It’s too late to start.”

These objections are understandable, but often shortsighted. The truth is, you don’t need to be a professional writer. You need to be a professional with insight: someone who has seen, solved, and led through challenges worth learning from.

The BIG Secret…

You don’t have to be a writer to get your ideas into the body of knowledge. As a matter of fact, some publishing insiders estimate that upwards of 60 percent of bestsellers are actually ghostwritten. Therefore, the research and writing can be supported by expert collaborators. In other words, let a professional writer put their expertise to work for your ideas or storytelling.

What matters is your willingness to own your narrative. Savvy leaders never win by themselves, so don’t think that writing your book means holing up by yourself for a year, hovering over the keyboard, and slowly driving yourself bonkers.

 Teams make winning possible, so crafting your book with the best available resources should be your goal.

The greatest risk is not writing. Executives who stay silent lose control of their story. They allow competitors, markets, or algorithms to define their leadership brand. Worse, they miss the opportunity to document their unique thinking in a way that benefits their organization and inspires their team.

 “Leaders often underestimate how much their story can inspire others. That’s not ego—it’s impact.”
 —Kurt Merriweather, Vice President of Global Marketing, Workplace Options, and co-author, The Inclusive Leadership Handbook

Many people view writing a book as a personal win. That’s fine, since everyone will have different reasons for crafting their book. Here’s another way to look at it, though. Think of your book as a strategic tool for clarity, alignment, and growth.

Your book forces you to ask:

  • What do I really believe?

  • What do I want to be known for?

  • How do I want to be remembered?

Answering those questions? That’s where great leadership begins.

For more information about writing your book, ghostwriting, or executive-level thought leadership, visit the team at ExecBrand Authority or email me directly: bob@bobbatchelor.com.

TONE AND LEADERSHIP

Tone and Leadership — A leader's communication style sets what's important by aligning objectives, creates organizational culture, and determines whether people surface difficult truths in time to act.

As I argue in The Authentic Leader, authenticity is not mood or mystique -- it's observable behavior: human language, owned responsibility, and promises kept. When combined, ethics and tone go a long way in deciding how your company allocates power and earns (or erodes) consent.

Your people are listening and cataloging how you speak and communicate in Town Halls, one-on-one meetings, to others, and in media outlets. Thus, tone...like power...is a topic that leader's should constantly be thinking about across settings.

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AUTHORITY ISN'T CLAIMED...IT IS AUTHORED

In a visibility-first economy, authorship is the fastest path to durable authority. Slides expire and posts evaporate, but a book endures—codifying your point of view, sharpening your leadership brand, and traveling into rooms you haven’t entered yet. Writing forces strategic clarity: What problem do you solve, for whom, and why now? That discipline becomes the spine of your thought-leadership platform and aligns message, market, and milestones.

A book also operationalizes influence. Chapters become reusable assets for keynotes, bylined articles, media appearances, investor narratives, and recruiting content—the content vault you draw from for years. Pair authorship with an intentional platform (owned media, selective PR, webinars, executive social) and you improve discoverability across search engines, AI summaries, and human gatekeepers. Measure it like any growth initiative: influenced pipeline quality, speaking demand, media velocity, share of voice on priority themes, inbound board seat interest, and hiring lift.

Common objections—time, writing skill, fear of the blank page—are solvable with a professional editorial team. The real risk is silence: letting competitors and algorithms define your story. Build the book once; scale your authority indefinitely. For executives intent on commanding a category and shaping what’s next, authorship isn’t a vanity play—it’s the operating system of your influence.

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