Why ghost blogging can’t be considered ‘thought leadership’

Many executives have more adept writers pen their posts, but without their personal insights and direct audience engagement, they cannot lay claim to that expertise and innovation.

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Many moons ago, there was a big online debate about ghost blogging: Should we do it or not?

I fall in the “yes” camp for several reasons:

Heck, even I have a ghost writer. She writes the first drafts, and then I add my voice, make a few changes and make sure it’s a thought I am completely behind.

She doesn’t write the Spin Sucks posts, but she does give me a first draft of nearly every guest blog post I contribute.

The big difference in our arrangement, however, is that I spend time with the draft before it’s submitted—and that’s not always the case.

What is ‘executive thought leadership’?

I’ve had an ongoing conversation with a friend on that topic for a few months.

Just yesterday, she said to me:

Is it executive thought leadership when all the thoughts come from the writer who has never spoken to the leader whose name goes on it? When you don’t even get bullet points or a few notes to start? When the executive doesn’t review the content before it’s published?

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