Thought leadership

How to write thought leadership with Claude: take your actual point of view and put it on the page without the blank screen.

Thought leadership fails when it does not have a real point of view. Claude cannot give you one, but it can take the point of view you already have and help you express it clearly.

THE SHORT VERSION

The best thought leadership AI workflow starts with a conversation, not a prompt. Talk through your idea with Claude before you ask it to write anything. The output of that conversation becomes the input for a piece that actually sounds like you think.

Bill Colbert

Treetop Growth Strategy — Updated May 2026

Start with conversation

How to extract your point of view before writing

Idea development prompt

I want to write a thought leadership piece. Here is the rough idea: [describe in 3-5 sentences, as roughly as you have it]. Help me develop this into a clear argument. Ask me: (1) what is the specific claim I am making, (2) what evidence or experience supports it, (3) what would a smart skeptic say against it and how I would respond, (4) who specifically needs to hear this and why it matters to them, (5) what I want them to do or think differently after reading it.

Claude will ask you these questions. Answer them conversationally. The conversation produces the raw material for a well-structured piece.

From conversation to draft

Writing the piece after the idea is developed

Draft prompt

Based on our conversation, write a [1,000-word LinkedIn article / 800-word op-ed / 600-word newsletter piece] on this argument. Structure it as: 1. Opening that leads with the surprising or counterintuitive claim (not context, not setup: the point) 2. The evidence or argument that supports it 3. The counterargument acknowledged and addressed 4. The implication: what changes if this is true 5. A specific call to action or closing challenge for the reader Tone: first person, direct, uses specific examples over abstract claims. Do not hedge. End with the sharpest sentence in the piece.

Making it yours

The editing pass that separates AI-assisted from AI-generated

An AI-drafted thought leadership piece will be structurally sound and slightly impersonal. The editing pass that makes it yours focuses on three things:

Replace generic examples with specific stories from your experience
Add the one sentence that only you would write: the observation that is specific to your context or industry position
Cut the phrases that sound like AI: "it is worth noting," "in today's landscape." Replace them with direct statements

Time estimate: Idea development conversation: 15-20 minutes. First draft: 15-20 minutes. Editing: 30-45 minutes. Total: 60-80 minutes for a publishable thought leadership piece.

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