The Importance of Writing in Leadership
Insights from Nathan Broslawsky
In the fast-paced world of leadership, one skill is often underrated but absolutely vital: writing. Nathan Broslawsky, a seasoned leader of product, engineering, and design at Achieve in Silicon Valley, sheds light on why mastering the art of writing is key—especially for product leaders. His insights reveal how clear, thoughtful writing can inspire teams, sharpen strategies, and drive success.
Nathan highlights writing as a foundational, must-have skill for leaders, explaining, "The number one thing that I would recommend for any leader is writing—hands down. Get good at writing, just because it's going to help in so many aspects." Writing is not just about communication; it’s about clarity of thought. Nathan elaborates, "If you can learn how to write, it's just such a base communication skill. If you can learn how to linearize your thoughts and improve your written communication, it's going to help you as a leader because it's going to help you express your thoughts and get your point across to other people."
Writing helps leaders clarify their thinking. When leaders take the time to write, they are forced to organise their thoughts in a logical sequence, which often brings deeper understanding and reveals gaps in reasoning. Refining complex or abstract ideas into clear, simple messages is vital for effective leadership. Nathan emphasises, "Writing helps me get all the thoughts out of my head and onto paper. As leaders, our entire job is talking—we go from meeting to meeting, giving advice, giving coaching, and all of this stuff is ephemeral. Writing allows us to distil this down into a form that can be shared and preserved." By writing, leaders create a tangible record of their leadership philosophy, which can be shared with others and refined over time.
Moreover, leaders must often communicate complex or abstract ideas to diverse audiences, from their teams to stakeholders across the organisation. The ability to break down these ideas into clear, simple messages is crucial to ensure alignment and understanding. Writing is the tool that enables leaders to do this effectively. As Nathan points out, "Our ability to distil our thoughts into written form helps not just in expressing ideas, but also in creating alignment across the organisation." When leaders can clearly articulate their vision and strategy in writing, they help their teams understand and rally behind those ideas, making executing shared goals easier.
Nathan offers practical advice for those who need help figuring out where to start. "If you say things in your coaching conversations more than once, write it down. If you've said it more than once, it means more than one person is finding value in it." This approach helps leaders capture their insights and transform them into guiding principles that benefit others.
Here are some tips for clarifying your thinking through writing:
Start with a Brain Dump: Write down everything you know or think about the topic without worrying about structure. This helps clear your mind and get all ideas on paper, making it easier to see connections and gaps.
Organise Your Thoughts: Once everything is down, organise your ideas into logical groups. Look for patterns, themes, and relationships between ideas. This will help you create a coherent structure.
Simplify Complex Ideas: Challenge yourself to explain complex concepts in the simplest terms possible. Pretend you are explaining it to someone unfamiliar with the topic. This exercise forces you to distil your thoughts and clarify your understanding.
Use Outlines: Creating an outline helps you structure your thoughts before diving into full sentences and paragraphs. It provides a roadmap that ensures your writing is logical and comprehensive.
Iterate and Edit: Writing is rewriting. Go through multiple drafts to refine your message. Each iteration helps you clarify your thoughts further, ensuring your final version is clear and impactful.
Seek Feedback: Share your writing with a trusted colleague or mentor. They can help identify areas that are still unclear and offer suggestions for improvement.
Starting with the customer
Consider Jeff Bezos' famous directive at Amazon regarding customer obsession. Instead of saying something abstract like, "We need to care about our customers," Bezos made it clear: "We will start with the customer and work backwards." This simple yet powerful statement shaped Amazon's culture and decision-making, ensuring customer needs were at the forefront of every product and service they developed.
Amazon embraces starting with the customer and working backwards with the press release approach. Product managers are encouraged to write down and collaborate on a press release for the launch they are going to be working towards at the very start of the initiative.
Influencing with the written word
For VPs of Product and other product leaders, Nathan’s advice underscores the importance of writing to scale their influence. Writing is a tool for influence that extends beyond direct conversations and helps leaders shape culture and strategy. "Our ability to distil our thoughts into written form helps not just in expressing ideas, but also in creating alignment across the organisation," Nathan notes.
Nathan's emphasis on writing as a leadership tool serves as a reminder that influence starts with clarity. Writing helps leaders refine their ideas, communicate effectively, and leave a lasting impact. For aspiring leaders, developing the habit of writing is not just about improving communication. It’s about becoming a better leader by articulating and sharing a vision that others can support.