Recently, I’ve participated in discussions among writers and clients alike as to whether, in a non-fiction book that provides footnotes, ChatGPT should be cited if information or text from the algorithm has been included in the manuscript.
Generally, in a non-fiction book, you cite a source with a footnote if that source has provided:
1. A direct quotation.
2. Specific information that would be considered proprietary to that source, or over which the source could claim a copyright. For example, a published academic study that produced unique results would require a citation. Keep in mind that outside of academia, ideas cannot be copyrighted. Only the actual words and sentences can be copyrighted.
3. Optionally, if you want to give your assertion additional authority, you can credit the source even if it’s not strictly required. Such as, “The New York Times reported that the endangered piping plover shorebird has gained in population on East Coast beaches.” You could probably dig around and find these data in one or more primary sources, but it’s simpler to credit the newspaper.
Primary sources offer firsthand, original accounts or data, such as diaries, research reports, or interviews. In a published book, the citation of a primary source may be required. Secondary sources interpret, analyze, or summarize primary sources, like textbooks or historical articles. The key difference is the creator’s relationship to the information: primary sources come directly from the experience, and secondary sources are removed, providing analysis or context. In a published book, you do not cite a secondary source.
ChatGPT is proficient at searching the internet for information on a topic, analyzing it, and then—this is the really innovative part—composing new text to convey it.
But ChatGPT is not a primary source. It does not produce any first-hand information. It’s akin to Wikipedia, with the difference being that the text on a Wikipedia page is copyrighted by Wikipedia, just like the text in a New York Times article is copyrighted by the newspaper.
If you use Wikipedia, you’ll see that every piece of information is cited. So if you’re writing about a subject and you discover something about it on Wikipedia, instead of citing Wikipedia, which is a secondary source, you click on the footnote link and go to the primary source. You read the primary source and make your decision.
ChatGPT Is Like Your Summer Intern
If you use ChatGPT to produce rough drafts of text for a non-fiction book, it’s like having a human intern do the same thing. You possess the rough draft the algorithm has written or helped you write, and if necessary, ChatGPT will provide the primary sources for specific information it has uncovered. As the author of record, it’s your responsibility to verify the accuracy and fidelity of data provided by ChatGPT, just as you would verify the work done by your summer intern. While it’s getting better at being truthful, ChatGPT is still subject to hallucinations, especially with contemporary topics that are not yet historically settled.
You are not required to cite or acknowledge the use of ChatGPT or any other research/composing tool, just as you’re not required to publicly acknowledge the contribution of your intern (although it might be nice if you did!). And no matter how you choose to thank people or algorithms who have helped you write your book, if they are not primary sources, then you owe them no citation.
Congratulations to my valued client, Althea A. Scurvin, on the publication of her exciting new book, “Unshackled: The RAAA Framework for Escaping Toxic Relationships and Reclaiming Your Life.” This powerful self-help book shows you how to break the cycle, reclaim your power, and rebuild your life. If you’ve ever questioned your worth, silenced your truth, or shrunk yourself to survive the storm of a toxic relationship, then this book is your lifeline. As the jacket copy explains, “Unshackled” is more than a guide, it’s a soul revival and a blueprint for women who are done waiting, done explaining, and done settling for less than they deserve.
The book reveals the transformational four-part RAAA Framework, which consists of Reclaim, Activate, Align, and Ascend:
Reclaim the voice you were told was too loud. Activate your boundaries, your fire, your next chapter. Align your life with your deepest truth. Ascend into the woman you were always meant to be.
It’s a journey to break generational cycles, rebuild your self-worth, and awaken the version of you that refuses to stay silent any longer.
The author is a transformational speaker, global program leader, and founder of Vas Noble, a transformative consulting firm helping women escape toxic cycles and rise into purpose-driven entrepreneurship. With raw personal stories, spiritual insight, and fierce, practical tools, Althea A. Scurvin walks with you—step by step—through the fire and into your freedom.
In 1971, which was 54 years ago, a requirement for my junior year American History class was that each student must research and write a thesis of 5,000 words on a topic of their choice from local history. Since my family had once been in the business of brewing beer, I chose that for my subject. Armed with nothing but a manual typewriter, the Cincinnati Public Library, and the library at the Cincinnati Historical Society, I set to work. On weekends, I drove to the library or historical society and pored through the card files, pulling out relevant books. I’d skim through a potential book source, find some nugget of information about the brewing industry in Cincinnati, and make notes on 3 x 5 index cards. After a few weeks of this, I had enough notes to put paper into the typewriter and start writing. If I made a typing mistake, I had to re-type the offending characters using special correction tape or the newfangled Liquid Paper. My thesis had no illustrations or photos—including such content was technically beyond my capability.
In two months’ time, I made the deadline and turned in my report. For expository writing on a given subject, that’s how it was done.
Google and the Internet
Fast-forward forty years, to 2011. I’m still writing non-fiction, only now I’m creating full-length books for global clients. The internet has arrived, and in particular the powerful search engine, Google. By now, most public records, magazines, newspapers, and peer-reviewed journal articles are available online, if you know how to search for them. No more driving to the library, pulling books off the shelf, and reading through them. No more typewriter or 3 x 5 index cards—now I’ve got a laptop computer. No paper necessary. My productivity has multiplied. Now, to research and write 5,000 words of non-fiction, expository text takes me a week, or even less if I’m pushing on a deadline. The big time-saver is that I can search for, and locate, source material in mere seconds. It still takes time to sift through material, and some sources are tucked away in obscure recesses of the internet. And every word of the finished product must be written by hand, just like in 1971.
But the bottom line is that working alone, my time to research and write 5,000 words has dropped from two months to one week.
AI and Large Language Models
Now we’re in 2025—just 14 years later. The game has changed again. Basically, artificial intelligence and large language models such as Chat GPT have supercharged the process of research and writing. We still have the internet and Google, but the addition of AI is like strapping a rocket to the back of your Kia: you’re going to go faster than you ever thought possible. For a non-fiction writer, AI is like a tireless and efficient research intern who will instantly scour the internet for the exact subject you’re looking for or question you want answered, and produce a rough draft of the text. But make no mistake: the text Chat GPT produces is boring and full of clichés. It’s easy to spot AI text because it repeats the same stylistic choices over and over again, just like an unskilled human writer. To bring it up to a professional level, you need an expert to provide heavy editing and re-writing. And you also need to fact-check.
But even with these chores, the time to produce 5,000 words of finished, ready-to-publish text has dropped from one week to just a day or two.
This AI benefit only applies to expository writing from source material on the internet. It does not include any primary source material from people, such as interviews. It does not include narrative fiction, unless you’re writing nothing but the most common genre fodder. It does not include persuasive writing with a point of view. And for descriptive writing, AI tends to be full of clichés and baroque ornamentation, so it’s not much good there, either.
You also need to run your text through a plagiarism detector, such as Copyscape.
But given the opportunity to have an eager and tireless intern at my beck and call, for a professional non-fiction writer like me, it’s a good deal because I can maintain my high standards while increasing my productivity.
When I first embarked on my freelance ghostwriting and book editing career in 2007, the country was on the verge of the Great Recession—though we didn’t realize it at the time. I began by writing website content and nonprofit grant proposals, but by 2009, I had transitioned to full-length books. By then, the recession was officially ending, but its effects were still deeply felt. During that period, the demand for self-help books surged, particularly in two key areas: surviving home foreclosure and building wealth through online businesses. This was the market’s primary focus. One book I worked on, The Millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco, became an Amazon bestseller and remains successful to this day.
As the economy rebounded, the nonfiction landscape shifted toward personal health. I developed numerous manuscripts centered on diet strategies, intermittent fasting, and healthy eating. Business books also gained traction, particularly those focused on company agility, social media marketing, and leveraging digital data technology. Real estate books moved away from foreclosure survival and instead focused on investment strategies for residential and commercial properties.
With Baby Boomers entering retirement, estate planning books became increasingly popular. I edited many guides on financial preparedness, as well as books exploring unconventional retirement lifestyles—such as one author’s story of selling their home, buying a sailboat, and spending nine months each year cruising the Caribbean. A dream, if you can make it happen!
Another dominant trend was industrial innovation, particularly the necessity for businesses to adapt to disruptive technology. One standout project was The Innovation Mandate: The Growth Secrets of the Best Organizations in the World by Nicholas Webb, which quickly became a bestseller and remains highly relevant.
The Impact of the Pandemic and the Post-Pandemic Shift
During the COVID-19 pandemic, workplace disruptions drove demand for books on stress management, remote work, and leading virtual teams. In the post-pandemic era, attention has shifted toward healthcare. While Wall Street investors celebrate the industry’s profitability, patients and doctors largely express frustration with the system. This has fueled a wave of books exposing its flaws.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has also emerged as a major theme. One of the most compelling books I recently developed explores how governments worldwide are integrating AI to enhance public services—ranging from healthcare information to transportation logistics. Additionally, a book on environmental toxins, covering everything from nanoplastics to fire retardants, was recently acquired by a Big Five publisher based on the nonfiction book proposal I crafted. It’s set for a fall release, a remarkably fast turnaround for a major publisher.
Another rising trend is books on personal stress, which I anticipate will continue growing in popularity. While this is partly tied to political tensions, it’s more about the broader national mood—uncertainty surrounding climate change, energy, human rights, education, and healthcare. In response, people are seeking unconventional solutions. Recently, I edited a book on the kambo healing ritual, an intense practice involving the application of a giant leaf frog’s toxin to small burns on the skin, inducing a powerful purging reaction. It’s not for the faint of heart, but if it works for someone, why not?
No matter the national climate, authors are eager to capture its essence in their books. And I’m always ready to help them bring their ideas to life.
Let’s face it: In the world of commercial writing, large language models such as ChatGPT, Grammarly, Jasper AI, and others are here to stay. In the low-end, mass-market, non-fiction book marketplace, their use has become nearly ubiquitous. I sometimes find ghostwriting work on the platform Upwork, and I’m astonished to see the high number of project postings that, for example, ask for a 30,000 word book to be written for $300. To meet that price, I’d have to write it in less than one day. I also see many postings that say something like, “I have a book written by ChatGPT that’s very boring and needs to be humanized.” This particular task is very difficult. It’s like saying, “I have a Chevy that I want upgraded to a Cadillac.” It’s not so simple—you have to analyze and edit every word, sentence, and paragraph. You might as well start from scratch.
But reality is reality: Many of my valued clients embrace the ease and low cost of AI-generated text. They cannot afford custom, professional writing of the highest quality. It’s just not in their budget. They want the Chevy, not the Cadillac. The problem is that when you use ChatGPT “straight from the box,” you get what you pay for: boring, unoriginal text that you could use as SEO fodder on your website or as a free ebook to download. But no one would pay money for it.
My Hybrid Method
Is there a middle road? Yes! Some of my valued clients don’t require literary-grade writing that will attract the attention of a major publishing house or hit the New York Times bestseller list. For certain non-fiction books, my exclusive hybrid package leverages the power of ChatGPT with my years of professional experience to give these clients an affordable option, just like a car company offers vehicles at various price points. (In fact, the concept of the “price ladder” was invented by GM president Alfred Sloan in 1921.) My client can commission a book that is factual, with perfect grammar, and which delivers their message to their readers. I use ChatGPT like I would use an intern: To provide basic research on a topic that was unknown to me.
Recently I wrote a 15,000-word travel guide to Cebu Island, in the Philippines. I’d never been to the Philippines and knew nothing about Cebu. My client was on a tight budget. I worked by asking ChatGPT precise questions, such as “How do you get to Cebu Island?” Then I fact-checked what Chat GPT wrote, deleted the repetitive filler and bullet points, added a few details I found on my own, and ended up with a few paragraphs of good text. In the process, I saved time, which lowered the cost. I did this over and over again until I had hit every topic on her outline. It was a good book for the price!
This hybrid approach only works for budget books that aren’t destined for a Big Five publisher. It’s absolutely not suitable for any kind of creative writing, such as a novel, as well as many self-help books. It cannot be used when the author is proposing a new or novel idea. ChatGPT aggregates what it finds on the internet, which means it can only be used for familiar subjects. But for a small niche of clients, it’s a useful tool that can help me deliver a quality manuscript to a valued client on a budget.
This is the bottom line: Every manuscript that leaves my laptop and wings its way to my valued client meets my high standards of quality. No exceptions! My clients deserve the very best, and that’s what I deliver.
Congratulations to my valued book development client Jared Gleaton on the publication of A Feast for the Senses: The Psychological Art of Eating Well. Join Jared on his deeply personal and transformative journey as he sheds 170 pounds in just one year. Drawing from his experiences as a school psychologist, his struggles with weight, and his lifelong passion for food, Jared shares a story that is as much about self-discovery as it is about health and fine dining.
In A Feast for the Senses, Jared reveals how his relationship with food evolved as he explores the psychology behind eating—what he calls “foodology.” It represents the emotional connection we share through food—a soulful intertwining of experiences and traditions that create a universal bond. It’s about how beloved dishes become a common thread, weaving love and familiarity into the fabric of our lives.This book goes beyond a personal weight-loss story to examine the profound impact of the senses on our choices and lives.
Through Jared’s journey, you’ll delve into:
The Five Senses and Food: Uncover how sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing shape your eating experiences, and learn how this understanding can transform your relationship with food.
Psychological Insights: Gain valuable lessons from the emotional and psychological factors that influenced Jared’s journey and discover how these insights can support your own path to better health.
Practical Strategies for Lasting Change: Benefit from Jared’s hard-earned wisdom, including actionable tips for achieving and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
Oklahoma’s Culinary Scene: Explore Oklahoma’s vibrant culinary landscape through Jared’s eyes as he showcases some of the nation’s best dining experiences. He provides reviews of some of the region’s most extraordinary restaurants and undiscovered gems.
Transform the way you think about food and health with A Feast for the Senses. Let Jared’s journey inspire your own as you embrace the universal language of food and embark on a path toward better well-being. The result is a charming, thought-provoking, and undeniably hunger-inducing book. It invites readers to not only savor the foods they love but also to cherish the moments of connection with family and friends that these culinary traditions inspire.
This book combines two seemingly unrelated approaches to achieving goals into a unified framework, showing you step by step how they can complement each other to create a method stronger than either one on its own.
The first approach, the agile method, originated in software development but has since been embraced by many industries. It is often paired with the scrum methodology, which serves as its operational framework. While agile and scrum come with formal rules, in practice, these are adapted to fit the unique needs of the team and project.
At its core, the agile/scrum approach emphasizes delivering workable iterations of a product. Rather than completing and delivering a finished product all at once, this method focuses on building a simple, functional version first. The customer tests and accepts this initial version, and through iterative improvements—often organized into “sprints”—additional features and refinements are added until the product fully meets the customer’s requirements. For instance, if a customer needs a website interface with product recommendations, the team might first deliver a basic version and then enhance it through successive iterations.
This approach offers two major advantages. First, it allows flexibility to adapt and reprioritize deliverables as the project progresses—this is the essence of agility. Second, delivering a simple, testable version early on helps identify and address bugs or defects that could otherwise become more challenging to fix later. The scrum framework keeps this iterative process efficient and organized, making the best use of the team’s skills while maximizing value for the customer.
The second approach, manifestation, focuses on the psychological aspect of goal achievement. Rooted in the law of attraction, manifestation emphasizes the importance of mindset and attitude in achieving success. Unlike the operational nature of agile and scrum, manifestation recognizes that human beings are driven by emotions as much as logic. A positive mindset can often be the determining factor in success, influencing how opportunities are perceived and pursued.
Congratulations to my valued book development clients Dr. Labib Ghulmiyyah and Dr. Caehla McGready on the summer 2024 publication of their groundbreaking self-help health book, A Toxin-Free Pregnancy. This powerful and insightful guide reveals how human history is deeply intertwined with the environment, and the impact of pollution on human health dates back to ancient times. Early settlements faced local contamination from waste, while the industrial revolutions brought large-scale pollution. A Toxin-Free Pregnancy explores this evolving relationship, tracing key historical moments like the rise of coal burning in the 11th century, advances in smelting during the 17th century, and the severe urban pollution crises of the early 20th century in cities such as London and New York.
As society advanced, pollution sources became more varied and harder to detect. The transition from visible smog to invisible chemical pollutants introduced new challenges. Industrial waste, colorless vapors, and synthetic products have contributed to widespread contamination. This has led to the emergence of “forever chemicals” and endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), which pose significant health risks, particularly during pregnancy. These chemicals—including heavy metals like lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury, and nickel—disrupt hormonal systems, affecting both expectant mothers and their developing babies.
In A Toxin Free Pregnancy, you’ll find an in-depth exploration of pollution’s historical context and its increasing impact on human health. The book provides clear, evidence-based insights into how toxins, especially EDCs, affect pregnancy and fetal development. It offers practical steps for reducing exposure to harmful chemicals in daily life, covering everything from household products to dietary choices. With actionable strategies, expectant mothers can make informed decisions and advocate for a healthier environment.
This book is a vital resource not just for pregnant women but for anyone concerned about the broader implications of environmental health. Combining historical context, scientific accuracy, and practical advice, A Toxin Free Pregnancy empowers readers to take charge of their well-being in a polluted world.
Let’s say a leader or founder has a vision for their company. The vision is clear and simple, and represents an improvement in the lives of the company’s stakeholders and customers. The leader is purpose-driven, meaning they know what to do to achieve their vision and aren’t distracted by wasted efforts that don’t produce results.
The next step is to recruit and enlist other people to embrace the same vision and pursue the same purpose. Only by scaling up and reaching more customers can any fledgling business hope to survive. This was the relentless focus of Jeff Bezos as he scaled up Amazon; during the first nine years, from 1994 to 2003, Amazon reported virtually no profits, and Wall Street analysts wondered when the company might go under. But Bezos—a former Wall Street fund manager—had long insisted that investing in future growth was more important than hitting quarterly earnings targets.
No matter your business strategy, every leader needs support from investors, partners, employees, and customers. None of these people are mind readers. None of them can envision what the leader envisions. It’s incumbent upon the leader do the hard work of educating and motivating his or her stakeholders.
There are many ways to communicate a vision to other people. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. The wise leader will use them all.
1. Written Communications
These take the form of emails, letters, memos, and long-form documents, such as annual reports. In these forms, the leader or leadership group can elucidate their ideas and policies for wide distribution, as well as report on current or historical facts.
Written documents are effective as references. They present current facts and findings that stakeholders should know, such as the quarterly report that reveals the company’s most recent performance. They preserve and present official organizational information such as production systems, organization charts, financial data, incorporation papers, rules of employee conduct, and operations manuals. They may also preserve and present the company’s mission and vision statements, so that every stakeholder may be reminded of them.
One of the most famous and influential business documents is the Manifesto for Agile Software Development, written in February 2001 at a ski resort called The Lodge at Snowbird, in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah. Seventeen software developers gathered there to discuss their shared frustrations with traditional software development methodologies and to find common ground in more flexible, people-centered approaches to software creation. The outcome of this meeting was the Agile Manifesto, which emphasized values and principles such as customer collaboration, responding to change, and prioritizing individuals and interactions over processes and tools. This manifesto laid the foundation for the Agile movement in software development.
No one doubts the value of paper in today’s business, even if that paper is an electronic facsimile that never takes physical form until someone prints it.
While written communications and records are vital for long-term success, they’re terrible for another application, which is communication designed to motivate a human being to do something. This is because while human beings have an impressive capacity for rational analysis and decision-making, our emotions are the most powerful drivers of behavior. We humans do what we want to do, and find endless ways of avoiding what we don’t want to do. Written documents, especially those use in business, are cold and impersonal, and can affect emotions in unpredictable ways.
Consider the manager who sends out an email to their team members that says, “Due to the lack of sales in this quarter, every employee needs to put in ten percent more effort to increase productivity.” Such an email will be ridiculed and ignored by the rank and file. It will be seen as just another one of those stupid things that bosses say, and will negatively impact employee engagement.
Or this, the email blast that says, “Congratulations to the team for another great quarter! Keep up the good work!” It’s superficially nice, but vaguely insulting in its glib dismissiveness. After all, reporting a “great quarter” implies some material benefits, such as profits. To the employees, the natural question then becomes, “Who’s reaping the benefits?”
2. Group Lectures
In large companies, it’s common for managers to call employees into a big meeting where some sort of news is presented—the good news of a new product or initiative, or bad news such as a facility closing. When human beings hear information from the mouth of another human being, it tends to “stick.” People are willing to listen because speaking takes effort (unlike sending an email, which takes zero effort).
In such cases, success depends upon two factors: the importance of the message and the skill of the speaker. A boring speaker delivering a boring message to a group of restless employees or investors will not go well. But an electrifying speaker delivering an important message can have a real impact.
One of the great corporate communicators in recent history was Steve Jobs.
On January 9, 2007, Jobs delivered one of the most iconic presentations in corporate history at the Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco.
Jobs began his presentation with a sense of drama and anticipation, as he often did. He teased the audience by stating that Apple was going to introduce three revolutionary products that day: a widescreen iPod with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone, and a breakthrough internet communications device. After repeating these three descriptions multiple times, he finally revealed that they were not three separate devices, but rather a single device that combined all these features: the iPhone.
The audience erupted into applause as Jobs displayed the iPhone on the screen behind him. He described the device as a combination of a phone, an iPod, and an internet communicator. Jobs emphasized that the iPhone was not just a phone with a touch screen, but a breakthrough in mobile communication, media consumption, and internet browsing. He highlighted its sleek design, large multi-touch screen, and revolutionary user interface, which replaced physical buttons with a touch-based interface.
Throughout the presentation, Jobs maintained his signature style: a combination of humor, clarity, and enthusiasm. His presentation skills, combined with the groundbreaking technology of the iPhone, captivated the audience and generated a sense of excitement and anticipation.
The iPhone went on sale later that year, in June 2007, and quickly became a massive commercial success, setting the stage for subsequent generations of smartphones that would continue to dominate the tech landscape.
Steve Jobs’s 2007 presentation is often remembered as a masterclass in product launches, demonstrating how a well-executed presentation, combined with groundbreaking technology, can leave a lasting impact on both an industry and the world.
Another Steve Jobs speech has become legendary. This was his June 12, 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University, which has since become one of the most famous graduation addresses of all time. He delivered it after his cancer diagnosis and—for a time—successful treatment. In his speech, Jobs shared three personal stories that encapsulated his life lessons and offered wisdom to the graduating class. The speech was marked by its simplicity, authenticity, and profound insights into life, work, and the pursuit of passion. He concluded it with a powerful reminder: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.”
Steve Jobs ended his speech with the words, “Stay hungry, stay foolish,” a motto he borrowed from the final issue of The Whole Earth Catalog, a counterculture magazine he had admired in his youth. This phrase encapsulated the spirit of curiosity, innovation, and an unwavering desire to push the boundaries that characterized Jobs’s own life and career.
3. One-on-One
Without a doubt, the most powerful way to communicate an idea or feeling to someone is one-on-one, preferably face-to-face. Nothing better matches the connection you make with another human being than talking to them directly.
For entrepreneurs who are launching businesses, this comes naturally because the circle of stakeholders is very small and people are often working elbow-to-elbow in the office or shop. Pitches to investors are made in person so that each side can assess the other, and questions and answers can flow freely back and forth. But as the business grows and tasks are delegated to managers, it can be tempting for the boss to retreat into their office and maintain a “hands-off” policy.
This brings us to the practice of management by walking around.
In the mid-1960s, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard, the founders of Hewlett-Packard, pioneered an innovative management style that included “management by walking around,” or MBWA. This approach asserted that to ensure everyone from the bottom to the top of the company had the support to perform at their best, there was no substitute for personal involvement and one-on-one communication.
The concept involves managers leaving their offices and making unplanned, informal visits to employees in their work areas. This hands-on approach allows managers to engage directly with employees, understand ongoing operations, gather real-time feedback, and observe the work environment firsthand.
By moving around and being visible, managers make themselves more accessible to employees. This helps break down barriers, making it easier for staff to communicate concerns, share ideas, or ask questions. It encourages casual, spontaneous conversations, fostering a more open and communicative workplace culture. These interactions are often less intimidating than formal meetings, leading to more honest feedback and open dialogue.
Immediate presence allows managers to sense if the team member is losing sight of the vision of the enterprise. They can address problems as they arise, rather than waiting for issues to escalate or come up in scheduled meetings. This can lead to faster and more effective problem-solving.
Regular interaction with employees helps build trust and rapport. Managers who practice MBWA are often seen as more empathetic and supportive, leading to stronger employee engagement and satisfaction.
Of course, regularly walking around and engaging with employees takes time, which can be challenging for managers with already demanding schedules. It must be done with purpose. And if not done carefully, MBWA can be perceived as intrusive or as a form of micromanagement. It must be done consistently, as inconsistent application can lead to employees feeling neglected or create a sense of randomness in managerial attention.
The attitude of the manager should be, “I’m here to help you. Is there anything blocking you or preventing you from reaching your goal today?” The goal is to understand and gather insights, so the manager should focus on actively listening rather than dominating conversations. If issues or ideas are raised, ensure there is follow-through. The manager should acknowledge employee contributions and communicate any actions taken as a result.
Every leader should follow the Pareto Principle, also called the 80/20 rule, and spend 80 percent of their time listening to their team and 20 percent of their time talking. That’s really the essence of communication.
As Peter Nulty, the former editor of Fortune Magazine, said, “Of all the skills of leadership, listening is the most valuable—and one of the least understood. Most captains of industry listen only sometimes, and they remain ordinary leaders. But a few, the great ones, never stop listening. That’s how they get word before anyone else of unseen problems and opportunities.”
In politics, an axiom drilled into the head of every candidate for office is that when you’re in a debate or answering questions from the press, “If you’re explaining, you’re losing.” Attributed to President Ronald Reagan, this means that explaining is essentially a defensive act done by a candidate who has been asked to clarify a position, previous statement, or misdeed. It’s a distraction from what the candidate wants to talk about, which is a broad-brush description of how they will make the lives of voters better. Politicians should be sketch artists, deftly describing a better future state without getting bogged down in details. This is why candidates who are “policy wonks” often do not get elected. They spend too much time explaining, which is an intellectual act, as opposed to inspiring, which is emotional.
Authors of Genre Fiction Love to Explain
In genre fiction, unlike politics, explaining is highly prized. We’ve all read thrillers, horror novels, and other genre novels in which the author devotes paragraphs and even pages to describing a character, place, or event in meticulous detail, while the plot is put on hold. This seems especially ironic because genre fiction tends to rely heavily on plot, so why would you deliberately make it grind to a halt so that you can take a detour into the past life of the character or describe the geography of a town?
When authors do this, they’re basically hijacking their own story to intercede and provide an “information dump” to the reader that, in all likelihood, the reader doesn’t need. Instead of limiting the information presented to the reader to that which the characters themselves experience, the author steps outside the story and becomes the omniscient source who knows everything. For some reason, information dumps are very common in genre fiction.
The most highly skilled genre writers, such as James Patterson, avoid this by deftly weaving background information into the forward-moving scene so that the action never stops. A phrase here, a phrase there, and soon the picture is complete.
A good way to describe this balancing act would be to compare a novel to a film. Generally, film directors stay behind the camera and record the actors going through their scenes. The result is that the audience knows only what the actors experience or tell each other in real time. A few films have used voiceovers in which a disembodied voice speaks directly to the audience and explains various aspects of the story. Classic films that use a voiceover include The Shawshank Redemption (Morgan Freeman doing the v/o job), Goodfellas (Ray Liotta), and Memento (Guy Pearce). But these are the exceptions, and the voiceovers are all characters in the movie, not an anonymous god-like narrator. And movie directors sometimes show us scenes that one group of characters cannot see or know, such as in the use of multiple points of view.
Literary Fiction = No Explaining, Please
One of the hallmarks of literary fiction is the discipline the author imposes upon themself to show the reader only what the characters are directly experiencing themselves. The author stands in the background, directing our attention to what they wants us to see. They are the unseen hand. They don’t stop the action to pull you aside and say, “Here’s a bunch of stuff I think you need to know.”
But there are limits to how literally you can take this approach. For example, in The Hours, a Pulitzer Prize winner, author Michael Cunningham begins the “Mrs. Dalloway” chapter thusly:
“There are still the flowers to buy. Clarissa feigns exasperation (though she loves doing errands like this), leaves Sally cleaning the bathroom, and runs out, promising to be back in half an hour.
“It is New York City. It is the end of the twentieth century.”
This is an information dump—deftly handled, but nonetheless it’s the author giving us information they thinks we need to know right off the bat. This includes the name of the protagonist: Clarissa, as the author tells us. In New York City. And the author also tosses in a tidbit about the protagonist, parenthetically: “…(though she loves doing errands like this)…” How do we know this except the author takes us aside and tells us?
In this case, Cunningham’s reasoning may be that because the book comprises the stories of three women from different eras, they must be clear from the first sentence whom they’re talking about.
In any case, the language counts. A skilled author like Michael Cunningham—and James Patterson, in his own way—knows how to deliver information in a way that’s effervescent, bright, delicious, and stimulating. Which brings us around to the real Golden Rule of writing: “Do whatever the hell you want—just don’t be boring.”
