AI makes it easier for an executive to turn a rough idea into a readable article. It can organise an argument and remove awkward wording. For leaders who struggle to find time to write, that help has real value. It also makes competent writing less useful as evidence of the person behind it.
A well-written paragraph reveals little about whether an executive has dealt with the issue they describe. An article about organisational change might offer sensible advice while saying almost nothing about the decisions its author has made. When someone considers that executive for an advisory appointment, those missing details matter.
There is a risk of writing becoming more alike. A 2024 study published in Science Advances found that access to AI-generated ideas improved evaluations of short stories while making the stories more similar to one another. The research concerned fiction. Its relevance to executive communication is a reasonable concern about shared starting points: familiar prompts can encourage familiar arguments. Science Advances
Lived experience gives a leader something specific to contribute. Consider an executive writing about a difficult restructure. “Communication is essential during change” offers readers little to examine. Explaining how an early announcement created uncertainty, and why the executive changed the briefing process afterwards, gives them a basis for understanding that person's approach. Such an account can acknowledge mistakes without disclosing confidential information.
Experience also needs interpretation. A description of what happened becomes more useful when the writer explains why it mattered. Perhaps a delayed project exposed disagreement about who could approve spending. An executive who draws that connection helps readers understand how they assess organisational problems. AI can help develop the explanation, provided the executive examines its assumptions and stands behind the conclusion.
Recognisable language matters for a related reason. People who work with a leader should recognise something of that person in their published writing. Replacing ordinary expressions with elaborate language can create distance between the executive they know and the author they encounter online. Editing should make the person's meaning easier to follow while preserving the way they explain things.
A useful writing process therefore begins with the executive's own account. A recorded conversation or rough notes can capture what prompted a decision and what the leader learned from it. AI can then help shape a draft. The executive still needs to check every claim and remove conclusions they would struggle to defend in conversation.
As competent writing becomes easier to produce, leaders have reason to pay closer attention to what their communication allows others to understand about them. Their experience carries value when they explain it with enough detail for someone else to assess. Whatever tools support the writing, the executive remains responsible for the account published in their name.
