I have been working with business leaders in tech, business, and academia for almost thirty years. It is hard not to notice patterns. Not least because I am usually the one to point them out.

People have brilliant ideas. Sometimes the same people will rise, or drag themselves, into a leadership position and have yet more great ideas. Some will get noticed, applauded and executed. But, all too often, other ideas, opinions and innovations of equal value will be lost into notebooks, Otter.ai recordings, minutes of meetings and pitch decks. Never really used, these ideas are lost to the mists of time.

This sort of thing rarely happens to great writers. They obsessively hoard notebooks, be they paper or electronic. They go back, they cross reference, they dig. So many social media posts are talking about AI ‘second brains’ right now, but most top level writers and authors already have one. I like to think I am in that number. At least my pile of notebooks says that I am.

My background in journalism taught me to keep my notebooks for legal reasons, but it is a habit I did not give up as I transitioned into a role as a thought leadership consultant, corporate ghost-writer and media consultant. I know that something from an ‘Iain Aitch for the Financial Times’ byline could be rejigged later for a piece in the Daily Telegraph, or serve as research and clues to a piece for the Guardian. The same was true for my books, for publishers large and small.

As a ghost-writer who sometimes elbows my way into meetings, I see so many of these great ideas zooming by uncaptured. It is something I sometimes ask to do when I work for a founder or leader, so I can capture their character. But where most of my material comes from is interviews. I am an expert interviewer. I listen. I am quiet. But then interviewing isn’t all about machine-gunning questions at someone. I don’t like pulling teeth. I am great at extracting information gently, like a good pickpocket.

This is where I usually find these ideas. The ones that got away, but lingered and nagged at leaders. Or maybe they just come back in a ‘oh, hang on a minute…’ moment. It could be a regret about seeing that idea lost in a Friday morning stand-up turn out to be a $1 million idea for someone else five years later.

Sometimes those ‘ideas’ are opinions or perspectives. Disruptive or contrarian approaches that seemed too radical at the time that may just about be ready for now. It could also be ideas that entrepreneurs thought were too silly, radical, dangerous or controversial to express. Something that went against their own business or brand. What I do, is to take all of this and turn it into structured, publishable material, helping them to build authority around ideas, around personal brand and commercial position. It is a skill that has come from authoring two books of my own and appearing in a dozen more.

If you would like to find out how this might work for your, or your CEO, then contact me on iain@thisidea.co.uk for an informal chat.