Thought-Leadership Writing Example: How One Subject-Matter Expert Transformed Facts into a Winning Narrative

By Rhea Wessel

When Jocelyn Groom joined the Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs Thought Leadership Writing Incubator earlier this year, she brought what many subject-matter experts bring: a wealth of knowledge, a fierce passion for her topic—the intersection of human and environmental health—and a sense that the world urgently needed to hear what she had to say.

What she didn’t yet bring was a story.

Like many experts, Jocelyn initially approached her thought-leadership writing from the position of a teacher. She had data, evidence, and compelling insights. But something was missing—and in our incubator, she came to understand what that was: her.

The turning point came during a coaching session when I reviewed a draft of her article. “I’ve included all the facts,” she said, “but it still feels flat.”

That’s when I offered her a gentle nudge: “What would it look like if you brought yourself into this piece—not just your expertise, but your lived experience?”

That question opened a door. Jocelyn started to talk about the grief she felt over the loss of landscapes she loved, how watching climate change unfold wasn’t just intellectually disturbing—it was emotionally disorienting. The concept of "climate grief" wasn’t just theory; it was personal.

And that shift changed everything.

Example: From Fact-Sharing to Storytelling

Jocelyn’s first few drafts read like white papers—smart, structured, and informative. But they lacked resonance. She had been trained, like many subject-matter experts, to lead with logic and support every claim. She hadn’t yet given herself permission to be vulnerable or reflective on the page.

As her story coach and the creator of the thought-leadership writing incubator, I see this all the time. Many brilliant people believe their ideas will carry the day on their own. But ideas alone don’t persuade. Stories do.

So Jocelyn dug deeper. She returned to the draft and began weaving in her personal journey—how she came to care so deeply about the intersection of health and sustainability, what it felt like to lose green spaces, and the ways in which her own body was affected by pollution and stress. She humanized the abstract.

By the time she submitted her final piece, “Fading Landscapes and Climate Grief: Why Your Story Matters,” it was clear she had made the leap. Her article was deeply felt, richly informed, and powerfully framed. It earned third place in the Winter 2025 incubator cohort.

Our judge, Alan Alper, described it as “beautifully written and evocative.” It stood out not just for the quality of the research, but because it was undeniably her story.

A New Kind of Subject-Matter Expert

Jocelyn represents a new wave of subject-matter experts: ones who understand that influence comes not only from facts, but from framing; not only from expertise, but from emotional resonance.

This is not the model of thought leadership where a single article in a prestigious journal can secure two years of consulting gigs. Today, audiences crave authenticity. They want to know not just what you know, but why you care.

That’s what Jocelyn discovered. And it’s what many other subject-matter experts must learn if they want to cut through the noise in the content landscape.

After the incubator, Jocelyn and I continued our work together in private coaching sessions. That’s when she started experimenting with AI tools to deepen her research and organize material. She used it to explore questions and audience behaviors. Before long, she had pages upon pages of insights—but she was overwhelmed.

“I had so much material, I didn’t even know how to talk to you about it,” she said during one session. “There was just too much.”

This is another common challenge for those researching with AI: Too much information and being unsure how to store and organize it. That’s where story framing comes in.

We worked on how to isolate a single idea, zoom in on one specific audience pain point, and use a slice of her personal experience to bring it to life. The AI helped surface the themes. Her story gave them meaning.

The Thought-Leadership Whisperer Role

I call myself a story coach, but what I often end up doing is thought-leadership whispering. I listen for the real story behind the facts. I watch for the moments when someone’s voice lights up. And I ask questions that invite the expert to step out from behind the curtain of data and into the spotlight of their own insight.

With Jocelyn, it was never about telling her what to write. It was about reflecting what I saw in her: a unique capacity to bridge the personal and the political, the scientific and the soulful.

She did the heavy lifting. She stayed with the discomfort of being visible. She honored both her knowledge and her emotional truth. And that made all the difference.

From Narratives to New Futures

What’s powerful about Jocelyn’s evolution is that it mirrors a larger cultural shift. The most effective thought leadership today isn’t just informative. It’s transformative. It moves readers because it reveals something deeper—about the writer, about the issue, and about the reader themselves.

By making her personal story central to her message, Jocelyn not only elevated her writing; she made herself more relatable, more memorable, and ultimately more persuasive.

This is the kind of storytelling we need in the sustainability space, given climate anxiety, digital overload, and eroding trust. It’s not enough to be smart. You have to be human.

A Framework for Others

For other subject-matter experts looking to become thought leaders, Jocelyn’s journey offers a roadmap:

1. Start with your expertise, but don’t stop there. Your knowledge is the foundation, not the finish line.

2. Zoom in on a specific audience and their pain points. Thought leadership that speaks to everyone speaks to no one.

3. Bring your story into your structure. You don’t need to overshare, but you do need to be real.

4. Use tools like AI for exploration, not expression. Let it surface patterns. You do the meaning-making.

5. Work with a coach who listens for what you can’t yet see. A good coach won’t give you answers—they’ll help you find better questions.

6. 
   

Thought leadership is not about being the loudest expert in the room. It’s about being the most resonant.

And that starts with framing facts within your own real-life stories.