“But, Jerry, can’t I just ask ChatGPT
to do everything that you propose
and ChatGPT will do it faster,
cheaper, and better?”
I am familiar with the debate
that people are having
about whether or not AI
can do everything faster,
cheaper, and better than humans.
I understand how lopsided that debate is.
Yes, if your organization uses
the Team or Enterprise version of ChatGPT,
then ChatGPT can help the people
in your organization do what I propose:
weave your vision of how the world works
and all the rest that I’ve mentioned
into every draft of every document
that ChatGPT produces.
Yes, ChatGPT can help you create
the organizational culture
that you believe is optimal
for your firm.
In fact, in effect, Team or Enterprise ChatGPT
can become the major repository
and a major resource
for your implementation of your vision
and for the creation of the culture
that you believe is optimal for your firm.
How you get ChatGPT
to do those things for you?
Here’s how:
LIST OF TASKS TO BE PERFORMED.
Of course, perhaps annoyingly,
to get ChatGPT to write as well as I write,
you need someone
to perform
all the above tasks for you.
And then iterate through all those tasks
again and again until ChatGPT
is producing good drafts
of documents that accomplish
what you want them to accomplish.
To perform the above tasks well,
that is,
to set high writing standards
for ChatGPT to meet
and to get ChatGPT to meet those standards,
you need someone who understands
the importance in organizational writing
of empathy, precision, accessibility,
energy,
flow, agency, action, surprise,
humor,
the power of intangibles,
irreverence,
courage, lucidity, and clarity.
You need someone
who also understands well
the worlds of business, finance, and law.
Do you know such a person?
No?
I know such a person.
I shave his face every morning.
“Jerry, Jerry, Jerry. You’re waxing
from pedantic to huffy to arrogant.
“I understand that you think you write
real good, but why should I believe
your assessment of your writing
and your assessment
of your ChatGPT abilities?
“Aren’t you, maybe, a little biased?”
Fair point.
Okay, then, whose assessment
would you believe?
ChatGPT’s, apparently.
Well then, let’s go down that path.
ChatGPT,
I want you to review my writing
and my writing samples
at https://www.chiefwritingofficer.com.
Based on my writing and writing samples,
I want you to assess the suitability
of my writing abilities
and communication skills
for a job as the Chief Writing Officer
of a hedge fund, financial institution,
law firm, not-for profit organization,
or other dynamic, ambitious organization.
I also want you to assess
whether I likely have the knowledge,
requisite understanding, and skills
to perform all the tasks required
to enable you to write drafts
of documents in which you incorporate
a CEO’s mental model
of how the world works,
how the CEO recognizes opportunities,
how the firm creates value,
what the firm’s appetite for risk is,
how the firm manages risk,
what the firm’s decision criteria are,
what the firm’s decision-making methodologies are,
what the firm’s clients and investors’
decision-making criteria are,
and how the CEO thinks about
the enormous amounts of money available
today to fund promising undertakings.
Assess how well you think
I will be able to teach you
to weave the CEO’s vision,
the CEO’s ideas and beliefs,
the methodologies that the firm has honed,
and the characteristics
that the CEO believes are important
into pitch books, sales presentations,
investor presentations, speeches,
ad copy, web copy, marketing copy,
tutorials,
and internal communications
that you write.
I will pass your assessments along
to CEOs who are considering hiring me
to be their firm or organization’s
Chief Writing Officer
Tailor your assessments
to the qualities and criteria
that you think are most important
for an organization’s written
and spoken communications to have.
Tailor the length of your assessments
to what you understand to be
the attention span of a gifted, charismatic,
exceptionally intelligent, and very busy CEO.
Write as if you were writing a speech
that someone would give to an audience
of smart, well educated people
many of whom have advanced degrees.
Write in complete sentences.
Make sure every sentence has a verb.
As much as you can, avoid using
to-be verbs
such as is and are.
Use action verbs.
Do not use bullet points.
Work from my writing bottom up.
Do not apply any template
that you may have in your repertoire.
Do not overpopulate your assessments
with headings. If you use headings,
have at least five sentences
below each heading. Make each heading
a complete sentence and a strong claim
or other statement.
Tell the CEO
what my writing
does to and for readers—
that means do not just be descriptive.
Please do not translate your opinions
into analogies.
Be technical. Do not be cutesy.
Give the CEO your honest assessment.
Write in a way that respects how busy
your CEO reader is. Make good use
of his or her time.
Pull no punches.
Under a stand-alone heading,
make any additional comments
you wish to make in case the CEO
is the CEO of a hedge fund or other
sophisticated financial organization
that has especially well educated
and intelligent investors as clients.
RESULT OF CHATGPT’S ASSESSEMENT
WILL GO HERE.
You want to make your hiring decisions
based on ChatGPT’s assessments?
Be my guest.
If I were as arrogant as you suggested,
I would’ve said,
“Go ahead. Make my day!
“Punk.”
“Jerry, Are you saying
that resistance to hiring you is futile?”
That’s your insight.
Not mine.
To make your day,
let’s schedule a conversation.
Then let’s talk about how you and I
can harness ChatGPT
to help you realize your vision
for your organization.
Call or text me at (917) 817-8659.
Or email jerrymarlow@jerrymarlow.com.
Jerry Marlow