You’re excited to get access to a great SME. The conversation is full of useful insight. You hear the tradeoffs, the customer examples, the caveats and the practical judgment. Then the piece gets written, reviewed and approved.

And somehow, the best parts don’t survive. The final piece is accurate and clear. It checks every box. 

But it doesn’t reflect the value of the conversation.

Caveats may be ignored. Tradeoffs may get glossed over to sound cleaner. A telling example gets cut because it feels too specific, even though it may be the part that would have made the piece memorable. 

Those aren’t always bad things. But enough of those small changes can turn a strong SME conversation into content that sounds like it could have come from anyone.

That’s how a promising SME conversation turns into forgettable thought leadership.

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