85: Why Writing Is the Leadership Skill You Can’t Ignore Anymore w/ Elaine Acker

In a world overloaded with noise and AI-generated fluff, the leaders who can communicate clearly, consistently, and with purpose will win. But most leaders overlook one of the most powerful tools they have: the written word.

In this episode, Sean Patton sits down with content strategist and Writing & Influence podcast host Elaine Acker, a true expert in helping leaders clarify their message, build influence, and use writing to lead at scale. Whether you're trying to align a team, define your leadership philosophy, or grow your personal brand—Elaine breaks down exactly why writing is no longer optional in modern leadership.

You’ll walk away from this conversation rethinking how you communicate as a leader—and why your next big opportunity might come from the next idea you write down and share.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• [2:00] Why your personal brand matters—even if you’re not an entrepreneur
• [5:20] The mindset trap that causes leaders to undervalue their own ideas
• [7:25] How writing clarifies your thinking and reveals your leadership identity
• [10:15] The shift from expert to thought leader—and why it matters
• [12:50] A practical process to write your leadership philosophy
• [15:10] Why writing for speaking is different than writing for reading
• [18:20] The key to aligning content, communication, and business strategy
• [22:00] How to keep your message consistent without sounding robotic
• [25:00] Personal branding for CEOs, executives, and internal leaders
• [28:00] AI and writing: how to use the tool without losing your voice
• [33:00] Why human connection is more valuable than ever in leadership

Connect with Elaine Acker:

🌐 Website: https://www.elaineacker.com/
🎙 Podcast: Writing & Influence
🔗 LinkedIn: Elaine Acker

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No Limit Leadership is the go-to podcast for growth-minded executives, middle managers, and team leaders who want more than surface-level leadership advice. Hosted by executive coach and former Special Forces commander Sean Patton, this show dives deep into modern leadership, self-leadership, and the real-world strategies that build high-performing teams. Whether you're focused on leadership development, building a coaching culture, improving leadership communication, or strengthening team accountability, each episode equips you with actionable insights to unlock leadership potential across your organization. From designing onboarding systems that retain talent to asking better questions that drive clarity and impact, No Limit Leadership helps you lead yourself first so you can lead others better. If you're ready to create a culture of ownership, resilience, and results, this leadership podcast is for you.

Transcript

Sean Patton (00:00)
Everyone has a personal brand, whether you're intentionally shaping it or letting others define it for you. Learn why that could be the difference in whether you get your next promotion, land your next client, and even directly impact your company's valuation. In this episode, I sit down with Elaine Acker, strategist, entrepreneur, and host of the Words and Influence podcast, who helps leaders clarify their message and turn words into influence. We explore how writing can organize your thinking, build trust at scale, and position you as a guide, not just an expert.

to align content with business goals and use AI without losing authenticity. You'll walk away rethinking how you show up and why your voice might be the most under-leveraged asset in your leadership toolbox.

Sean Patton (00:54)
Welcome to the No Limit Leadership Podcast. I am your host, Sean Patton. Today we have Elaine Acker. She's an entrepreneur, strategist, founder of Spark360 and the host of Words and Influence Podcast. Elaine helps leaders clarify their message, grow their influence, and build powerful personal brands through the written word. She's a master of turning ideas into action and content into connection. Whether it's writing a book, crafting a signature story, or stepping into thought leadership, Elaine brings a rare mix of clarity.

creativity and strategy to the table. This conversation is gonna be all about the power of writing, not just building a personal brand, but also to help organize your thinking, define your legacy and lead with purpose. welcome.

Elaine Acker (01:34)
Thank you so much, Sean It's exciting to be here.

Sean Patton (01:37)
It's really exciting. We've known each other for a while now, I guess since last fall, whatever, almost a year, and multiple conversations and every time it's so interesting, I'm like, we should have recorded that conversation. So I'm excited we're finally recording and being more intentional with our conversation today.

So why. writing Like why did you pick this? Why is your passion? Why did you choose to focus here?

Elaine Acker (01:59)
You know, it's funny, I have been a writer, I guess, since I was a kid. I was one of those kids that, you know, published, if you will, my own book with cardboard and my dad's notepads. I wanted that book on the shelf. So it's been part of me, part of my DNA, probably my whole life.

I worked at a newspaper, I worked for magazines and so I've been all around publishing for a long time. And when I worked in marketing, I started seeing people who had such good lessons to share and things to tell people, but a lot of times they were very hesitant. And so I kind of set up shop right there at that intersection of marketing and publishing because I think...

Words have tremendous power in promoting your business and it's something that you can do to educate and build your business at the same time. So you're educating your audience, really, laying that path out for business growth for yourself. You can do both.

Sean Patton (03:00)
I mean, I think in this day age, whether it's your personal brand or your, a company like establishing yourself, with your own thoughts and ideas in the marketplace, right? It's more powerful than ever. Just run, run in a, just run in an ad, showing people, know, using your thing or your service. The couple of testimonials is just not, people are just expecting more. feel like they, want to look deeper, right? Into whatever your business is.

Elaine Acker (03:23)
Yeah, books in

particular, yeah, sorry, I just interrupted you, but books in particular build relationships. And I think even before you get to the book piece, you look at what you're sharing online, you know, on the things that you post on LinkedIn and give people an insight into who you are and what you stand for and what your background looks like. So those are all the ways that you're building connection and relationships.

before you ever set out to actually promote your business. You've built this relationship with people through your words.

Sean Patton (03:58)
And some people may be confused on this, but you may be an expert and then there's being a thought leader. What's the difference?

Elaine Acker (04:04)
Anybody can be an expert if they put in the time. Not everybody can be a thought leader in a way that they guide others and show people how they did it and show people how to think about something in a new way. I think one of the biggest misconceptions about thought leadership too is that it has to be this.

new groundbreaking earth-shattering development. It's not, it's the thing that you know and you do and you've internalized that you do probably better than anybody else, but you think everybody does it, so you discount it. Thought leadership is really just about sharing who you are and your perspective on your topic, your experiences.

That's what that's all about.

Sean Patton (04:49)
You just reminded me and I need to look this up because I referenced this every so often and I keep forgetting the actual name of it, but there's a psychological principle or theory that my business coach shared with me a long time ago and I was struggling with this exact thing you were talking about, which is basically the, longer that you've known something or longer ago that you've applied something, less value you place on it. Right. And so it's like, I remember,

I was just in a casual conversation with him and brought up a principle I learned as a brand new second lieutenant when I'm 22 years old in the Army. was like, well, here's the thing about that, the leadership thing. He's like, that's amazing. He's writing it down. I got to share that with my clients. I'm like, nope, they're not all doing that? Because to me, I got taught this by some Army officer program when I was 22. He's like, no, there's companies People aren't thinking this way. You're right.

Elaine Acker (05:31)
Is it?

Sean Patton (05:38)
Even if we've, we've internalized it or we've known something or we've applied something for an extended period of time. And so in our heads, we just devalue it until, and so how do we overcome that? Like what's the process to, to take and recognize? How do we recognize if, we're kind of blind to it, to ourselves, like what needs to be brought to the forefront? Like what are those lessons? Like how do we, where do we even start to identify those things?

Elaine Acker (06:05)
One of the things I do with clients is to work through an interview process. And when we're talking in natural conversation, that's when some of these revelations come out because as someone who doesn't know their business inside and out, I'm able to say, tell me what it was like when you went into that company and coached that team.

What happened because you were there? What changed because you brought your insights? And once they start talking and I react, just kind of like the guy did that you were describing, if I get to have a reaction and say, yeah, that's amazing. People need to know this. Then that shifts their perspective. Now the key is to be able to do that for yourself. And I think when we, when we regularly share

our thoughts without editing, and editing meaning the critic in our head saying that's not good enough or that's not what they need to know. I think if we have real conversations with our readers, even on LinkedIn, you can ask questions, you can start a conversation and find out what really resonates with people. So you just have to be brave enough to put it out there even when you think

Everybody already knows this. This has already been said. When you're brave enough to put it out there and get reactions from people, that's when you start to really build the momentum based on things that you know that not everybody knows.

Sean Patton (07:31)
You know, I think back to a, you just, you just reminded me of something that goes back a long time that I haven't talked about a long time around writing, which is one thing that, ⁓ every new commander in the military would do, right? Your new commander show up and he would always issue out a leadership philosophy. Like every time, here's my thoughts on leadership. Here's what matters to me. Here's what doesn't hear my values. And that was like a standard practice, but

I think about the power of writing in terms of just organizing, like forcing you to organize those thoughts as leaders and be able to communicate it out in one standard way, even internally to an organization. So I don't know, what are your thoughts on writing as leaders just in terms of organizing all those thoughts we have into a single way to communicate it out?

Elaine Acker (08:19)
Well, one thing I know about you is that that was what you were doing when you wrote your book. You were taking something that you used and you were looking for a way to structure it so that you could share it and communicate it with your clients. And I think when we do that, we're serving as a guide. So if we look at common storytelling elements, have a hero who is never

sorry, I can hear that. I can hear him. I'm going, there's the little angel voice.

Sean Patton (08:48)
Sorry, can you hear my baby in the background?

Well, he just woke up from a nap, so we'll see if he's a little angel or not for my wife out there right now, but yeah.

Elaine Acker (08:57)
Ha

When you see almost any movie and you look at the construct of the story, you've got heroes and then you've got guides. And if you look at the role those people play in others' lives, they're there to provide that framework, that checklist, the way forward. And I think that's what we do.

and can do in our thought leadership and in what we write because we're giving people that path forward. Not everybody understands what those logical next steps should be, but if we simplify that for them based on the power of our experiences, that makes us a really treasured guide for others.

Sean Patton (09:44)
just want to call it something that really hit me there. It was new for me. So maybe new for the audience to even think about was so often I talk with maybe coaching clients or others about, writing their own story or thinking of their own life as the hero, like their own hero's journey, right? Like think of all the things you've overcome, think of where you're headed and, and, but then to shift that a bit and be like, yes, you know, each one of those guides in that story was probably a hero in their own story, right? But how can

Elaine Acker (09:59)
Mm-hmm.

Sean Patton (10:11)
maybe shifting and writing and thinking about yourself, not as the center of it all, right? Especially when it comes to marketing, but thinking of as you're the guide and what is the hero's journey of the audience and how can you best serve them in that role? That's a powerful perspective shift, I think, for people putting out content or trying to be a thought leader or share their ideas with the world.

Elaine Acker (10:33)
And that is it. When people come and work with me on a book project or sign up for the course, what's funny is in the course, the very first thing you do, you don't sit down and start writing. You don't learn about writing. You spend time thinking about your reader and what they need to know. Where are they right now? What transition are they going to make because they read this book?

So I think that's a super powerful place to start because when it's all about them, then I think your view of your own experience shifts. Like you're saying, you start to realize you have something valuable to share. If in fact, those people are sitting there wondering what the heck to do next in this piece of their career journey, what do they do next? And you've got the keys to that locked in your head.

and all you have to do is be willing to share what you've learned over time and put that out there as a guide for them, then you can impact so many lives.

Sean Patton (11:32)
Yeah, it's looking at it really shifting that really puts it, you know, we always talk about like servant leadership. It's like, this is another, another just channel of, of servant leadership, putting them first thinking about I'm going to lead, be a leader or guide in their life. I love that. I love that shift. So when you're thinking about, what is the balance between when you're writing for, let's say marketing or branding or thought leadership for yourself or your company, what is

the sort of intersection of thinking, what does my audience need and having like a consistent thread in your own brand and marketing that, know, so you're not just all over the place and you're super helpful, but nobody really knows what you are or you stand for. Like, how do you combine those two things?

Elaine Acker (12:14)
Yeah. So once you know what your audience needs, the next thing you look at is your book has a job to do. Your content has a job to do. So I always look at it in terms of what is my long-term goal? What is my vision for my business and for myself? And then where does this book fit in this? Because oftentimes people think about publishing a book or a book in particular and think about

being on a best seller list and that that's what success means to them. But if you look at the book and think, can, how can I leverage this book in a thousand different ways that both impacts others lives and helps my business grow, helps me get to that long-term vision that I set out for my business.

And so that's the intersection for me is, now that I know who I'm working for, who I'm writing for, I need to know what job that book has to do in order to help me achieve the vision for my business.

Sean Patton (13:15)
You mentioned brainstorming, um, and, earlier and just sort of not editing yourself. Like is that, is that what gets people stuck? Is they start editing? Like they don't follow that process. Like what do you see is when, cause I see a lot of people, they've got these great ideas and they, you know, they sit down in front of a piece of paper, myself included. And it's like, uh, I've, I don't know anything. I've never learned anything in my life. I've got no thoughts in my head. It's like, just totally hit this wall. Like what are some.

Elaine Acker (13:38)
Ha ha!

Sean Patton (13:42)
What are some strategies that we can use to unlock that, not get stuck?

Elaine Acker (13:46)
Yeah, it's really

funny. We sit down and go, ooh, you know, it's like, now I must write. And we, we freeze, you know, there's a blank screen, there's a cursor blinking. So there are a number of things you can do. I like to do an exercise called webbing or mapping. And it, takes a concept. So you put a single word. So let's say it was leadership, put a single word leadership and put a circle around it.

And then you come off and you might say, military and put a circle around it. And then you come down here and say, executive and put a circle around it. And so you get out of that critical side of your brain and into a creative side of your brain. And if you do that exercise long enough, and by long enough, mean less than five minutes, something will shift, I guarantee it.

something will shift and you'll go, ⁓ I want to write about this. And then if you can tell your brain, we're just playing right now. We're not, you know, all caps writing. We're just playing right now. I'm just jotting down some ideas. I'm just brainstorming. And you can get that editor side of your head to just be.

then it makes a huge difference. And what comes out is so authentic to you and so genuine that then you can edit with very little trouble and get something out that is meaningful to you. It's meaningful to your readers. And it really came from the heart. Sometimes people are super surprised at what comes out of that exercise.

Sean Patton (15:17)
Do have any cool examples?

Elaine Acker (15:18)
boy, this is a whole other shift. I used to use it for poetry all the time. I like it, hang in here with me everybody, because when you say poetry, you instantly go, you're kind of putting on the brakes. But if you use poetry as that way to play with sounds and words and ideas and connection, so even if you don't ever publish it,

So I've used it for poetry for years and I know that it works really well for that. I've used it for anything though, from lesson planning to LinkedIn posts. I've used this technique over and over and over and it works.

Sean Patton (15:59)
Yeah, that's really interesting. I love actually the idea of poetry when it comes to writing for speaking, I'm going to mess up. don't have my poetry, a jargon I on the tip of my hand, but like, you know, the, the, sounds and the rhythm of a poetry and the, the repetition and the coming back to an idea and exploring it.

I haven't even thought about that as a cool way to explore, a, a new way to write, bits are parts of a speech so they can be even more impactful, Cause that, that I find, I have really struggled when I was writing speeches for keynotes on the way that I write.

and the way that I speak or, then the way I speak on stage or want to speak on stage or like three different things, So like, if I, if I gave a speech, the way I felt just like reading from my book, would, it would be weird, you know, almost like too formal or like whatever. trying to write for those different situations is something I've, I've struggled with. don't know. Have you ever, have you ever helped someone with like writing for, for speaking versus writing for reading? Is there a difference in your mind?

Elaine Acker (16:48)
You

You know, a really helpful technique whenever you're, you've written a first draft of something and it's time to edit. A really helpful technique is to read it out loud. So this is regardless of whether you're writing a speech or you want eventually deliver this verbally, even the written word when read out loud will give you clues as to where the reader will naturally pause.

to emphasize, where you could break up the rhythm a little bit, where the sentence is just way too long, and you can break it into two or three pieces. So I think that's a, first of all, that's just a really helpful editing technique to read it out loud, even if it is for the purpose of publishing a written piece.

Whenever you're, I think your ear will get really attuned to your words when you're doing that. So if you're then taking it, what I've done with speeches in the past has been to write it out and do that exercise, but then go back and highlight or put in bold the things where you really want to lead from one idea to the next naturally, and then get to a point where it's,

you're not reading a speech, you've memorized your concepts well enough. And if you've got some of those, it's like, like seasoning, you know, if you've got some special phrases and words that you picked out once, once you started reading it out loud and practicing that can really emphasize, the points you want to make, then I think that's a good way to go from.

the written word to the spoken word to the presented word.

Sean Patton (18:44)
That's a great tool. Now you mentioned connecting those different types of, I guess, channels of communication. When it comes to marketing and writing content and strategy, what does that look like in sort of the modern era of

writing or presenting ideas, you've got a book, you've got social media posts, you've got a newsletter, you're like, how do we tie all that together? Or what is the strategy to tie that together to keep it headed toward one direction to support the business?

Elaine Acker (19:14)
Yeah, this is not gonna sound very sexy at all, but the thing that I do most for myself and for clients is to really look at this on a quarterly basis and say, is my goal for the upcoming month. This is where I'm going to be appearing. This is where I'm speaking. These are the seasons that we're in. These are the holidays on the calendar. What does that mean for my business? Does it have any effect at all?

then I map out what that quarter looks like. Any campaigns that I know if I'm launching a new course, how do I work that in? So I begin with seriously just the business financial goal in mind and then build backwards from there. I wanna build the support structure under that so that the words are then serving that larger goal.

Sean Patton (20:01)
Well, and I love that connection. know that's maybe a connection I need my, I'm thinking of my own business. need to do more of, I get, I get ideas that I'm really excited about and want to share. Uh, and sometimes can like run away with and then never maybe look to see as this anchored into you with the audience wants, or do you mentioned, you know, financial goals or business goals? And I think this is important to think of not just for, solopreneurs or creatives or thought leaders, but

Like I said, leaders inside of a business, right? Like if you're a leader in a business and your business is putting out content, like how do you tie the, how are you tying business objectives and keeping that sort of top of mind when you're deciding what to create and put out into the world.

Elaine Acker (20:45)
Yeah, because you're right. I mean, if you're just going day to day, so think about how our energy shifts and our moods shift and the news shifts and we were reacting to all of these things. So if you haven't planned out your content to some degree, don't have to have every word for a whole quarter already pre-written. But what you do have to know is what topics and what types of content are going to support your goals.

because if I sit down and just start writing about whatever has been in the news, first of all, it's probably not gonna be anything good. And it's definitely not going to serve my purpose of enriching my audience's life if I'm just sitting down and doing this on the fly. But if I have this plan mapped out, this blueprint, and...

It will keep me from doing that. It'll keep me from sabotaging myself because I chased the last squirrel that ran by. And I had an idea that I loved. I do that. I can be the world's worst. I have an idea and I want to do this new thing. And now I'm tired of doing the old thing, but I have to finish the old thing in order to maximize purpose in my business. So I think that's just the thing to remember and always keep.

always keep a, I don't want to call it a someday maybe, because it sounds like it's never going to happen, but just an ideas file. And so every quarter when you sit down to do that plan with yourself, you can say, let me take a look through here. Are there any ideas over here in this folder that should take precedence now, given my new goals for the next quarter, over something else? And you can make these conscious decisions. It's the...

changing the plan on the fly that may not always work.

Sean Patton (22:29)
Yeah, that's true. And that does keep the consistency of messaging because you're right. you, you know, I if I'm like following someone or I'm looking at a business and I don't know, it's a, I don't know. It's like a CPA firm. And then, you know, one day it's talking about NASCAR racing and the next it's talking about, you know, filing my tax return. And the next day it's talking about, you know, LLC. was like, what is, what, is this person doing? You know, like it gets really confusing. And I do think that

Elaine Acker (22:52)
Yeah.

Sean Patton (22:54)
Everyone is so busy and in their own world and doing their own thing. so like as multifaceted as you are, or I am, or our businesses are, I feel like from a brand perspective, people only have like one slot for you, unfortunately, right?

Elaine Acker (23:10)
They really do.

You have to be known for something. So pick what you most want to be known for. And it's not that your personal stories don't ever come into it, but you can relate that then back to your business.

Sean Patton (23:23)
Yeah, yeah. I mean, you think about in those big brands, like for most people, it's like, any, anyone you think of is they're, their brand is like one story. It's one thing that you, you attribute to them. I think what brand is really brand is just about, um, uh, like thinking about two concepts. I think about, you know, Elaine Acker, think

Publishing and marketing, right? That's, mean, there's a lot of other things about you and what you do and all that, but like in my head, I've got that one sort of, I'm attaching you to one concept, but then once you're sort of in the ecosystem, right, you can start, well, we also do this and we can help you this other way. But if you get too off in the weeds and I'm like, wait a minute, like, all of a sudden you're writing a bunch of stuff about Google ads.

I'm like, wait a you a Google ads person? Are you an agency? I thought you were words and influence, right? Like it can get confusing.

Elaine Acker (24:13)
Yeah.

Yeah, it can. And one of the things I think that I think about when I do that is also how we're training our referral partners. if you look at your broader network, so you wanna be, like we said, be known for like, okay, marketing and publishing, that's it. That's who she is. If they know that, they can say your name to other people.

and tell other people how to work with you. But if you've confused them, they certainly can't go out and tell your story for you either.

Sean Patton (24:43)
Yeah, so your story and your branding has to be tight enough that it's referable and shareable.

Elaine Acker (24:47)
Yeah. Memorable, referable, shareable.

Sean Patton (24:50)
That is great. Are there key elements for a strong personal brand in today's world?

Elaine Acker (24:55)
You know, it's funny, the words personal branding really mean different things to different people, but I'm gonna say this, you have a personal brand, whether you want one or not. So the first step is admitting you have a personal brand. And then the next is making a conscious decision about what to do with that, because if you don't take control of it and decide,

what you want to put out in the world and how you want to be perceived. Somebody else is going to do that for you. So I think that is the main thing is that it's not personal branding is not for quote unquote influencers. It's not for little TikTok dancers. It's for it's for CEOs. It's for leaders. It's for people who want to have an impact and want to maximize that impact because they were thoughtful.

about the way they crafted their personal brand and how they're viewed in public.

Sean Patton (25:48)
first off it's a great, fantastic point. And I think that's when I'm going to share with some of my clients too, who are maybe, you know, people are hesitant, right? They're like, they don't, cause in their mind, they think personal brand, think it's the influencer, try to sell them the next pea protein or something, right. Or whatever, right. Or next sauna or whatever it is. Like, and they're like, well, I don't want to be that. ⁓ but you're right. If you don't define it, someone else will. And, know, especially if you're, if you are a leader of any kind or aspiring leader, rising leader,

⁓ taking control of that now is so important. I remember one thing that shifted for me again, this is not exactly the same thing, but it reminded me of which it's kind of a cool story is when I first got into army special forces and we're doing different intelligence work and stuff, it was, you weren't allowed to have social media. Like don't just like don't have it. You we there's, can create like a fake persona for someone online, but like it's very expensive and they don't do it for everyone. Right. to actually like create something that's searchable online, but then.

by the time I was getting out of the military that had switched because if you go travel overseas and someone like checks your background and looks you, if someone looks you up online and you just don't exist, like that in itself is a red flag more than like knowing that you're in the army. Like they really know you're in the army and then you can, but like, yeah, if you just don't exist online, people are like, wait, what is up with you? That doesn't look like somebody who's just like, well, I'm just humble and I do my work. Like, dude, where have you been for the last 30 years? Like what is happening? You know?

Elaine Acker (27:07)
You know, I have to follow that with something I learned from one of my clients that, and this was in the Harvard Business Review. It's been a few years, but the statistic was that I think it was about 44 % of a business's value was based on the CEO's reputation. So if you take what you just said and apply that to business, imagine

spending your whole life being this, committed leader, humbly working behind the scenes and then you get ready to sell your business and they go, I don't even know who you are. What does this business stand for? You know, I don't know if I can trust this. So if you're not out there, how do they know that they can trust you and your business and what you offer?

Sean Patton (27:52)
That's true. And trust is really built on the individuals to your point versus even a brand these days. People want to see the people behind the brand connect with the individuals. I mean, how many people follow those individuals versus follow a company's Instagram page? No one follows that. No one's following any of that. It's really about that individual. And talk about building trust in the modern era.

Elaine Acker (28:01)
Mm-hmm.

Sean Patton (28:19)
Let's talk AI and writing and ideas, right? So like, what is, know, how do we maintain authenticity and trust in the world of AI? Like, what does that mean for us?

Elaine Acker (28:20)
Ha

I think we're, so this pendulum has been swinging, right? And it will continue to swing, but we discovered AI and everybody went running over to figure out what AI stood for and how to use it or how not to use it, know, took up arms against it and don't want to do that. And then it swings back to right now, I think we're experiencing this, this, I don't know, the quest for.

the most human business, the most human interaction that, so we have to learn to use AI as a tool. And it's really funny because I just kind of in the last couple of weeks have come to some peace with how I use AI. So this is a fairly new development and yes, it kind of is. And so, you know, and it could change at any moment as AI changes, but.

Sean Patton (29:12)
is a very personal topic for you right now. It's like, okay, get out.

Elaine Acker (29:20)
I felt like I had really nailed down how to use AI for my business, like in the marketing and in the content, because I was able to do these, like say really authentic conversations with clients, get their words, and then kind of leverage AI to break that up into smaller posts and give them things that they could use that were true to their words, true to their brand.

So felt like I had all that kind of locked down and how to use it. Where I didn't have it figured out was how that had impacted me creatively. And I realized that in my head, I had almost discounted my ability to write fiction anymore because I was thinking, well, AI is here. Anybody can do it. It's not special anymore. You know, how do I even, why would I spend time on that?

It's terrible. That's a terrible place to sit. But what I realized was that it still takes the story still comes from me. And just like I tell people in business, you know, there's nobody like you. There's nobody who's got your experiences, your background, all of those things that I say about people who are writing a business book. Well, it applies.

to this fiction scenario too. I finally realized that and embraced it. That the story comes from me, where we can all use help is on the editing side, because people often want to write and be done and they may not be done yet. They may need a revision or an edit or some things here and there. And I am all about quality writing and publishing.

And there's too much junk that appears out in the world these days. So the quality is super important to me. And I think that's the one thing that moving forward, I'm going to be working harder on to be the guide for my clients and to show them how to leverage AI as an editor, a, you know, to use that tool and improving their writing, making their words more impactful.

and reaching the right audiences with the right message. So that's a work in progress, but that's where I am right now.

Sean Patton (31:37)
Well, I like

that. think you're totally right in the sense that.

more technology we use for, I don't know, day-to-day things, or even I think of like our work, or, you know, we're in these boxes in our house on Zoom calls all day, we're separated, and we get spammed with AI messages, and it's just like, we get to a point where it's like, we're really craving, like it makes it more valuable if you're able to provide that human connection.

Right? It's like the more that the technology becomes standard, it almost just from a supply and demand perspective makes when you do have that original thought and original experience and the original connection, like it makes that that much more valuable and sought after by individuals, if that makes sense.

Elaine Acker (32:05)
Yes.

perfect sense. Yeah, because I think people can see through, yeah, I've worked with a couple of people who are so afraid of AI and so afraid of appearing, you know, that like an AI or using AI in the way. So this, what you said is kind of like what we were saying earlier, that if you, if you're putting out these bot messages, basically, that's how we don't want to be seen.

Sean Patton (32:26)
Yeah.

Elaine Acker (32:50)
But that's the fear that if I use AI, then I'm going to sound like this bot, this robot that has taken over my world. But if we lead with our humanity, lead with the personal relationships and allow how we use AI to come underneath that and support that, then I think we'll be in a much better relationship with AI.

Sean Patton (33:14)
Yeah. And I do think some of it is as most things are, you said this a few times, but the mindset or our own internal story we're telling ourselves about AI, about who we are, if we use, if we use it in certain ways, like that seems to be the, the biggest hurdle or roadblock sometimes, right? Like it usually is, right? It's the stories we tell ourselves. That's the biggest roadblock, not necessarily the technology or the outside world.

Elaine Acker (33:36)
Ciao!

Absolutely nail on the head, bingo.

Sean Patton (33:45)
Yeah, yeah. I know. I, I love that. And I even think about the, like the more people work remote, even things like that human connection, even with like in-person experiences, right? So like, or the ability to have a, I just think about it, even the power. I think about us having like a conversation, like going deeper than surface level, even in like a one-to-one or in a leadership context or building trust.

or going deeper in your writing and being vulnerable and telling your story that is only coming from you. It's like the courage to do that and people is so powerful and I think people want the experience. Like the value of even like an in-person experience for your leadership team now is greater than ever because so much of our lives is just.

You we're not, don't go into the bank and talk to the teller. We don't even talk to the grocery store or teller. Like, you know, we were self checkout. like, we go through our whole lives living in on our phone and in our houses. And so, I just think that like, it's like a scarcity of genuine connection and trust and authenticity throughout our lives is becoming like more valuable than ever. And writing in the written word, I think can play that same role in what you're telling me.

Elaine Acker (34:54)
Just think about how ideas happen. you can think back to a time you were talking about bringing teams together and spending quality time together in a room, think back to a time when you were in a group of people where you were free to collaborate and be creative and really let the ideas fly. That is so much fun.

and you're building on everyone's experience who's in the room. And that experience will never happen with AI because you don't have all of those incredible human brains in the same room building one on the other to come up with an idea better than any single person ever could have come up with alone.

Sean Patton (35:37)
That's so true. Man, what's one belief or mindset shift that you hope listeners come away with after hearing you talk today?

Elaine Acker (35:45)
one time out, it's something you were just saying that was really sticking with me. And then you asked and it went out of my brain.

Sean Patton (35:53)
Was it right before that when I was talking about the scarcity of authenticity, building trust to the written word, technology separating us?

Elaine Acker (36:01)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. Got it.

Sean Patton (36:04)
Okay, time in.

Elaine Acker (36:08)
think the most important thing to me and what I'm trying to focus on is to take time and make time to have those deliberate conversations with other people. I think we may have to work a little harder at it than we used to. And we are all in our silos. But if we're willing to reach out and organize a group, you organize a team meeting,

that's not just a meeting, not a meeting with a capital but a meeting of the minds where you have an opportunity to brainstorm and be creative. I think deliberately creating those opportunities for each other would be an awesome way to spend the next few months.

Sean Patton (36:49)
I love that. That is amazing. Well, Elaine, you do fantastic work in helping people with, you know, writing, content creation, branding, marketing, all that. So if somebody's listening to this, they want to get ahold of you and find out how to work with you. Where should they go?

Elaine Acker (37:04)
They can visit our website at Sparks, S-P-A-R-X, 360.com. You can also find me on LinkedIn. So it's Elaine Acker. So come and find me. I would love to connect.

Sean Patton (37:15)
Awesome.

Well, that's awesome. Yeah. I will do that. And only puts out amazing content and also check out her podcast words and influence. We'll have all those links and show notes. So right now just go click those and check that out. Thanks so much, Lane. This has been awesome. Again, as always our conversations, man, I always come away with awesome lessons and a new perspective.

Elaine Acker (37:34)
Thank you, Sean, you're on the top of my list for those next conversations too.

Sean Patton (37:38)
Beautiful.