Sound like yourself. Get heard where it matters. Frictionless is a twice-monthly newsletter for leaders who get judged by what they write: founders, executives, and anyone whose words get read by boards, investors, reporters, and prospects. Each issue gives you practical ways to clear the Brand Garbage from your writing so you sound like yourself and get heard in the rooms that decide careers, deals, and reputations. I'm an executive ghostwriter and award-winning business journalist who spent decades in boardrooms and newsrooms helping leaders say what they mean. You'll get templates and scripts you can use today, stories I usually save for private clients, and a few curated reads worth your time.
What Frictionless Is Becoming
A note about where this newsletter is headed, and a clean way out if it's not for you.Frictionless started as a grab bag. Leadership, writing, a few personal essays, some links. Whatever I was chewing on at the time. From here, it gets sharper.The new focus: Brand Garbage, and how to clear it.Most founders and executives write board letters, investor updates, and LinkedIn posts that sound like everybody else's. The words are fine. Nothing is technically wrong. But nothing differentiates them.That's exactly the problem. When your writing sounds like the other three vendors, the prospect can't tell you apart. Your champion stops fighting for you. The deal doesn't die. It just never closes. The same thing happens when a reporter quotes you, or when you have to level with your own employees.So Frictionless is now about one thing: brand positioning and executive ghostwriting for people who get judged by what they write. You'll get my take on what makes writing land in high-stakes rooms, plus sharp thinking from people I read that isn't reaching your feed. Before-and-afters you can steal for your own writing.I'll be honest about why. There are a lot of newsletters out there, and most of them blur together. I'd rather write something a few of the right people look forward to than something a big list half-reads and isn't moved by.One of my most responsive readers wrote back about the way I use questions: "Questions are your duct tape and baling wire," he said. "They hold everything together." That reply meant more to me than any open rate. If something I've written has ever landed for you like that, I hope you'll stay.If all that sounds useful, you're in the right place. I've changed the banner. The next issue drops soon. And if you'll humor me, hit Reply and tell me the one room where your writing has to land and doesn't yet: the investor update, the board, the reporter, the prospect, or the all-hands. I read every reply, and your answer will shape what I write next.Soon I'll open up something I've been building: a free five-day course on the five rooms where your writing gets read by people who can hurt you. Watch for it.If it doesn't, no problem at all. Your inbox is crowded enough. The Unsubscribe link is right below, and I won't take it personally.Glad you've been here either way.PeterSound like yourself. Get heard where it matters.
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Peter Osborne
Sound like yourself. Get heard where it matters. Frictionless is a twice-monthly newsletter for leaders who get judged by what they write: founders, executives, and anyone whose words get read by boards, investors, reporters, and prospects. Each issue gives you practical ways to clear the Brand Garbage from your writing so you sound like yourself and get heard in the rooms that decide careers, deals, and reputations. I'm an executive ghostwriter and award-winning business journalist who spent decades in boardrooms and newsrooms helping leaders say what they mean. You'll get templates and scripts you can use today, stories I usually save for private clients, and a few curated reads worth your time.
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The bravest thing I'm doing lately: not trying to talk to everyone at once. When Aaron Strout walked away from a 14-year run as chief marketing officer at Real Chemistry in early 2025, he said the first six months on the other side were disorienting. Not depressed. Not regretful. Disoriented. He told me when I interviewed him for a profile that every day could theoretically be a weekend, and that turned out to be its own kind of problem. I’ve been thinking about that since the call. Not...
STARTING LINE Mistakes. I've made a few, as I've learned over the past month. I recently interviewed a founder for an article and had a list of questions for him. At one point, Scott referred to his fundraising as "professional begging." Did I stop running through my questions? Sadly, no. So I missed an opportunity for something special (more on that later). If you've been interviewed for a podcast, profiled in a trade publication, or recorded a sales call this quarter, you're sitting on...